How Can I Obtain U.S. Citizenship?
There are only two paths to citizenship in virtually any country on the planet: citizenship through birthright and citizenship through naturalization. Those who are neither born on U.S. soil nor to at least one American parent must naturalize in order to obtain U.S. citizenship. Naturalizing is a long process that begins first with an immigrant visa followed by a green card and fulfilled residency period. Once you naturalize, however, you receive the same rights, responsibilities and benefits as held by natural-born U.S. citizens.
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Instructions
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Obtain permanent residency. To naturalize as an U.S. citizen, you must fulfill a residency period as a Legal Permanent Resident. There are virtually four paths to permanent residency; sponsorship through a family member, sponsorship through an U.S. employer, marriage to an U.S. citizen and the Diversity Visa Lottery. Family, marriage and work visas all require a sponsorship petition to be filed by the sponsoring U.S. citizen on behalf of the immigrant. Once the petition is filed and approved, application for the immigrant visa as well as path to applying for permanent residency can begin. The Diversity Visa Lottery is a program that sets aside a certain number of visas per year to winners randomly selected from an application pool. Only citizens of certain nations underrepresented in the U.S. immigrant population are qualified to apply for the DV lottery.
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Follow all of the rules and regulations required for naturalization. Once you have permanent residency (a green card), you must obey the rules to remain in status and qualify for citizenship. To qualify for citizenship, a permanent resident must remain in the U.S. for a continuous five years (as of 2011). The only exception is for the spouses of U.S. residents, spouses require only three years of continuous residency before qualifying for citizenship. Continuous residency implies remaining in the U.S. with absences no longer than one year at a time. If absent from the U.S. for one or more years at a time, even if you hold a reentry permit, your five or three year residency period will start over from year one. Additionally to the residency requirements, citizen applicants must have a clean criminal record. Even a misdemeanor conviction can prevent the acceptance of an application for citizenship application.
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Apply for U.S. citizenship through the USCIS. To apply for citizenship, you must file Form N-400 Application for Naturalization and pass both an English language exam and an U.S. civics exam. Once your application is approved along with your exams, you will be required to attend a citizenship swearing ceremony. At the ceremony, you must pledge allegiance to the flag and to the U.S. government. Following the ceremony you will be presented with your certificate of naturalization.
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