Ambreen Arif, native of Pakistan, will be keynote speaker at naturalization ceremony

GOSHEN — Ambreen Arif, a native of Pakistan who works in the Orange County Clerk’s Office, will be the keynote speaker at a naturalization ceremony to be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, April 4, in the County’s Emergency Services Center, 22 Wells Farm Road, Goshen.
County Clerk Annie Rabbitt will administer the Oath of Allegiance to the new citizens. Orange County Family Court Judge Lori Currier-Woods will preside over the ceremony.
Arif was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. Her husband, Syed Masood, came to the United in 1990. The couple was married in Pakistan in 1997, and Arif joined her husband in Rochester, N.Y., in 1999. After briefly living in Chicago, the couple moved to Orange County in 2002 and was naturalized in 2004.
Arif has been a recording and index clerk with the county for the last two years. She lives in Goshen with her husband and their three children, Myra, 16, Hamza, 14, and Ahmed, 12.
“Ambreen has a wonderful story and we are looking forward to her sharing it at the naturalization ceremony,” Rabbitt said. “It will resonate with the audience and the new citizens. Recognizing the new citizens and welcoming them to this great country is always an inspirational experience.”
The County Clerk’s Office hosts four naturalization ceremonies each year in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security (Citizenship and Immigration Services).