Joni Mitchell Becomes a U.S. Citizen: ‘A Journey That Began 62 Years Ago’

Sixty-four years after she first arrived in the United States, Joni Mitchell has officially become a U.S. citizen.

Mitchell shared the news via Instagram, holding an American flag. She also posted a video of her receiving official documentation, paired with the caption “A journey that began 62 years ago.”

The news arrives six years after Mitchell’s longtime Canadian pal Neil Young obtained his U.S. citizenship (his process was delayed because of the “good moral character” provision on the immigrant application, when he admitted to smoking weed).

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As Rolling Stone reported earlier this year, Cameron Crowe’s upcoming Mitchell biopic will star Meryl Streep as an older version of Joni. “It’s a movie that will be not from a distance,” Crowe said of the project. “This is from her perspective, her life, looking out.”

Last spring, Mitchell was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Juno Awards, where she appeared onstage and performed alongside Sarah McLachlan and Allison Russell. “I had a [brain] aneurysm, which changed my life — oddly, for the better,” she said during her acceptance speech. “I went into a coma, which helped me to quit smoking. And my house filled up with the most wonderful nurses. I was on the road with men for years and years; now I live with a house full of women. So my life has changed for the better, out of a catastrophe, like a phoenix who grows a better life.”

Next month will mark the 50th anniversary of Mitchell’s landmark album, Hejira, which appeared on Rolling Stone‘s new list of the 76 Best Albums of 1976.