Matthew McConaughey & Camila Alves celebrate her American citizenship

I knew Camila Alves is from Brazil, but she’s been living in America for work and for her family for more than a decade, so this news surprises me. Camila became an American citizen this week. Seriously, it took that long! She lived in common-law marriage with Matthew McConaughey for so many years, all of their children were born in America (and all the kids are American citizens), and it’s only now that she was granted citizenship.

Matthew tweeted the photo of their family celebrating in what looks like a courtroom. He posted this message: “congratulations Camila on getting your U.S. citizenship today- another fellow and great American.” Camilla posted the same photo with the message: “Happy to say I now hold an American passport! I have so much respect and appreciation for this country. #newuscitizen.”

It’s possible that Camila simply lost track of time and applied for citizenship later than I would have expected. It’s also possible that her citizenship process didn’t begin until 2012, which is when she and Matthew married. The citizenship track isn’t easy on anyone, but it’s slightly easier if you’re married to an American citizen. That might have been one of the reasons why Camila “pressured” Matthew to marry her (those were his words, by the way).

My father became an American citizen after he married my mom and after I was born – he sort of did it out of necessity though, for work, so he could get a security clearance. He loved his adopted country though and he always said he enjoyed studying for his citizenship test. Anyway, I’m covering this because I love naturalization stories!

Photos courtesy of Twitter, WENN.

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