Becoming a British Citizen: One Year Later

One year ago today, I officially became a citizen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Those of you who have been around for a while know this had been my goal since around 2014, when I moved to London for university. It has been a long, expensive, and often stressful journey. There were times when I genuinely wasn’t sure it would happen.

For the first five years of living here — the second time around — I never fully settled. There was always this quiet fear in the background that something would fall apart, and I’d have to move back to the US. It wasn’t until I received my Indefinite Leave to Remain that I finally felt like I could breathe a little easier.

So last year felt like the icing on the cake. I was finally a citizen, with all the rights and responsibilities that come with it. And almost as soon as I had my citizenship certificate in my hand, I registered to vote.

I was sitting on the Tube, heading into the city to celebrate and get my passport photos taken, when I added myself to the electoral roll. It felt small and huge all at once.

Why it matters

As I’ve written here before, I try not to get political…but then I inevitably get political. So here we go again.

Voting matters. The ability to vote matters. As a woman, I am deeply grateful to the people who came before me and fought to make sure my voice could be counted. It is something I never want to take for granted, especially when there are still people who seem to believe that not everyone deserves that right.

When I lived in the US, I never missed a major election. Since moving to the UK, I still haven’t missed voting in a US federal election or primary. You can read more about my feelings on voting in the last US election here.

Part of my desire to become a citizen of Great Britain was rooted in wanting to participate in the political process here. Yes, I could have lived here for the rest of my life with Indefinite Leave to Remain. But for me, it never would have felt like I was fully part of the community if I didn’t have some say in how I was governed.

To be clear, I don’t believe that people who choose not to become citizens or vote are any less part of their communities. This is simply how I feel about my own place here.

It matters to me even more because I see some of the same cruel policies and dangerous ideologies that have taken hold in the US beginning to creep in here, too. Resisting them matters. Using my vote matters. And being able to do that in the country I now call home means more to me than I can properly explain.

What’s next

While my journey to citizenship is complete, there is always another goal on the horizon.

Even though I don’t own a car — or particularly want to own one — I’m now in the process of getting my UK driving licence. Having a licence isn’t dependent on citizenship, of course, but because I never really needed one here, I never bothered trying to get one.

Now, with a few trips planned in the near future that will require driving — and because I am a truly terrible passenger — a UK driving licence is officially in my future.

Despite having driven since I was 16, I’m planning to take a few lessons. They drive on the other side of the road here, from the other side of the car, and I suspect my brain may need a little help adjusting. I also haven’t been behind the wheel in seven years. Public transport has been my very good, mostly reliable friend.

So, wish me luck on this new endeavour. And thanks, as always, for reading.