Thousands welcome new citizen with open arms after she got an Aussie-themed manicure for her Australian citizenship ceremony

An expat has impressed thousands of Australians with the sweet tribute she paid to her new home country for the Australian citizenship ceremony.

Mila moved to Australia from Ukraine in 2019 and officially became a citizen at a ceremony on the Sunshine Coast on Monday.

For the exciting occasion, the immigrant had her nails done with various Australian symbols and motifs, from Vegemite to State of Origin and a sunny beach.

The 38-year-old told FEMAIL she was ‘overexcited’ about her nails and took the opportunity to show everyone what she could do.

She shared her themed manicure on TikTok, which racked up thousands of views and prompted many to accept Mila as a new Australian with open arms.

For the exciting occasion, the immigrant had her nails done with various Australian symbols and motifs, from Vegemite to State of Origin and a sunny beach

Mila walked into the ceremony on Monday thinking it would be nothing more than a bit of formal administration, but was unexpectedly overwhelmed with emotion

Mila, who works as a forklift driver in a hardware store, explained the meaning of each nail with infectious laughter.

There was an Indigenous-inspired dot painting on her pinky finger and then the Australian flag on her ring finger.

The middle finger featured the iconic Vegemite logo, but Mila laughed that she could only master the letters ‘VEG’.

Mila then had a beach scene on her index finger and the word ‘Straya’ on her thumbnail.

On her other side was the logo for XXXX Gold beer, as well as a ‘Q’ for the State of Origin Queensland Maroons and a kangaroo on her little finger.

The tribute delighted Australian viewers, who said they were more than happy to welcome Mila to the country.

“The fact you added 4X makes you standard Aussie,” said one woman.

“Someone give this woman her citizenship!” another wrote and a third said: ‘You are the best, Aussie of the year’.

‘You have completely understood the Australian spirit, you are amazing! Congratulations on your citizenship!’ a fourth replied.

On her nails, Mila had a Vegemite logo, an Australian flag, indigenous-inspired dot painting, a sunny beach, XXX Gold, a kangaroo, the word ‘Straya’ and the ‘Q’ of the Queensland Maroons.

Even Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli (left), who was the presiding officer at the citizenship ceremony, was impressed with Mila’s manicure

“Talk about someone who has embraced our country!” someone added.

The Ukrainian-Australian first moved to Australia ten years ago, but returned to Europe not long after because she didn’t like it.

‘First time I lived in New South Wales. If you Google Australia they show you all these pictures of the beach and the sun, but when I lived in New South Wales they had snow and I wasn’t ready for that,” she said.

‘I thought my English was good, but no one could understand me when I spoke, and I couldn’t understand them. I couldn’t get a job and drive.’

Not long after her departure, she started missing Australia and decided to give it another chance in 2019.

“At one point I was offered a job and transferred to the Sunshine Coast. It was the first place where I felt like I belonged. The weather was nice and the people were nice.’

Mila walked into the ceremony on Monday thinking it would be nothing more than a bit of formal administration, but was unexpectedly overwhelmed with emotion.

Mila said she was pleasantly surprised at how “chill” and “relaxed” all the councilors present, including Taylor Bunnang (pictured), were at the event

“I thought they were going to call people up to the stage to hand over their certificates, but there were 261 others, it would have taken a few days,” she laughed.

“I’ve lived here for a while and I thought it was just an official ceremony, but as soon as they gave me my certificate when I walked in, I started crying.”

Mila showed her nails to ‘everyone’ because she ‘loved’ them so much.

Even Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli, who was the presiding officer at the citizenship ceremony, was impressed with Mila’s manicure.

Mila shared a video of one of Rosanna’s staffers taking a photo of the manicure while explaining what each nail meant, causing the mayor to laugh with delight.

She said she was pleasantly surprised at how “chill” and “relaxed” all the councilors present at the event were.

‘They were ordinary people talking to us and congratulating us. They were very casual. “I didn’t know government people could be so relaxed,” she said.