NASCAR Star Daniel Suarez Set to Become U.S. Citizen: 'It Shouldn't Be Easy'

When Daniel Suarez arrives at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race, the Monterrey, Mexico, native will compete as a U.S. citizen for the first time in his career.

Suarez’s U.S. Citizenship Oath Ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office in Charlotte, N.C.

“It’s a very long process,” Suarez said about the path to U.S. citizenship. “In a way, I’m glad it’s a long process because it shouldn’t be easy. I think that this is one of the best countries in the world and it shouldn’t be easy. I do think it should be a little bit cheaper. It’s pretty expensive to do the whole thing.”

Application fees for citizenship range from $380 to $760.

Suarez is becoming a citizen 12 years after moving to the United States.

“I could have done it sooner if I wanted to, but I never pushed the times as much as I could have,” Suarez said.

The Trackhouse Racing driver moved to the United States from Mexico with a tourist visa, then acquired a work visa, and eventually a green card.

“Then after five years, I had the option to apply for citizenship,” Suarez said. “So, it’s been a 10-to-12-year process for me.”

Suarez said the citizenship test was “one of the hardest things I have done in a long time.”

“Honestly, the reason why I study is because it was fun,” Suarez said. “I literally enjoyed learning about the history of the country … the governors, the representatives … all the history.

“Julia (Piquet, fiancé) helped me a lot. She was kind of like my teacher and then we were having fun in the (team) hauler wondering if the guys actually knew all of the history I was studying. So, we started asking questions at dinner. We actually had fun with it and because of that I was actually able to learn quicker.”