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The morning started like any other for Jair Ararat in Colombia, South America. He prepared for work. He said goodbye to his family. But as he walked out his front door, he saw his neighbor’s body lying in the yard. That is when Ararat knew he had to make a change.<\/p>\n
That was 18 years ago. After that morning, Ararat brought his family of four from Colombia, South America, to Columbia, South Carolina. His family has been here legally, but as of last month, Ararat and his wife are now American citizens.<\/p>\n
“It feels nice you know, to feel like you are a part of the country officially. A part of the community and all that,” Ararat said.<\/p>\n
Ararat has been giving back to the community for a long time. He teaches in his native tongue and coaches his favorite sport as a way of bringing a part of his former country to the United States. Ararat is a Spanish teacher for Spring Hill High School and soccer coach at Dutch Fork High School. When he was in Colombia he actually taught English. When it came to soccer, he was a striker.<\/p>\n
“Oh yeah. I liked to score. I scored a good bit,” said Ararat as he chuckled with a big smile.<\/p>\n
Ararat has been in the U.S. for years, working and giving back to the community, but it took 18 years to officially become a citizen. To\u00a0become a citizen of the United States you have to fill out the N-400 application, or the naturalization application. In order to fill this out you have to check off a couple of boxes:<\/p>\n
Then after this, you have to take a verbal and written test.\u00a0The cost of an application is $725.<\/p>\n
“Many people just cannot afford to pay $725,” Ararat said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Today, there are many different opinions about immigration, the process of immigration, and immigrants in the United States.<\/p>\n
“Don’t believe what people say. You know right. There are a lot of different versions of immigrants. Try to get to know the people and make your own judgment,” Ararat said.<\/p>\n
He says for the most part, the people applying to become citizens legally are already giving back and being productive to the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ararat is looking forward to the access he will have with an American passport. He can now qualify and apply for different federal positions that he was excluded from, and he’s excited about what it could mean for his family.<\/p>\n
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On a Friday afternoon Jair Ararat teaches his Spanish 3 Honors class at Spring Hill High School.<\/p>\n
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Located right behind Ararat’s desk in his classroom hangs this plaque that he received in 2012 to recognize him for his coaching success.<\/p>\n
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The journey to U.S. citizenship was a long one for Jair Ararat but he is happy that he fulfilled his dream. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":21215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
The morning started like any other for Jair Ararat in Colombia South America. Getting ready to go to work. Recently married and starting his family. He said goodbye to his family when he opened his front door and saw his neighbor, shot and dead in his front yard. That is when Jair knew he had to make a change.<\/p>
That was 18 years ago. After that morning Jair brought his family of four from Colombia, South America, to Columbia, South Carolina. His family has been here legally the entire time, but as of last month, Jair and his wife are now American citizens.<\/p>
\"It feels nice you know, to feel like you are a part of the country officially. A part of the community and all that,\" Ararat said.<\/p>
He already has been giving back to the community for a long time. Ararat is a Spanish teacher for Spring Hill High School and then leaves work to go to his side gig. Coaching soccer at Dutch Fork High School.<\/p>
Bringing a part of his former country here. To teach his first language, and then his favorite sport. When he was in Colombia he actually taught English. When it came to soccer he was a striker. When I asked him if he scored a lot he chuckled with a big smile, \"oh yeah. I liked to score. I scored a good bit,\" said Ararat.<\/p>
So many years being here, working and giving back, but it took 18 years of being here to officially be a citizen. The reason it took so long is that there are a lot of things that you have to do before becoming a citizen.<\/p>
The become a citizen of the United States you have to fill out the N-400 application, or the naturalization application. In order to fill this out though you have to check off a couple of boxes.<\/p>
1. Have you been a legal continuous permanent resident for at least 5 years in the U.S?
2. Are you 18 years old or older?
3. Do you have a green card?<\/p>
Then after this, you have to take a verbal and written test. Total costs of all of this $725 per application.<\/p>
\"Many people just cannot afford to pay $725,\" Ararat said.<\/p>
\"We could also make the test a little more conducive for people coming to America. Obviously English is an important step, but I think we could work a little better with people who speak broken English than we do,\" Ashley Cannon said. He has spent the last four months teaching a class that helps immigrants that meet the N-400 requirements prepare for the test.<\/p>
Where America currently is culturally there are many different opinions about immigration, the process of immigration, and immigrants.<\/p>
\"Don't believe what people say. You know right. There are a lot of different versions of immigrants. Try to get to know the people and make your own judgment,\" Ararat said.<\/p>
For the most part the people applying to become citizens legally are already giving back and being productive to the community.<\/p>
\"The people I interacted with were so gracious to our country, they love America. Many of them have already lived in America for a while now and just want to be more a part of America,\" Cannon said.<\/p>
Now though Ararat is officially an American citizen. Some of the more exciting things for him is the access he will be able to have with an American passport. He can now go for some different federal positions that he was not able to before, but also just excited what this means to his family.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[823,819,820],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21036"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21599,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21036\/revisions\/21599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}