1. U.S. CITIZENSHIP
By Ashima Arora*
The importance of obtaining United States Citizenship cannot be
overemphasized. A naturalized U.S. Citizen has almost all the rights except
to run for the President of America. A person holding a lawful permanent
resident status (commonly referred to as “Green Card”) runs the risk of
loosing status if they stay oversees for more than six months or are convicted
of crime involving moral turpitude or aggravated felony. The crimes of
moral turpitude and aggravated felony are more often subjectively decided
and do not have set parameters. For instance a simple assault for pushing
spouse can be considered as a crime involving moral turpitude in one state
but not in the other. While no one intends to commit a crime but sometimes
one can be a victim of crime and find one in removal proceedings.
Benefits:
Some of the benefits of obtaining U.S. Citizenship are:
Right to obtain U.S. Passport;
Right to stay oversees for any length of time without fear of
loosing their legal permanent resident status;
Only U.S. citizens have right to Vote and are able to hold elected
public office;
U.S. citizens are able to sponsor immediate relatives (spouses,
unmarried minor children and parents) for Legal Permanent
Resident status without a long wait for a visa to become available.
Citizens may also sponsor these other relatives, subject to visa
availability:
a. unmarried adult sons and daughters;
b. married sons and daughters; and,
c. brothers and sisters.
Eligibility for many government-related jobs which often are
restricted to citizens only;

2. Citizens are always eligible for many government assistance and
benefits programs, Social Security and Medicare benefits, which
many non-citizens may not be.
Adopted or Natural Children under 18 May be Naturalized
automatically when a parent becomes citizen.
A citizen cannot be removed or deported
Exemption of estate taxes-The unlimited marital deduction which
allows one to leave mostly everything to spouse without having to
pay estate taxes does not apply to non-US citizens.
Requirements:
U.S. Citizenship can be obtained by i. birth in the U.S. or certain other
places, ii. the citizenship of one or more parents or iii. Combination of
location and parents’ citizenship and iv. by Naturalization. In this article, we
will be only focusing on Naturalization. Now that we know benefits, we
discuss the eligibility for Naturalization.
Generally a person can become a U.S. citizen if below criteria are met:
1. Be a lawful permanent U.S. resident;
2. Be 18 years of age or older;
3. Be a permanent resident for not less than five years. (If a person
obtained permanent residence through marriage to a U.S. citizen, they may
be eligible for naturalization in three years if the couple has been married for
3 years, if the spouse was a citizen during that entire period, and if the
couple are still living in marital unity);
4. Have resided for at least three months in the state where the petition
was filed;
5. Be physically present in the United States for at least one half of the
five years (or one half of three if spouse is a citizen), with no absences
longer than six months;
6. Have resided continuously within the United States from the date the
petition was filed to the time of admission to citizenship;
7. Have been a person of good moral character for the five years of
residence (or in the case of a souse of a USC three years, or person in the
military one year);
8. Have an elementary level of reading and writing English. (Exceptions
to this rule exist for persons over 50, in the US for 20 years or more as a

3. permanent resident; and for persons over 55 , in the US for 15 years as a
permanent resident); and
9. Have a basic knowledge of the fundamentals of U.S. government and
history. (This requirement can be waived for people over 65 and have been
permanent resident for 20 years.)
10. Persons who are physically or developmentally disabled or have a
mental impairment are exempt from the English language and history and
government requirements.
Please note than members of U.S. Armed forces do not necessarily have to
be permanent resident and are an exception to the above listed general
requirements.
Dual Citizenship
The concept of dual citizenship means having nationality of two countries at
the same time. Each country has its own citizenship laws based on its own
policy and must be looked at simultaneously.1
Dual Nationality is permitted though not encouraged by United States if:
i. A foreign state does not divest its citizens of their
citizenship upon naturalization in foreign country i.e.
upon their naturalization in U.S;
ii. Naturalization of U.S. Citizen in a foreign country that
does not require U.S. Citizen to renounce his or her U.S.
Citizenship;
iii. Birth in United States to foreign nationals of countries
that follow the principle of jus sanguinis2.
A dual national must use his/her U.S. Passport when entering or leaving
United States.
Having detailed the importance and general criteria for naturalization, you
must take extra caution if you admitted to certain crimes though you may not
be convicted. Even though it may not be a conviction, the underlying
admissions of facts may bar you not only from naturalization but can place
you in removal. For instance theft crimes are considered as crime involving
1
For your convenience, a link to citizenship laws of the world is posted at ashimachocklaw.com under
resources.
2
The principle that a person's nationality at birth is the same as that of his natural parents

4. moral turpitude. Further during Naturalization process, your initial green
card application is also scrutinized for plausible fraud.
All applications for Naturalization are submitted on USCIS form N-400
along with supporting documentation establishing eligibility, fees and
photographs.
*Attorney Ashima Arora is licensed in Texas, California (inactive), Solicitor
(non-practicing) in England & Wales. For questions email
at ashima@ashimachocklaw.com or call at: 713.595.6657 or mail: P.O. Box
940543, Houston, TX 77094-7543
The information in this column is not intended as legal advice but to provide
a general understanding of the law.