Naturalization conditions and application procedures in the United States

After obtaining a green card in the United States, you must apply for naturalization in the United States. Naturalization conditions require applicants to hold a green card for more than 5 years and live in the application state for more than 3 months. Of course, there are prophetic requirements. Living in the United States for more than five years is basically nothing, unless you are a liar. No criminal record, this is the most important thing, but also to understand American history and national conditions. Naturalization is a procedure for foreigners to become American citizens. Foreigners who want to become American citizens by naturalization must meet certain requirements.

(a) Specific requirements for naturalization in the United States

1. Technical requirements

Generally speaking, the prerequisite for naturalization is that foreigners must first have permanent residency in the United States; You must be at least 18 years old when submitting your naturalization application. These two items apply to applicants who submit their applications separately. If the child is under the age of 16, he can be naturalized automatically with his parents; /kloc-If you are over 0/8 years old, you can only apply separately.

2. Residence requirements

Before submitting an application for naturalization, foreigners must live in the United States continuously for a period of time. If foreigners are not married to American citizens and want to apply for naturalization, they must continue to live in the United States and hold a green card for more than five years (including five years) after obtaining legal permanent resident status. Foreigners who marry American citizens must live in the United States for three consecutive years after obtaining legal permanent resident status. Before a foreigner takes the citizenship test, he/she must continue to marry his/her spouse who is an American citizen, and his/her spouse must be able to maintain citizenship all the time. Immigration laws and regulations? Stay married? Defined as? Living together? .

Leaving the United States for a certain period of time will destroy the continuity of foreigners' stay in the United States, although this will not affect the ability of foreigners to return to the United States as permanent residents. If the time to leave the United States is between six months and one year, and foreigners have reasonable reasons to explain it (such as overseas work needs), this period can be waived when applying for naturalization. If you leave the United States for more than one year, you have to start calculating the residence time again.

After submitting an application for naturalization, the applicant should have lived in the state where the application was submitted for 3 months, and must meet this requirement and the requirement of continuous residence at the same time. After submitting the application for naturalization, the applicant still needs to live in the United States continuously until he obtains citizenship.

3. Language requirements

To become an American citizen, you must have the ability to listen, speak, read and write English. Whether the applicant has this ability is determined by the test of the immigration officer. Regarding the ability to understand and speak English, immigration officials judge applicants according to their answers in the interview; The applicant's English reading and writing ability will be judged by a special written test. The following situations are not limited by language requirements:

When submitting the application, he is at least 50 years old and has lived in the United States as a permanent resident for at least 20 years;

When submitting the application, he was 55 years old or above and had lived in the United States as a permanent resident for at least 15 years.

4. Understand American history and government situation.

If you want to become an American citizen, you must have a basic understanding of American history and the national conditions of the government. This needs to be evaluated by a set of multiple-choice tests. Generally speaking, people who are not restricted by language requirements should also meet this requirement, but they can be allowed to take another form of examination.

5. Good moral standards and compliance with the provisions of the US Constitution.

If you want to become an American citizen, you must have a good moral code of conduct and abide by the US Constitution. The following conditions do not meet the relevant requirements:

A. Participating in criminal activities such as prostitution and human trafficking, especially those sentenced to more than six months' imprisonment;

B. Adultery with others leads to the breakdown of the marriage;

C. failure to comply with the provisions of IRS laws on tax payment;

D. Those who should have been registered for conscription but failed to register;

E. committing a crime or being declared guilty due to moral corruption;

F. Having been convicted for more than two times, with a cumulative sentence of more than five years;

G has committed a crime or been convicted of violating substantive law, except for those who possess 30 grams or less of marijuana;

H being detained in criminal detention 180 days or more;

I have been convicted of gambling twice or more;

J. the main income comes from illegal gambling;

K. habitual drunkenness before;

Polygamy or polyandry;

Rice (abbreviation of meter) intentionally or refuses to support family members;

In order to obtain the corresponding immigration benefits, swear to lie.

(2) American naturalization procedures

1. Overview

Under normal circumstances, foreigners applying for naturalization should fill in the N-400 form and submit their own green card copy (in a few cases, it is not necessary to submit a green card copy). Applicants also need to submit all possible supporting documents, two identical passport photos, application fee and fingerprint printing fee. After the fingerprint of the applicant is printed, the Immigration Bureau will send the fingerprint to the FBI to conduct a background check on the applicant. If the applicant successfully passes the background check, he will receive an appointment notice and an interview from the Immigration Bureau. English proficiency test and American history knowledge test will be conducted in this interview. The immigration officer who supervises the examination can judge whether the applicant meets the naturalization requirements, and usually can make a final decision on the day of the interview. If the applicant is approved for naturalization, the Immigration Bureau will arrange the swearing-in time. After taking the oath, the applicant will get a naturalization certificate.