American Citizenship
American Citizenship
US is one of the few countries in the world that offer citizenship to nationals of other countries and an opportunity for people to advance their own conditions and thus help the US economy with their abilities as well. Citizenship of the United States is granted to an applicant in different ways. Some of the more prominent ways being, skilled immigration, political asylum, adoption of children born to non US parents etc. Apart from the last category, all immigrants who seek American citizenship need to possess and have certain qualities that may be required by the country. The USCIS and the home department being the sole authority in the final decision making of all application that they may have received.
The immigration and naturalization act sets the legal requirements for the gaining of American citizenship. Changes made to the fourteenth amendment have made such acquisitions more explicit since 2001.
All children born in the United States and its territories are granted American citizenship as a birthright. This right however, does not apply to children of diplomats of other countries based in the United States. The law also applies to children born to US nationals living abroad and all legally children adopted by US nationals irrespective of their country of origin. This law also applies in cases where one parent of the child is a US national.
Some of the other methods that make a person eligible for US citizenship are;
- Lawful permanent residence in the country for five years
- Lawful permanent residence in the country for three years and married to a US citizen, and continue to remain married to the same person
- A lawful permanent child of parents who are US citizens
- You have the qualifying military experience
Children under 18 automatically gain US citizenship when the parents are granted the status. Further information about the same may be gathered from the USCIS.
As a part of the application process for American citizenship, the candidate will have to prepare for the required tests and ensure that all required documents are submitted to the naturalization department as required. There will be a need for the candidate to also be prepared for the tests about US History, government structure and English proficiency.
The final step to be granted a US citizenship would be to wait for an approval to be received and swear allegiance to the country. That would be the day that an immigrant could lawfully call themselves a US Citizen.
