Full Careers
How does one become an American citizen?
What are the prerequisites for American citizenship? I'm a high school student in Canada who plans on attending university in America, and on pursuing a career there. My father may move to the States for work. Would that affect the process? What would the process and waiting time be, in the first place? And what are the disadvantages of living in America without a citizenship? Thanks in advance. :)
Public Comments
- by entering the country illegally from Mexico and hiding somewhere in the big cities.
- a friend of mine is going through this process right now.i think you have to live here for like five years first. then you have to take a naturization test. its actully a pretty difficult test to pass. here is a great link to more info http://www.voteutah.org/learning/citizenship/become.html
- You would have to change your name. There are to many people with the name (turdblossom). Maybe we could accept you if you changed your name to COW PIE FLOWER! Just kidding, Good Luck!
- OK here's whats best get a student visa and tell your dad to get a work visa u can apply to state up to five years i believe. after you have been here on your visa's for two years go back to Canada and go to the u.s. embassy and tell them u are in the u.s. on a student visa and tell them that you would like to start the naturalization process for you to become and American citizen that way when u graduate from college you will be almost completely through with the naturalization process and u are welcome good luck sweetheart
- First, you have to qualify for permanent residency under one of the applicable provisions of the Immigration & Nationality Act -- being a political refugee, demonstrating that you are a uniquely skilled professional, marriage to an American citizen, winning the DV lottery, etc. Once you've become a permanent resident (which itself may take several years), you have to retain that status for 5 years (3 if you obtained it by marriage to a citizen) in order to qualify for the US citizenship. Retaining the permanent resident status means you cannot be absent from the US for more than 180 continuous days, unless you have a good excuse (such as participating in an academic program abroad), as well as filing income tax returns and not committing "crimes of moral turpitude". Once you've been a permanent resident for 4-and-a-half years, you may file your application for US citizenship, which may take several months to several years, depending on where you live (but typically, it takes years), to process. Bottom line -- although nominally, you are eligible for the US citizenship after holding the green card for 5 years, realistically it takes anywhere between 7 and 12 years to get one's naturalization certificate. (Unless you get lucky and happen to apply for your citizenship in the last year of the first term of a Democratic president who is running for re-election.) Merely attending a university in America does not entitle you to permanent residency and does not entitle you to an American citizenship. In fact, there are lots of misconceptions about immigration all over this board, so I'll try to clear up a few of the big ones: 1. Contrary to popular opinion, you can't get a US citizenship simply by living in the US for 5 years. Not even if you pay taxes. 2. You can't just "tell them you want to start the naturalization process", as Greg above so charmingly put it. You can't get a US citizenship just because you want to. You can't get a permanent residency (which is a prerequisite to the US citizenship) just because you want to. It's been a very long time since anyone could become a legal immigrant by just "getting on line and waiting like everybody else". Immigrating into the US is not about waiting; it's about fitting into one of the narrow (and mostly stupid) eligibility categories under the INA. 3. Owning land in the US does not entitle one to a US citizenship. It doesn't matter how large or how valuable the particular piece of land is. You can own half of Manhattan and still need a visa (or a visa waiver) to be able to come into this country. 4. Owning shares of stock in a US corporation does not entitle one to a US citizenship. 5. Owning ANYTHING in the US does not entitle one to a US citizenship. 6. Having money in a US bank -- even a lot -- does not entitle one to a US citizenship. Neither does giving money to US charities or non-profit organizations. 7. Being a student in the US does not entitle one to a US citizenship. It doesn't matter how many academic honors you win, whether you are on the Dean's List, etc. The student visa is a non-immigrant visa, and by the terms of the statute, cannot be converted into a green card. Can't be done. Having an American education will make it easier, of course, to obtain an H1B visa -- a non-immigrant visa which may *eventually* be converted into an immigrant visa, but it's a long way away from the "naturalization process".
