Second Oath of Allegiance ceremony in 2013: Carrie Lynn Boylan becomes FSM citizen

Mrs. Boylan, getting ready for the pledge of allegiance while husband and sons watch from the side. President Manny Mori administers the oath. 

On December 17, Carrie Lynn Boylan became the second person in the history of the Federated States of Micronesia to obtain FSM citizenship through the new naturalization process when she renounced her US citizenship and received the Oath of Allegiance from President Manny Mori.  Mrs. Boylan’s father, Russel Jay Varner, is a US citizen and her mother, Rene’e Etscheit-Varner, a Pohnpeian from Nett Municipality, which made Mrs. Boylan a national of the FSM.  Pursuant to a change in the law, FSM nationals may apply for and be granted citizenship under Presidential approval.   Mrs. Boylan applied to become an FSM citizen by renouncing her US citizenship and applying for FSM citizenship through this new process.  Aliens (those individuals who are not born or adopted to an FSM father or mother), need Congressional approval to become FSM citizens.

The FSM Constitution does not allow adults to hold dual citizenship, that is, a citizen of both the FSM and another country.  However, when a child, who has at least one FSM citizen parent, is born in another country or to a parent who is a citizen of another country, the child maintains citizenship in both countries until, within three years after reaching his or her 18^th birthday, the child chooses which citizenship he or she wants to keep.  If no election is made, then the child automatically becomes a national and loses his or her citizenship. 

Mrs. Boylan was born in California, USA and moved to Pohnpei when she was less than two years old, where she grew up.  She later went back to the USA to receive her education and after that came back and stayed in Pohnpei to date.  Mrs. Boylan and her family have been engaged in the business commercial sector in Pohnpei State for more than 15 years.  She is the operator and owner of Perfume and Things and is also the operator and owner of Varner Boylan Corporation, a real estate agency.  Mrs. Boylan is married and has 4 children, 3 of whom were born in Pohnpei.

Present for the naturalization ceremony were family and friends of Mrs. Boylan as well as Foreign Affairs Secretary Lorin Robert, Justice Secretary April Dawn Skilling, and Chief of Staff Leo Falcam, Jr.    

For further information, email fsmpio@mail.fm.