Former Alabama OL Arie Kouandijo will become an American citizen Tuesday
By Jason Hall
Published:
Former Alabama and current Washington Redskins offensive lineman Arie Kouandijo will officially become an American citizen Tuesday, according to AL.com.
A special naturalization service will be held at the U.S. Department of Labor headquarters in Washington D.C. for the former Tide standout and 44 other immigrants. Kouandijo and his family relocated from Cameroon to the United States in 1998 when he was six years old.
Now 24, Kouandijo is proud to have achieved success in a sport cherished by his adopted nation.
“It means a lot to be going through this and be able to call myself an American,” Kouandjio said.
Kouandijo was inactive for his first career NFL game Monday. Although he’s trying to make the transition to the professional level, he was willing to miss time in order to complete his naturalization process, which included filling out paperwork and getting fingerprinted for an FBI background check.
Kouandijo recently took part in an interview and successfully completed a 10-question civics test.
“It’s been a very important part of my life these past few months,” said Kouandjio, who was inactive in Washington’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last night. “I just had to manage that and football. A few times I had to miss meetings and stuff like that.”
Jason covers SEC football for Saturday Down South.
