Steps to Becoming a Legal Citizen

By Elizabeth

There are three ways to gain citizenship. One is through being born in the U.S. this is

called acquired citizenship. If you meet certain legal requirements, you can gain citizenship

through a process called naturalization. Derivative citizenship is when a child's parent was also

born in the United States.

Most immigrants coming into the United States will have to go through the naturalization

process, but if they had children, and gave birth to their children here, then the children would be

gaining acquired citizenship. There are a many requirements for naturalization; one is that you

must be 18 years of age or older. A few more are: retaining a green card for 5 years, have lived

in the state you are applying for more than 3 months, show continuous residence in the United

States for 5 years proving you have physically been here for 30 months out of the 5 years. The

other requirements are being able to write, read, and speak basic English, have basic knowledge

about U.S. history, demonstrate ideas in the constitution, and obtain good moral character.

The actual process consists of: determining if you already qualify to be a U.S. citizen,

find out your eligibility by taking tests, preparing and submitting form N-400, then you would go

a biometrics appointment to have your fingerprint taken, then the United States Citizenship

Immigration Services will accept or deny your N-400 form. If you are accepted then you will

take the Oath of Allegiance. You will then need to further your understanding of your rights and

responsibilities. Your Eligibility is determined by a speaking, writing, reading, and civics test. If

these tests are failed you can take them again, but must pay all fees again. This process is time
consuming, but is our legal way to become a citizen. Our campaign would love to have the

opportunity to have a more diverse population; however, we request it is done legally. Any

immigrant taking action to become a citizen the legal route will be looked at as a future citizen.

Many immigrants are deported every year. 2014 when Obama was president 414,481

deportations occurred. Our main goal is to increase the amount of immigrants wanting to become

legal rather than stay at a neutral spot of being in the U.S. and not being a citizen. We will

support people who want to help support our country!

Works Cited

"Congress for Kids." Congress for Kids: [Citizenship]: What Does It Take to Become a U.S.

Citizen? The Dirksen Congressional Center, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2017.

Gonzalez-Barrera, Ana, and Jens Manuel Krogstad. "U.S. Immigrant Deportations Declined in

2014, but Remain near Record High." Pew Research Center. N.p., 31 Aug. 2016. Web.

25 Oct. 2017.

"Naturalization Information." USCIS. Homeland Security, 22 Jan. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2017.