PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The State Department officially opened a new passport office in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
It’s located in the Robert N. C. Nix federal building at Ninth and Market streets in Center City, in what used to be a post office facility.
It’s three times the size of the old office, which was in the old Customs House at Second and Chestnut streets. It will be able to process more than 150,000 passports a year.
U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken capped the festivities with a swearing-in ceremony for 24 new citizens from 17 countries. He noted that many high-ranking members of his staff once went through the same process.
“We come from the most diverse country on Earth,” he said. “We’re operating in a world that’s incredibly diverse. That diversity is the source of our strength, and if we’re not making full use of it, we’re shortchanging ourselves.”
Blinken thanked the new citizens for making the choice to become Americans.
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It was an emotional moment for many in the audience, but perhaps none more than Natalia Smith and her son Roman, originally of Ukraine. Smith’s American husband launched them on the path to citizenship but died before seeing them gain it.
“I feel very proud and very grateful for this land to accept me as a citizen,” she said. “I’m ready to serve the community and work and live according to the declaration.”
Even Congressman Brendan Boyle, who was there with the entire local congressional delegation, was touched.
“It was more emotional than I was anticipating,” he admitted, “and I was remembering back to when I was 6 years old and my father became a citizen. It’s the story of America and who we are.”