(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa held its first naturalization ceremony on campus Friday since the pandemic. New citizen Ya Hya was born in the Sudan and has been in the U-S for about six years. He said through an interpreter that gaining citizenship means a passport for travel. “If you have a U-S passport, you can travel, you can stay here. You don’t have to worry about deportation,” he said.

Chuyu Lee  emigrated to the U-S from Taiwan on a student visa, and said he’d like to see the government clarify what is permitted for international students who rely on those visas. “It would be great if the government could give a clear indication of what people can or can’t do under which visa,” he said. “That would be a help, and would clarify some confusion in the future.”

There were around 70 new citizens who took part Friday, and they came from more than 25 countries, and their ages ranged between 20 and late 70s.