How To Become A U.S. Citizen

If you have any kind of a degree, diploma or even an educational certificate, you will know that it takes more than an application to get one. The same is true for U.S. citizenship. Citizenship involves a process you must undertake to gain your certificate. That process is called naturalization. There are several steps involved.

Step One - Immigration

Unless you were born to a U.S. citizen parent, the naturalization process begins with immigration. That is to say, before you can qualify to become a U.S. citizen, first you must become a permanent resident of the United States. This status is often referred to as having a green card - a card that proves you have attained the status of a permanent resident.

There are, roughly speaking, five ways to immigrate to the United States, that is to say, to become a permanent resident. You can get permanent residence through studies (leading to work and then residence), through employment, through an asylum claim, through family, or through investment. The diversity green card lottery and military service are not covered in this discussion, but are in the realm of the other less regular ways of immigrating.

Step Two - Five Years Residence

To become a U.S. citizen you must have first been an immigrant with a green card. You must have had a green card for five years, with one exception – that being someone who was sponsored by a U.S. citizen spouse to immigrate to the United States. Such a spouse only needs to have had the green card for three years.

Step Three - Physical Presence Half The Time

To be eligible to apply, you must have been physically present in the United States cumulatively at least half of the time you have had a green card – that is to say, either 2.5 years out of five, or 1.5 years out of three. In addition, you must have been resident in the state from where you are applying for citizenship for at least 90 days. To illustrate, a foreign worker gets a green card through a labor certification process where the employer persuades the Department of Labor after searching to fill a specific position in the company that there are no domestic workers ready, willing and able to take the job. After having the card for five years, and after living in say New York state for the last 90 days before applying, she applies and gets her citizenship.

Step Four - Good Moral Character

 You must be of good moral character during the five years prior to filing and up to admission, or in the case of a spouse for three years prior to filing and up to admission. Broadly speaking, what is involved here is not to have a criminal record. Some crimes, for example murder, lead to a permanent bar to citizenship. Otherwise, applicants are measured against the moral standard of an average U.S. citizen. Two requirements deserve special note. The first is that applicants who failed to register with the selective service between the ages of 18 and 26 years while in the U.S. may be found to have an adverse moral character. The same is true for persons who the government establishes pose a threat to national security interests, for example terrorists.

Step Five - Accepting the U.S. Constitution

You must be attached to the principles of the U.S. constitution and well-disposed to good order and the happiness of the United States. This requires applicants to reveal all organizations they were members of in the past. Communists, anarchists, Nazis and members of other subversive organizations are barred. Similarly, someone who joins such an organization within five years after getting citizenship can be denaturalized.

Step Six - Willing To Bear Arms

You must be willing to bear arms, perform noncombatant service or do work of national importance. This requirement has been held to be consistent with the selective service law such that draft dodgers can be denied citizenship.

Step Seven - Civics Test

You must demonstrate a knowledge of the English language, U.S. history and government. Applicants normally must pass an oral civics test applied by a U.S. citizenship officer at an interview. There are exceptions for older people and those with medical disabilities. In the 2020 version of the oral civics test, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer will ask you 20 questions from the list of 128 civics test questions. You must answer at least 12 of the 20 questions correctly to pass. Critics say the test will make getting citizenship much harder.

Step Eight - Oath of Allegiance

You must take a public oath of allegiance to the United States. This is the meeting that is often covered by the media as the last step in the naturalization process.  The process takes about 12 months and over 700,000 applicants are naturalized per year. After getting a citizenship certificate you can apply for a U.S. passport. The U.S. allows dual citizenship so you can be a citizen of another country and still qualify to be a citizen of America.

American citizenship is highly desired by millions of people worldwide. There are several reasons for that: You can travel with one of the most powerful passports in the world, accepted in over 180 countries. You can obtain federal benefits available only to U.S. citizens. You can apply to sponsor your relatives as immigrants from overseas. Your children automatically become U.S. citizens — even if they are born abroad. You cannot be deported to your country of former citizenship or nationality. You no longer have to deal with immigration paperwork such as renewing your green card. You can apply for jobs with the U.S. government including police forces. Only after becoming an American are you entitled to vote and to run for office. For a lot of people these benefits add up and make the process worthwhile.