Learn all the tips, tricks and secrets to becoming a US Citizen with this simple to understand 4 1/2 hour DVD!
Believe it or not, some people are U.S. citizens and don't even know it. For instance, you may be a U.S. citizen if you have direct ancestors who were U.S. citizens, even if you were born elsewhere, or if your parents became U.S. citizens when you were a minor. People born in the United States who have lived most of their lives in other countries are U.S. citizens. If you fall into this category, you may mistakenly believe that your long absence from the country, plus voting or military activities elsewhere, have stripped you of U.S. citizenship. This is not the case. If your parents or grandparents were U.S. citizens, you may not realize that U.S. citizenship has been passed down to you. This is true even if you were born elsewhere and your parents or grandparents haven't lived in the United States for a very long time.
In general, you may apply for U.S. Citizenship or Naturalization if:
You have been a lawful permanent resident for five years.
You have been a lawful permanent resident for three years, have been married to a US citizen for those three years, and continue to be married to that US citizen.;
You are a lawful permanent resident child of United States citizen parents: or
You have qualifying military service.
The U.S. Citizenship And Immigration Services (USCIS)
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States of America. This is where you go to begin your process to apply for immigration naturalization and to learn about the immigration laws. You may use the services of an immigration lawyer to help you with this process as the current laws of immigration and new immigration laws expected to come about due to homeland security concerns can seem to be complicated to the newcomer to this country that wants to become citizen. The U.S. laws on immigration require that you take a citizenship test an also fulfill other document requirements such as required by immigration law asylum requests.
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was a part of the United States Department of Justice and was responsible for enforcing legal and illegal immigration laws and naturalization. It ceased to exist on March 1, 2003. Most of these functions were transferred to three new agencies within the newly created Department of Homeland Security.
Naturalization of Members of the Armed Services
One path to citizenship is through the military. Members of the U.S. armed forces can apply for naturalization under a streamlined process established by sections 328 and 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Under section 328, if the servicemember has served honorably for one or more years, is a lawful permanent resident, and is filing an application for naturalization while still in service or within six months of being discharged, he or she is eligible for U.S. citizenship. Under section 329, if the servicemember has served during an "authorized period of conflict", he or she is eligible to apply for naturalization if the servicemember has served honorably during the authorized period of conflict; after enlistment, was lawfully admitted as a permanent resident OR at the time of enlistment, re-enlistment or induction was physically present in the United States or a qualifying territory. Authorized conflicts include World War One, Sept. 1, 1939 to Dec. 31, 1946; June 25, 1950 to July 1, 1955; Feb. 28, 1961 to Oct. 5, 1978; and Sept. 11, 2001 and after. No fees are charged for these naturalization processes and the process is available overseas at U.S. embassies, consulates and at certain military installations. Special naturalization procedures apply to those who served on active duty on behalf of the U.S. armed forces during certain military hostilities defined by law. A surviving spouse of a U.S. citizen who died during periods of honorable service on active duty are also eligible.
Normal Naturalization Process
The process by which people from foreign countries become U.S. citizens is called naturalization. There are three steps in this process:
Filing of an application for citizenship
Passing a naturalization examination test
Appearance at a court hearing
To become a naturalized citizen you must meet certain requirements:
You must be at least 18 years old;
Have lived in the U.S. as a legal resident for at least 5 years;
Be of good moral character and loyal to the U.S;
Be able to read, write, speak and understand basic English;
Have basic knowledge and understanding of the history, government structure and the Constitution of the U.S.;
Be willing to take an oath of allegiance to the U.S.;
Immigration Shortcut: The Diversity Visa:
In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act did away with national-origin quotas that were in place since the Immigration Act of 1924. However, the Department of State realized that certain countries always had more visa applications than others. To make the process more proportionate, the Diversity Lottery program was set up to allow for those countries with lower representation to have a special opportunity to apply. Thus, U.S. Congress amended the Immigration and Naturalization Act in 1990 to provide for a class of immigrants known as ‘diversity immigrants’. In order to insure that there are a total of 50,000 qualified applicants, 110,000 applications will be accepted during the 61 day window of opportunity. This is to account for the fact that many applications will have incomplete information or the applicant cannot fully qualify for the diversity visa.
The Immigration and Nationality (INA) Act of 1952 also known as the McCarran-Walter Act was changed several times since its creation. It is a stand alone body of law, but it is also included in the United States Code. It contains articles called titles which are divided into chapters, and these are divided into sections.
The INA Act has changed restrictions imposed on immigrants from certain countries and adopted a preference system based on the importance of work qualifications. In general, the Immigration and Naturalization Act divided all potential immigrant into groups: refugees, family members of U.S. citizens (exempt from any quotas and generally admitted to America without any restrictions) and other immigrants who should not exceed 270,000 in any one year. The Act also gave the U.S. government powers of denying entry to the U.S. to people who were engaged in subversive activities, or suspected of such activities, as well as, deporting naturalized citizens.
After September 11, 2001 the Act has been reconfigured several times by Presidential executive order in connection with suspected terrorists' deportations and admissibility which continues to be a hot topic and very often receives wide media coverage.
The years 2006 and 2007's brought several different attempts to reform U.S. immigration law but failed so far, and it remains to be seen which option will prevail once immigration reform is passed in the coming years.
About The Author: