There are 40 new Americans that have been naturalized Saturday during Jacksonville's popular 'World of Nations' event.
The candidates from 23 different countries read the oath of allegiance during during the 25th anniversary of the annual event hosted at Metropolitan Park.
The forty soon-to-be-Americans had waited patiently, including Mario Orac, for their opportunity to officially become U.S. citizens.
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“It’s been 18 years, a long journey,” Orac said. He came to the United States from Romania with just one leather suitcase to start a new life.
“You don’t have a lot of opportunities,” he said of his homeland.
And for Orac, it was worth the wait. “Eighteen years of hard work, but a great journey. It’s amazing, I’m a little shaky, but it’s official, official,” Orac says.
Also among the crowd was a couple from the Philippines. “America took our family in with open arms, no questions asked,” Saran Nhiev said.
U.S. citizenship and Immigrant Services naturalized approximately 750,000 people in 2016.