Jose came to the United States in 1991. He worked several jobs to support his family back in his native El Salvador and postponed applying for citizenship until his retirement. At the age of 74, Jose enrolled in the citizenship course offered at CARECEN. Because he met certain age and residency requirements, Jose was eligible for the exam’s language exception and participated in CARECEN’s Spanish-language citizenship course.
Learning U.S history and government is not the easiest task if you have never formally attended school. Jose attended every single class, even though at the beginning he could not make complete sense of the information presented to him. After attending two consecutive citizenship courses, Jose was able to pass the mock interview CARECEN conducted in the last week of the class. CARECEN worked with Jose throughout his entire naturalization process, from completing his naturalization application to preparing for his interview. CARECEN also provided Jose with interpretation during his naturalization interview.
On June 14, 2011, Jose became a U.S. Citizen. He is now registered to vote and a proud holder of a U.S. passport. Jose continues to work part-time cleaning offices in the evening and also encourages his fellow community members to follow his steps to citizenship as a CARECEN Citizenship Ambassador.