According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Missoula has will have three Naturalization services in 2018, with the first kicking off this week. Debbie Cannon is the Public Affairs Officer for Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Montana and she says a large number of people will become new U.S. citizens.

“On Thursday March 22 at 11:00 a.m., we will be at the Russell Smith Federal Courthouse on East Broadway,” said Cannon. “We are going to make 29 people from 17 countries new U.S. citizens. We have got from Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom and in Vietnam.”

Cannon says there is one important thing they recommend new citizens do after the ceremony.

“Of course we also encourage them to register to vote,” Cannon said. “At some of our ceremonies, not so much the courthouse ones, but ones that are not in a judicial setting, we might have someone there registering them to vote as soon as they become new citizens.”

During the 2017 fiscal year, 350 people in Montana became U.S. citizens compared to 311 people in 2016.

For information about immigration and naturalization go to the USCIS website.

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