How do i apply for US citizenship ?
2006-09-20 01:00:11 · 7 answers · asked by aditi d 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
If you're still living in your home country, you first have to apply for a visa to come live or work here. This may take years. Once you get your visa, you have to apply to become a legal permanent resident. When that application gets approved, you're issued a green card. If you're married to an American Citizen, you can apply for Naturalization (citizenship) 2 years and 9 months from the date you were approved for LPR. If you're not married, you have to wait 4 years 9 months to apply for Naturalization. The whole process may take years, and the fees for each application are at least $300 for each one. The Immigration and Naturalization Service will conduct a very thorough background investigation, make sure that you're not a convicted felon, all that fun stuff. When you go in for any interviews, make sure you bring any paperwork and documentation that they tell you to bring with you on your interview notification, because if you don't, the process will take even longer. You'll have to attend many interviews, get fingerprinted, submit passport photos, etc. The background checks can take anywhere from 2 weeks to several years, depending on what country you're coming from. People from China and pretty much every middle eastern country can expect a very long wait for your security checks. Don't be upset by this if you're an upstanding, law abiding person. The government is very cautious about letting in people from the middle east after the September 11th attacks. Just have patience, and try not to get too frustrated.
You'll have to take tests for American History/Civics, and reading, writing, speaking English clearly enough to get by. You only get 2 chances to pass the tests. If you fail any of them the second time, they will deny your application and you'll have to wait 6 months then apply again. You have to pay the $$$ every time you have to apply.
Once you get through all that, INS will either tell you during your interview that everything checked out ok and you're approved for Naturalization, or they'll send you the approval notice in the mail with the date, time and location of your Naturalization Oath Ceremony. This usually takes place at your nearest U.S. District Courthouse in front of a judge. You and any other applicants that have been approved will all be there, you'll raise your right hand and repeat the Oath of Allegiance after the judge, and the representatives from the INS will be there to pass out your Naturalization Certificate.
Gaining U.S. citizenship is a long, drawn-out process, but once you're in, you're in for good, so they have to be selective on who they let come to our awesome country. It's very hard to revoke someone's citizenship once they've been naturalized.
Now that I've got all that out of the way: If you're a nice person who will be a productive member of our society, good luck to you and I hope everything works out well for you.
If you're a terrorist trying to gain entry to kill more of our citizens, or a criminal, stay the hell out. If you're just going to come over here and mooch off the government, stay out.
2006-09-20 03:17:30 · answer #1 · answered by j.f. 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get a form from the US Citizenship and Immigration services web site at www.uscis.gov.
There is a whole lot of information here that would help you out and inform you of fees and where to apply.
Good luck!
2006-09-20 08:01:46 · answer #2 · answered by CATHOLIC PRIEST!! 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to the Federal office, Immigration Depatment, Maybe even the Post Office have the applications!
2006-09-20 08:09:17 · answer #3 · answered by alfonso 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
filling out the form is part of it need passport pics finger printing AND FEES DHS will do the investigation and you will be tested both for language skills and American History, you will be notified when the oath taking and place usually will be usually the US court house but federal judges often pick places of interest or other viable reasons
2006-09-20 08:11:02 · answer #4 · answered by aldo 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go down to the local U.S. Immigration and Naturalization office and fill out the paper work.They will then assign a date for your test. If you pass, then a date will be set for you Naturalization.
2006-09-20 08:04:19 · answer #5 · answered by WC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In case you are looking to become a US citizen, check out my "my journey to becoming a US Citizen" article at www.crjstudent.com
Best of Luck!
2013-10-27 01:20:41 · answer #6 · answered by Kim 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you dont, just get in.
2006-09-20 08:08:54 · answer #7 · answered by dudewtf? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋