Citizenship
There are three ways people become citizens of the United States. From a cost perspective, I recommend the first way, but hard to control 🙂
- I was born in the United States. In that case, you should not need an immigration lawyer. However, there are cases where individuals are having trouble securing their birth certificate to prove this.
- I have been a lawful permanent resident (“LPR”) green card holder for 3 years (if married to a U.S. citizen) or 5 years, if you secure your LPR status any other way. You now may be eligible to apply to become a citizen (the process is called “Naturalization”) if you meet the other requirements discussed on our N-400 naturalization page.
- I was a minor (under 18 years of age) when I became a lawful permanent resident green card holder and one of my parents became a citizen while I was still a minor. In this case, you may have automatically become a U.S. citizen when your parent became a citizen. The requirements for automatically acquiring citizenship from a parent are discussed on our N-600 page, and have changed over the years, so it is important to make sure you are looking at the law that applies to your situation.
For more on Naturalization (filed for on form N-400) and Acquisition of Citizenship (one acquires proof of acquisition by filing form N-600 with the required evidence), click on our more detailed pages below, or give us a call at (303) 872-6985.
N-400: Naturalization
N-600: Already a Citizen?
Photo Credit: Aaron Burden