French skater Surya Bonaly becomes U.S. citizen

[SkateFan123]

French skater Surya Bonaly becomes U.S. citizen in Vegas ceremony

Associated Press

1/9/2004 04:15 pm French figure skating champion Surya Bonaly became a U.S. citizen Friday in Las Vegas.

"Everyone is a citizen of the world,"said Bonaly, 30, who moved to Boston in 1997 and Las Vegas in 1999."But living in America for me has been my life, and I'm very thankful for living here. To be able to now say I'm an American is nice."

She was sworn in during an afternoon ceremony at the federal courthouse in Las Vegas.

A native of Nice, Bonaly won nine French national championships, competed in three Olympics and won silver medals at world figure skating championships from 1993-95.

She turned professional in 1998 and now tours with"Champions on Ice."

[A.H.Black]

Thanks. I had no idea she was even interested. Nice for her.

[Sydney]

Silly thought, but at first when I read that she'd become a U.S. citizen in Las Vegas, I thought she'd gotten married. ;)

Question: When you obtain U.S. citizenship, does that means you have to give up your original citizenship? So Surya is now American and no longer French?

[vesperholly]

Because America is stubborn? You can only have dual citizenship until you're 18.

What I really want to know is, why did Bonaly get it already and Tanith Belbin is still waiting?!

[liljimeo]

Maybe it has something to do with Name Power. Surya is a lot more household than Tanith. Perhaps, some politics are at work in all of it.

[butterfly]

Originally posted by liljimeo
Maybe it has something to do with Name Power. Surya is a lot more household than Tanith. Perhaps, some politics are at work in all of it. I don't think so...you do not get citizenship based on your name recognition. Maybe she applied a long time ago and we didn't know.

[Peter_K]

Originally posted by vesperholly
Because America is stubborn? You can only have dual citizenship until you're 18.


There's a pretty comprehensive FAQ about U.S. citizenship located here:

http://www.richw.org/dualcit/

It's pretty comprehensive but does contain a clarification to the "dual citizenship until you reach 18" provision. Basically, you pretty well have to explicitly have meant to renounce your U.S. citizenship before you lose it.

Also note that while the U.S. can do something about your U.S. citizenship, they can't do anything about citizenship from another country. Of course, that doesn't mean they have to recognize any other citizenship you may claim other than your U.S. citizenship.

I know a number of people that have dual Canadian/U.S. citizenships and carry two passports. They use the U.S. passport in the U.s. and the Canadian passport everywhere else.

--Peter

[SkateFan123]

Originally posted by Sydney
Silly thought, but at first when I read that she'd become a U.S. citizen in Las Vegas, I thought she'd gotten married. ;)

Question: When you obtain U.S. citizenship, does that means you have to give up your original citizenship? So Surya is now American and no longer French?

It is my understanding that Tanith will have dual citizenship. I am not sure what the laws are with France.

[CarolA0923]

I believe Surya got her Green card years ago to work here. So... the reason she got her citizenship before Tanith was she started earlier. I cannot imagine Surya has ANY political pull in the US and I don't think she plans on competing for us!

It would be up to the French goverment to decide if she is still a French citizen. (However, they don't seem the type to share. LOL!)

[dbny]

Originally posted by Sydney
Silly thought, but at first when I read that she'd become a U.S. citizen in Las Vegas, I thought she'd gotten married. ;)


Getting married to an American citizen does not confer citizenship.

[Sugar]

Good for Surya.

The dual citizenship thing depends on each countries' law.
I'm Japanese and will have to give up my citizenship if I choose to become American. My sister was born in the US to Japanese citizens so she's allowed to have dual citizenship. (if Japan hadn't changed the law she would have had to choose one or the other on her 18th birthday) My husband and I aren't sure if we want to be Americans just yet. We get out of jury duty but we can't vote...

9/11 has had an impact too. Getting the paperwork through to get green cards takes much longer now even with a large corporation sponsoring you. Our friends applied for a green card recently and were told the wait would be 4 years!!! I'm not sure if it's slowed the process for getting citizenship.