County Clerk Kendall to Administer Oath of Allegiance at Naturalization Ceremony in Pawling

Poughkeepsie, New York: Dutchess County Clerk Bradford H. Kendall will host a Naturalization Ceremony and administer the Oath of Allegiance to approximately eighty individuals. The event will be held on Friday, April 13, 2018 at 2 in the afternoon at the Lakeside Park Auditorium in the Lathrop Center, 2 Lakeside Drive, Pawling, New York. The Honorable Christi J. Acker, New York State Supreme Court Justice, 9^th Judicial District, will preside over the ceremony. Dutchess County Sheriff Adrian H. “Butch” Anderson will deliver the keynote address.

Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is conferred upon a foreign citizen or national after he or she fulfills the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The bureau of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processes all naturalization applications and provides the clerk’s office with a list of the candidates selected to be naturalized. All petitioners must then participate in a Naturalization Ceremony and swear to the Oath of Allegiance in a formal court proceeding. At that time, they can change their names legally to have their new names appear on the Certificate of Naturalization.

The Dutchess County Clerk’s Office is honored to take part in the final step of the naturalization process. In Dutchess County, naturalization ceremonies are held bi-monthly to induct new citizens of the United States of America.

The ceremony is open to the public and all are invited to attend.