Articles Posted in Citizenship

Do you want to become a US Citizen? Foreign nationals who wish to become citizens of the United States may do so through the naturalization process. Citizenship confers many advantages — the right to vote, protection from the government, access to certain jobs and benefits, and the option to hold public office.

A great tip from AILA regarding the timing of filing is provided here:

INA § 334 permits a naturalization applicant to file a Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, up to 3 months before the date the applicant would first meet the 5-year or 3-year continuous residence requirement. See INA §§ 316(a), 319(a); 8 C.F.R. §334.2(b). While the application can be filed within this 3 month time period, the applicant cannot be naturalized until he or she has met the 5-year or 3-year continuous residence requirement, in addition to meeting the other statutory requirements for naturalization. See INA §§ 316, 319.

Brenda Vazquez is a 29-year-old elementary school teacher in Matamoros, Mexico. Laura Castro lives across the border in Brownsville, Texas. She is a 32-year-old housewife who helps her husband manage several stores. They share one thing in common: Both say they were delivered by midwives in south Texas, but pressured by U.S. Border Patrol agents to deny their U.S. citizenship. Their problems began, according to attorney Jaime Diez, when a group of midwives along the U.S.-Mexico border were found guilty of selling birth certificates to people who were not born in the United States.

“Now all the midwives in the area are suspected of committing fraud,” said Diez, who said his office regularly sees cases of people delivered by midwives in Texas. Some of them are struggling to get passports because officials question the validity of their birth certificates, he said. Others have been deported and had their identification documents confiscated at the border, he said.

Vazquez, who Diez is representing in a federal lawsuit filed last week, said she was intimidated into signing a document swearing she was not a U.S. citizen at a border crossing in Brownsville, Texas, last year. “He said, ‘You’d better cooperate with me, because if you don’t, you’re going to jail. I had to lie and say that I was not a citizen. … I was quite scared. I was crying,” the second-grade teacher said.

We really enjoy seeing cases where individuals who have done everything right are able to succeed in being granted their citizenship. In Naturalization cases, it can be difficult to get an approval if the government decides to fight even one minor part of the record. This recent decision by a U.S. District Court highlights the struggle between an individual and USCIS when the government chooses to carry on the fight with its determination that you should not receive citizenship.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled on March 21, 2012, that Plaintiff Mirsad Hajro was eligible for naturalization. The decision follows a May 27, 2011 order by the court denying a summary judgment motion by the government. USCIS originally denied Mr. Hajro’s Form N-400, alleging that the Mr. Hajro gave false testimony with the intent to obtain an immigration benefit, and thus lacked the good moral character required for naturalization.

The facts in question concerned information provided by Mr. Hajro during an interview for his naturalization. Mr. Hajro had served in the Bosnian military and a question arose asking if he had been in possession of any firearms during his time in the military. The court found that the Mr. Hajro did not provide false testimony on either his I-485 or N-400 applications, noting that, in the instances where Mr. Hajro’s responses were deficient, he provided reasonable, credible explanations for the omissions. It also found that Mr. Hajro consistently volunteered information to USCIS to enable it to make its decision. As a result, the court held that the plaintiff was a person of good moral character during the relevant three-year period, and was eligible for naturalization.

Attorney Ekaterina Powell from our office has prepared this article on acquiring U.S. citizenship through parents where the individual is born abroad.

In certain situations, a person who was born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent and who has been living abroad for years may have acquired U.S. citizenship at birth without even knowing so. Sometimes, the clients have not even met their U.S. citizen parent/s.

Often times, we are asked a question on whether an adult person who was born abroad to a U.S. citizen mother or father can obtain U.S. citizenship.

Generally, all individuals born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction of the United States are citizens (e.g., children of diplomatic officials, etc.). Still, other individuals born outside the United States may claim United States citizenship derivatively from a parent who at the time of the individual’s birth was a United States citizen. The legal requirements for Derviative Citizenship are extremely complex.

In order for an individual to apply to become a naturalized U.S. citizen (USC), s/he must be age 18 or older. Thus, in the typical situation of a family living in the United States as lawful permanent residents, the minor children will not be eligible to file for naturalization with their parents. In many cases, these minor children do not need to request U.S. citizenship. Rather, it is automatically conferred when either parent naturalizes, if certain requirements are satisfied.

The laws regarding the derivative acquisition of U.S. citizenship by minor children were broadened by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA). This law became effective February 27, 2001, and remains effective as of this writing. Under current law, children under 18 automatically acquire U.S. citizenship if three requirements are met.

USCIS announced the launch of a federal initiative to raise awareness about the rights, responsibilities, and importance of U.S. citizenship. USCIS Director Mayorkas will launch the initiative online on 5/25/11.

The initiative will run during the summer across the country on more than 250 radio stations, 400 websites, and through national and local print advertisements, in this first phase of a planned multi-year effort. Messages will run in Spanish, English, Chinese and Vietnamese – languages spoken in the top 10 countries of origin for permanent residents. Nearly 8 million permanent residents are currently eligible to apply for citizenship and most reside in California, New York, Texas and Florida.

The initiative will promote awareness of the rights, responsibilities, and importance of United States citizenship, and the free resources available to permanent residents and immigrant-serving organizations. Immigrants will be invited to learn more about citizenship and directed to the USCIS Citizenship Resource Center, a one-stop web portal offering free educational tools to support immigrants and immigrant-serving organizations at www.uscis.gov/citizenship.

Ninety-five-year-old Leeland Davidson discovered recently that he’s not considered a U.S. citizen, despite living nearly 100 years in the country and serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII.

A similar thing happened to one of our clients that tried to apply for work with the Federal government at the age of 25. He could not get verification for his Citizenship. Eventually his other confessed he was brought over as a 3 year old illegally. But the Vet’s story is even more interesting.

Davidson, from Centralia, Washington, told KOMO News that he discovered he wasn’t a U.S. citizen when he was turned down for an enhanced driver’s license he needed for a trip to Canada to visit relatives.