Citizenship defines an individual’s rights and responsibilities to a country. U.S. citizenship comes with many benefits, including voting rights, being able to petition for relatives to immigrate, and traveling abroad and returning to the U.S. freely. Citizens of the United States can be native-born, foreign-born, or naturalized. These individuals have a duty of allegiance to the U.S., and therefore benefit from its protection. If you were not born a U.S. citizen, you may still become one at any stage of your life. You must first determine if you are eligible. The first step toward becoming a citizen is to become a lawful permanent resident, or a green card holder. Then, you must go through the naturalization process. This is the name of the process of becoming a U.S. citizen. If you are already a Green Card holder, becoming a U.S. Citizen has many benefits over only holding permanant residency. For one, you will be able to take long trips outside of the U.S. (longer than a year), which you can’t do with a Green Card without first obtaining a Reentry Permit. Another practical advantage of Citizenship, is that you cannot be deported for committing certain crimes–as is the case with a Green Card. A final advantage we will mention here, is that once you are a Citizen, you can petition for more of your family members to immigrate to the United States (parents, siblings, and married children); categories of family that a Green Card holder cannot sponsor. Continue reading below to see if you could be eligible for U.S. citizenship. Related form: N-400

Who is Eligible?

There are a several different paths to naturalize and become a U.S. citizen. Here, we will outline the most common, however, there are other ways to become a U.S. citizen. The most common way to become a U.S. citizen is to naturalize after five years of being a legal permanent resident (LPR). There are some other eligibility requirements, including (but not limited to): passing the U.S. naturalization test on U.S. history and government in English, being physically present in the U.S. for at least thirty months out of the last five years, and being a person of good moral character. The second most-common way is to be the spouse of a U.S. citizen, who is also a legal permanent resident. It is the same process as naturalizing as a Lawful Permanent Resident, except that if you are a spouse, you can do it after only three years of being an LPR, and by being physically present in the U.S. for eighteen months out of the last three years. Another way to be eligible to naturalize, is if you you have qualifying U.S. military service, or if you are the dependent of someone who has qualifying military service. You may also naturalize if you are the child of a U.S. citizen, as long as your parent became a U.S. citizen before you turn(ed) eighteen years old. Your parent(s) can be born a U.S. citizen, have naturalized themselves,  and they can be your parent(s) through blood, birth, or adoption. Note: there are some additional requirements for all categories of naturalization outlined above, as well as additional and less common ways to become a U.S. citizen.