Our procedures for admitting people to citizenship are a wonderful thing.

My neighbor, a Brit who married an American woman, has had to put up with the inconveniences and expense of the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Department for many years. Please note that this man has no criminal record, owns two houses in the U.S., pays U.S. taxes as required, the whole five yards.

Thus far he has been living in the U.S. with a visitors visa. On a couple of occasions, the Immigration Department told him he would have to return to England because they had not processed a renewal of his visa in the time they said they needed to do so. I don't remember the cost of the visa and renewals, but I do recall thinking it was extraordinarily expensive when he told me. One one occasion, he was not able to return to the U.K. for his mother's funeral because his visa was still being processed and he was afraid that if he left the U.S., he would not be permitted to return to his wife because of the expiration of his visitor's visa.

Yesterday he told me he is applying for U.S. citizenship. Out of curiosity, I asked the process and the cost. The process takes several months and will require he and his wife to drive from The Villages to downtown Orlando 3-4 times for various interviews, the citizenship test, etc. He said the cost of becoming a U.S. citizen will be $1,800!

If I ever had any question why immigrants stay illegal...and why there probably is a crying need for some sort of amnesty program to encourage them to become citizens...it's been the experience of my neighbor.

Ridiculous!