What does it ACTUALLY take to become a US Citizen after 17 years...

It took me 17 years to become a US citizen. It was quite rocky and emotional moment. I actually went through a lot. I was stuck in China twice and went through multiple rounds of H-1B lottery and my green card process was significantly delayed because of a new policy from the president. It was way harder than what I thought, but most people gave up in the middle of the process. But, I did lots of things above and beyond the most people do not do, but eventually pushed me through the finishing line. If you are determined to start a new life and a career in the US, you need to continue watching this >> [music] >> Hey guys, this is Dr. Nancy Li of Product Alliance Forum. I've helped thousands people land a dream PM job offer in FANNG companies, a unicorn startup, and continue get promoted as a product leader. In this channel, we talk about tech trends and free product management training. Like and subscribe and turn on the bell button to be notified every time I post a new video every Tuesday. Here's my rocky, emotional, 17-year journey to become a US citizen. First of all, you actually need to decide you actually want to become a US citizen or not because China does not allow dual citizenship. So, I actually felt very, very vulnerable and very sad to give up my Chinese citizen because I do love China and I do believe my country China actually raised me very well to really love my own country. I'm proud who I am, proud of being a Chinese the whole time. I actually do not want to become a US citizen for really, really, really long time. But, as many things were triggered by me wanting have my parents to live with [music] me in the US because I need to become citizen first so I can sponsor the green card for them move here, live in the US legally, and also take care of my children. And [music] I deeply felt sad that my children does not have enough grandparents love, and I just want to have a big family and the love I usually have that when I grew up, I spent all the time with my grandparents. My children wasn't able to have those opportunities. So, I while my parents live here in the long term and being able to see my children 24/7 if we want. But anyway, I actually feel very sad giving up my Chinese citizenship for the family, but as a decision had to make and sacrifices for the whole family's happiness. So, actually getting the green card is harder than getting a citizenship. It took me 11 years to get my green card. It's crazy. I got EB1B green card, but it took me 11 years. It was because there's a lot of ups and downs and policy change. For example, I was stuck in China twice, not able to come back to the US because my PhD was in material science. It felt it had something to do with national security, so need to do very detailed background check and to see if I am safe and qualified to return back to the US. And then, you would thought H-1B should be fast to get a green card. However, there's a lot of presidential changes because once we change president multiple times, Trump changed many, many processes regarding immigration, getting green card. Even if EB1B was the hardest one to get and usually should be very fast, but because of the change of policy, and my EB1 application was delayed multiple times. And I had filmed a separate video break down the details of me how to get my EB1B green card. You can check out the video right here with all the timeline >> [music] >> I described there. And even when I apply for EB1B green card, I had five lawyers. I consulted five lawyers. Four of them saying that Nancy, I don't think you can get EB1B unless you go back to do a postdoc. But at the time, I'm already a director product and being a product manager for like four years. I don't want to go back to do the postdoc doing research again. I really love being a product manager. I don't want to do material science research. So, I keep on finding new lawyers. Next one, next one, next one until somebody was able to take my case, being able to get into EB1B categories and without going back to do research again. But, all the effort paid back. So, important lesson I really want to share with you guys is that if one lawyer said no, keep on looking. Maybe look for the 10th lawyer until someone is able to create very strong case for you to continue to pursue your career passion as well as getting your green card and citizenship. However, after a long wait and in September 2020, I got my green card in my mail that I received. Then I entered the second very long period of wait time to wait for citizenship. I personally decided to not go through marriage green card or marriage citizenship. And I personally decided to not go through marriage path to get my citizenship or green card. I just want to do it on my own. So, that I don't feel like I'm attached to a man, you know, I I can get by myself, let me do it. But, it's much longer process in terms of wait time. So, usually if you on marriage green card, you're able to get citizenship within 3 years wait time. But, if you getting citizenship by yourself through work, and you need to wait for 5 years in the pipeline to start even applying for citizenship. However, there's a unique twist. Surprisingly, when I applied by myself, my speed is way faster to get my citizenship compared with my friend who's going through marriage uh citizenship or marriage green card process. Here's a breakdown. I submit my citizenship application on Easter Sunday, which is April 5th, 2026. >> [music] >> And went really fast, on April 30th, I already received the fingerprint invitation. And 3 weeks later, May 17th, and I received the notification to get ready for my naturalization exam. And then June 25th, 1 month later, I flew back to Miami to finish my naturalization exam, which is a citizenship exam. They're going to ask you a lot of questions about your history, and you only have two chance to pass the exam. If you fail both, you will be permanently denied to become a US citizen. So, it's like a very worrying exam. There's 125 questions you need to understand, remember, and memorize, and present very well during the exam. And there is a secret weapon I recommend everyone to use. Literally, this is right here, the flash card I got on Amazon, and that you're able to use it to prepare for your citizenship exam. I got a link in the description of the show note that you can leverage and buy those flash cards as well. What really surprised me and worried me during the naturalization exam was that everybody else was bringing different kind of documentation than me. I was so worried. Literally, there are tons of people who can see this picture right now. There's so many people like waiting in line getting citizenship exam. The room is full of people. And then everybody else, there's so many people who went in with whole stack of paperwork. I went in with just a piece of paper and my flash card to prepare for the exam. I went in with a piece of notice. I went in with a piece of appointment paper, as well as my green card. And that's it to prepare for my exam. And then the everybody else was have a stack of papers. Oh god, I forgot something. I'm so worried. And later on, when I reflect on the self, I realized that a lot of people went in through marriage green card or marriage citizenship. Their husband need being present for some reason. Like husband getting interviewed, the wife getting interviewed, and then had to prove they are legally married, not married for green card, not married for citizenship. Literally, on the wall, there's so many signs saying that it's illegal to marry for green card. It's like so much that against people getting green cards or citizenship through marriage. That's what's going on. And then everybody else went in to prove that true true love, true marriage. And without me, I was the only one who said, "Okay, so did I miss something? Am I going to get get auto reject?" Well, it turned out it's [music] I brought the right documentation. They brought their documentation. By the way, fun fact, people also dress differently for citizenship exam. I dress very nicely, but people dress like this. They can see the picture like that. But, interesting, interesting. Okay. Anyway, so the officer told me that I passed the exam on the spot. And it was very exciting moment. However, when I walked outside of the exam room, I've seen other people an old lady crying outside. I guess she didn't pass. It's very sad. People actually do not pass. So, be prepared, everybody. Another important tips is that arrive early. It took me 2 hours waiting. So, arrive as early as possible so they can get in early. And then 3 weeks later, I was invited to the oath ceremony. It's like crazy, really fast. It was a dry 17th. It's actually happened on 8:30 a.m. July 17th. There are 40 people coming from 23 countries actually become US citizen. And I believe they're only Chinese and actually in all the rooms because in Miami, so lots of Latino countries were there. I'm the only Chinese. Interesting. It was actually a very, very emotional event. And we have some guests. We have some immigrant story getting told. And the judge almost cried telling his own immigration journey. He's basically talking about his grandparents who moved here, started some grocery store, having two shifts, trying to raise a family. And his mom actually remarried three times and finally [music] raised him being a single mother with a child. And now he's a judge. Yeah, immigrant story was told. And other judges who who were immigrant here was into the US 40 years ago. Now they're one of the top judge at the federal court. And within 40 years, you can transform a family's trajectory from someone just working a grocery store all the way to the top judge in different federal court. And this truly is very relevant to another movie I just watched this weekend. It's called Million Miles Away. It's about Mexican farmer immigrant and he his son was able to become astronaut in the US, but he continued pushing toward his dream. He was rejected again and again by NASA. He continuously improving himself, applied for NASA for 12 years. And finally and was able to become astronaut and sent to the space. To be very frank with you guys, all those study of your history hearing all the immigration stories made me profoundly realize the value of the country, which is freedom. It's It's the most fair playground if you're able to put in the effort, start own company, or working for other people, other company, raise in the organization, pursue the career and life success you are looking for. Not like other countries, many many other country has so much corruptions or have so much class systems. The people in the bottom class can never climb up. I was one of those people who moved to the US with only $800 in my pocket, got my PhD, and tried to fight really hard to get my first job, and get climb in the US organization. And I became one of the youngest engineering PhD, and also became one of the youngest [music] director product in Fortune 500 companies. This story will never ever happen in China or in any other country that I known of, just because people like us with no money, no place, no say in the society was able to climb up that fast. And as long as we work hard, we never give up on our dreams, this opportunity is available for everybody. Therefore, I also have important question for all the audience right now. Are you the ones who actually determined to become a US citizen, continue pushing towards many important things in your life? Could be landing a job as a product manager, could be become the best mom, could be try I hard to help your kids go into Harvard. This country gives everybody a fair opportunities if you're the one continue pushing, upscaling yourself, gaining all the resources to find the shortcut advantage, continue grow your career. Everything is possible. I'm living proof of seeing how exactly has transformed my life with someone only $800 in my pocket with my scholarship studying in the US with no tech background was able to start my own company as taught over 2,000 product managers and getting paid $800,000, $1 million and including starting salaries as $100,000 as cannot become true if you or me stop pushing towards our dream. [music] So, comment below. Why do you want to become US citizen? Are you also on the path get your green card or citizenship? Why do you want to move to the US? Like this video and comment below. There's also important tips and observations I've seen. I don't know why my citizenship application process was only 3 months. But, [music] it took my friend like a year and half and he still hasn't gotten his US citizenship yet. And my hypothesis could be multiple things. Could be different cities. I'm in Miami, my friend's in Boston. And could also be I got through the citizenship green card by myself. There's less evidence I need to provide. And my friend got got it through marriage. So, marriage maybe you need to have a husband, different people participate. You need more background evaluation, many different reasons. Took my friend more than a year and half and she's still waiting. And got me and took me only 3 months. So, short answer is depends on many different things. If you're also in the pipeline waiting for your citizenship, think about what can you and always believe this. As long as you keep fighting towards your dream, you're going to get it one day. >> [music] >> Think about your future generation. You're going to be the next next action that that could be your kids or yourself as well. AI product managers are getting paid the highest in the tech industry up to $1 million. dollars. So, if you are someone who is also very determined grow your career and get the high income salaries, you may consider growing your career as a product management. If you want to learn more about how you are able to get our help to grow your career in the US as a product manager, you can book a call with our team and start your free consultation. I also know many of you guys watching this, you might be in the process of getting your H-1B or getting your green card. And I have a separate video where I break down the 11 years journey, the ups and downs, how I got my EB1B green card was in 11 years, what strategies and challenges and inspiration at the years. And feel free to check out this video right here. This is Dr. Nancy Li from pmaccelerator.io. Like, comment, subscribe to this channel and turn the bell button. I'll see you in my next video right here.