I was born in Mexico, and was able to move to Texas when I was in sixth grade, my mom got a working visa from her company, and from there, our journey began. It has now been nine years since I moved to the United States, as time passed, I transition from a visa to being a resident, and now I would be taking my citizenship test on July 9. With the date coming up, it got me thinking about what you can call changes in my life, and the process I had to go through to get me to this point.

A lot of people know about the process of becoming a citizen after all this is the land of the free and where the people from other countries come to seek refuge, but there is also a great number of people that have no idea of how this process works.

First, in order to be able to apply for your citizenship, one must be a resident for at least five years, after that, there is a process that you must follow, you fill out the papers needed, and then eventually you would get a letter in the mail that requests you to go to the consulate and get your pictures taken along with fingerprints. In that same office, you are given automatically a book and a CD with all of the 100 questions you need to study for the next upcoming step.

After the fingerprints and all that the things you require first are done, you have your study materials, and the only thing left is for you to wait. It took my family a little over a year to get the letter in the mail, which gives you a date, usually a month from the time you have to go again, to take your citizenship test.

So technically you have a month unless you started studying since way earlier, to study for a test that would ask me 5-10 questions about the history of the United States. There are about 100 questions on the study book, however, I don't think that's a problem for me, I been studying in the U.S. since 6th grade, and along the way I took U.S. history, but my parents, they have never taken a U.S. history class in their life, so it is way more difficult for them to go through an learn 100 questions, than it is for me.

I'm sure that my parents aren't the only people that would have any sort of struggle learning the questions, but I just wanted to highlight and give attention to the long process earning your citizenship takes. When I was little I never imagined I would have to go through something like this, I was born Mexican and I always thought I would stay that way, and for Mexico, there is no problem with having a dual citizenship, meaning I can have my Mexican passport, as well as my U.S. one.

However, there are countries that take your citizenship away, like Britain, and that must be something hard for the people that come to the U.S. seeking a better life. It takes some valiancy to accept the change of citizenship when you never really thought it was something that would ever happen to you.

In this long process, I'm thankful for everything my parents have done for me to try and give me a better life, and I wish everyone was lucky enough to have the opportunities my family has had. Even though this is a long and time-consuming process, I wouldn't want to change it, and I think I'm ready to proceed with those changes in my life.