After the Ceremony – U.S. Citizenship and English Practice

New U.S. Citizens take the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony at the Martin Luther King Junior Center, in Atlanta, Georgia, November 14, 2013. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann), licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

When people take the oath of allegiance, they become new American citizens. We also call this naturalization.

What will you do after you become a citizen in this ceremony? I hope that you will celebrate! 🙂

Most people also do three more things:

Update their social security information
Get a passport
Register to vote

New citizens should update their information with social security. This can open up benefits.

The best way is usually to visit the Social Security Office in person and bring this application, your certificate of citizenship, and another photo ID (drivers license).

In Portland, the office is at 1538 SW Yamhill St.

A US Passport and Passport Card can help new citizens travel around the world. They also show that they are citizens.

The Passport Card can only help you travel to Canada or Mexico. But, it can be helpful to have it in an emergency if you need another way to show you are a citizen.

You can find more information about this application online.

Register to Vote

It is free to register to vote, and it is very fast and simple. In Oregon, you can register to vote at the Secretary of State’s website.

You can use your phone or computer to register to vote, but the election in Oregon uses paper mail. Please remember that registering to vote is only for citizens, and that you should wait until after you become a citizen.

If you are a citizen, you can register to vote here.

The Secretary of State website asks for this information. If you don’t have an Oregon ID card, that is ok, but you may need to fill out a paper registration and send it by mail. You can find paper registration forms at the library, post office, or in your citizenship packet.