Sophomore's path to U.S. citizenship

A young boy, lively and eager, said a bittersweet goodbye to his school friends. His family was moving to a new town, but the boy told his friends he would come and visit from time to time. Little did he know, United States was not just the next city over.

Since Matt Lane was two years old, he and his family have moved from country to country due to his father’s job.

“My dad works for Intel, so we were constantly moving around,” Lane said. “Being so young when we first starting moving every two or so years, it became a norm for me to make a friend and know I would have to leave them soon.”

After his first two years of life, in Plymouth, England, Lane and his family moved to Singapore. Post Singapore, their next move was to the small, English town of Horsham. For two-and-a-half years they lived in Horsham, until moving to the United States, when Lane was five years old. The Lanes’ first United States move was to Oregon for four years, the longest they have lived in the same place.

The family’s next move was Texas. And after four years, they moved back to Oregon and decided to settle for good.

“Moving around so much, you really appreciate being settled in one place.” Lane said. “Oregon is beautiful. I love all of the nature. I genuinely appreciate living in such a beautiful state.”

After living in the United States for over seven years, the amount of time needed to be eligible for citizenship, the Lane family decided to take the steps to become U.S. citizens as they planned their future around living in Oregon.

Lane did not have to apply for citizenship, unlike his parents and his 19 year old sister, Glencoe alum Tasha Lane.

“If my parents passed, then I automatically became a citizen,” Lane said.

To become U.S. citizens, Lane’s parents and sister completed a series of procedures. First, filling out and submitting the Application for Naturalization, then a spoken test of inquiries about their personal history as well as U.S. history, and finally, taking the Oath of Allegiance.

The process to become a U.S. citizen takes several months. According to Sharon Lane, Matt Lane’s mom, scheduling the spoken tests was tedious.

“We called in March of 2014 to schedule the [spoken tests], and they got back to us in July,” Sharon said. “The closest dates they had available were in November.”

After finishing the process, the Lane family became U.S. citizens.

Having first-hand experience with moving at a young age, Lane plans to settle in one place when he has a family of his own.

“While I hope to travel to new places across the world and to England to visit and meet my extended family, I don’t want my own kids to feel the same stress I did with moving around so much. I want to settle in one place when I have children.” Lane said.

#Issue21415