Land of the Free: Becoming an American Citizen
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By Emily Bontrager
Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is granted to a lawful permanent resident after meeting the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Requirements to become a citizen in the United States include being at least 18 years old when you apply, being able to read, write, and speak basic English (depending on age), and being of good moral character.
You must also either be a lawful permanent resident of five years, married to a U.S. citizen, serving in the U.S. Military, or a child of a U.S. citizen to apply.
Sandra Triplett, 50, received her naturalization on June 9, 2023.
Sandra was born in Calgary, which is a city in the Canadian province in Alberta.
After graduating from high school, Sandra ended up getting a degree in Display and Design from Langara College. After a 25-year career in graphic design, Sandra attended the Canadian College of Funeral Service and became a funeral director and embalmer.
Not once did it cross Sandra’s mind that she would like to move to the United States, but when she met a certain American, she changed her mind.
“I met my husband on an International Embalmer’s Forum. We had our own closed group on Facebook, and I knew him before I ever met him,” Sandra said.
“After a while, I just started talking to him every day and we just never stopped talking to each other.”
In 2016, Chris Triplett decided to move from the United States to Canada to be with Sandra.
“Within one year of living there, he made it very apparent that this wasn’t going to work,” Sandra said.
For Chris, living in Canada was very different than living in the United States. So, Sandra decided to move to the United States with him.
“My family is actually from the United States. They are all in Arcola and I ended up moving 35 miles away from my grandparents homestead,” Sandra said.
In 2017, the couple and their kids moved to Louisville, Illinois. Chris and Sandra bought two funeral homes in the area and Sandra sold her funeral home in Campbell River, on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada.
Chris and Sandra lived in Illinois for two years when Chris met Ed and Kathy Wilson at a convention. Ed and Kathy talked about retiring and Chris and Sandra decided to talk to them about buying their funeral home.
In 2020, Chris and Sandra purchased the Wilson Funeral Home, which is now called Wilson & Triplett Funeral Home.
One of the first steps that Sandra made when she came to the U.S. was applying for her green card or permanent resident card.
“Just because you married an American, does not grant you automatic residency. The first thing you have to do is to apply to be a resident,” Sandra said.
“You do the application, which normally takes six months to twelve months. It took us 26 months.”
According to Sandra, she was not allowed to work during this time period, and she couldn’t change her driver’s license either.
“I don’t think people realize when you come over, they won’t let you earn a living. You need to really have two years’ worth of savings or a good support network or there’s no way you can do it. It is so complicated,” Sandra explained.
Sandra also had to go through many more steps to receive her green card.
“You have to pay the government to apply. You have to go to the FBI St. Louis Field Office for biometrics at least four times to make sure you are the same person,” Sandra explained.
Months went by without hearing anything about her green card, so Chris and Sandra decided to contact Congressman John Shimkus to see why Sandra’s application was taking so long. About a month later, Sandra received her green card and she had to wait another month before it became active to return back to work.
After receiving her green card, Sandra had to wait three years before she could apply to become a U.S. Citizen.
The main reason that Sandra applied for citizenship was because she was very politically active in Canada. She also felt that everyone has the opportunity to run for a political office in the U.S.
“There is this huge thing that anybody can show up, anybody can be from any walk of life, and anybody can do anything in the United States,” Sandra said.
Sandra applied for U.S. citizenship and in May of 2023, she took the naturalization exam.
For the exam, Sandra was randomly asked 100 questions based on U.S History, English Comprehension, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and State and Federal Representations.
She also was required to have her biometrics done again.
“If everything works out well, they recommend you to the Federal Department of Immigration and they will decide. So, you can be refused until the very last second,” Sandra said.
“After you go through that process, you have a gray period where if you do any infractions you can also be booted out.”
On June 9, Sandra and 16 other new citizens attended the Naturalization Ceremony Program held at the Hannibal Courthouse in Hannibal, Missouri. The Honorable Brian C. Walsh presided. Sandra now has dual citizenship with Canada and the United States, but her allegiance has to be to the country she resides in.
Now, as a U.S. citizen, Sandra is allowed to vote, serve jury duty and run for a federal office.
Sandra is excited to be an American citizen and she would like to thank her husband and kids for supporting her over the years. She is also thankful for the Clark County community and how welcoming everyone has been since she came here.
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