NEW YORK: “Age Is Just A Number”: 99-Year-Old Indian Woman Granted US Citizenship

NEW YORK: A 99-year-old Indian woman, Daibai, has embarked on a remarkable new journey after being granted US citizenship. Making the announcement, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) described Daibai as a “lively” individual.

“They say age is just a number. That seems true for this lively 99-year-old who became a #NewUSCitizen in our Orlando office. Daibai is from India and was excited to take the Oath of Allegiance. She’s pictured with her daughter and our officer who swore her in. Congrats Daibai,” USCIS said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

The USCIS also captured the touching moment where the nonagenarian is in a wheelchair and posing with the citizenship certificate. Also in the frame are her daughter and the officer who swore her in.

USCIS is tasked with handling immigrant visa petitions, naturalisation applications, asylum applications, and green card applications. The agency also handles petitions for non-immigrant temporary workers such as H-1B visas, which are used by hundreds of Indian techies to work in the US.

While several are celebrating Daibai’s getting citizenship, some Indian X users are questioning why it took so long for the US to complete the naturalisation process. The Indian woman has been staying in Florida with her daughter for years.

One user, in a sarcastic post, said, “Rumor has it that Daibai was in the Indian green card backlog, renewing her H-1B every three years, and now can finally retire.”

“Most Indians in employment based green card backlog would look like this by the time they get their green cards,” wrote another.