PORT ANGELES — Vicky Barreda always wanted to become a U.S. citizen.
She just didn’t know how to do it.
“I didn’t know how to ask or who to ask,” Barreda said.
That changed for the 39-year-old Sequim woman at last year’s Citizenship Day, where anyone with valid permanent residency card can learn how to become a U.S. citizen.
This year’s Citizenship Day is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Jefferson-Clallam County Pro Bono Lawyers office at 816 E. Eighth Street in Port Angeles.
Immigration lawyers, law school students, paralegals and interpreters will be available to help people like Barreda begin the process.
Volunteers from the American Immigration Lawyers Association and Jefferson-Clallam County Pro Bono Lawyers will help prospective citizens fill out applications, answer questions and get processed for identification.
Barreda said the volunteers at Citizenship Day made her feel comfortable about applying for citizenship.
“I felt secure with myself,” said Barreda, who struggled for years to muster the confidence to send the application.
Barreda was one of about 20 who attended Citizenship Day last year.
Nancy Rohde, director of Jefferson-Clallam County Pro Bono Lawyers, said she is hoping for more on Saturday.
Barreda heard about Citizenship Day from her brother, Felipe Najera, who had already become a U.S. citizen.
By the end of last year’s workshop, Barreda had finally mailed the application — 15 years after moving from Guerrero, Mexico to San Diego.
In 1998, she moved from San Diego to Sequim, where she now runs a house cleaning business.
At first, Barreda struggled with the language barrier, which is part of the reason she waited so long to apply for citizenship.
She now speaks fluent English with a thick accent.
“Nothing is as difficult as you think it is,” Barreda said.
After receiving a response to her application in April, she drove to Tukwila to get fingerprinted in May.
“It was so fast,” she said.
Then came the hard part.
Barreda studied long hours to take the oral English and history exam.
“I was so nervous,” she said.
But Barreda had a reliable study partner — her son, Willy Barreda, 14.
They studied day after day, returning to the questions she got wrong.
“Every day we practice, we practice,” Barreda said.
“So finally when I go to the test, it was so easy.
“I was laughing at myself because I was worried. If you study and want to do it, you can do it.”
Barreda was sworn in as a U.S. citizen on Dec. 5 in Tukwila.
She said the $690 it cost her to apply for citizenship was money well spent.
“I felt so proud of myself,” she said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com
