United States Citizenship
Amendment XIV to the United States Constitution states "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
How We Serve Our Clients
Our dynamic and knowledgeable attorneys will consult with you to determine if there are any impediments to your application for United States Citizenship. We will also devise strategies to address these issues. Our staff can also can help you to prepare and file your citizenship application. Our attorneys are easily accessible to you and your dependents to answer questions as they arise.
Naturalization Process
Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is conferred upon a foreign citizen or national after he or she fulfills the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The general requirements for administrative naturalization include:
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a period of continuous residence and physical presence in the United States;
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residence in a particular USCIS District prior to filing;
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an ability to read, write, and speak English;
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a knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and government;
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good moral character;
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attachment to the principles of the U.S. Constitution; and,
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favorable disposition toward the United States.
All naturalization applicants must demonstrate good moral character, attachment, and favorable disposition. The other naturalization requirements may be modified or waived for certain applicants, such as spouses of U.S. citizens.
Rights of U.S. Citizens
United States' citizens have the right to fully participate in the political system of the United States (with most member states having restrictions for felons, and a federal constitutional prohibition on naturalized persons running for President and Vice President of the United States), are represented and protected abroad by the United States (through U.S. embassies and consulates), and are allowed to reside in the United States, and certain territories, without any immigration requirements.
Responsibilities of U.S. Citizens
Citizens have the duty to serve in a jury, if selected. Citizens are also required to pay taxes on their total income from all sources worldwide, including income earned while residing abroad (regardless of the duration of the residence) – but only beyond the first $82,400 in this case because of the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. U.S. taxes payable may be further reduced by credits for foreign income taxes. The United States Government also insists that U.S. citizens travel into and out of the United States on a U.S. passport, regardless of any other nationality they may possess.
Male U.S. citizens (including those living permanently abroad and/or with dual U.S./other citizenship) are required to register with the Selective Service System at age 18 for possible conscription into the armed forces. Although no one has been drafted in the U.S. since 1973, draft registration continues for possible reinstatement on some future date.
Dual Citizenship
Based on the U.S. Department of State regulation on dual citizenship (7 FAM 1162), the Supreme Court of the United States has stated that dual citizenship is a “status long recognized in the law” and that “a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both. The mere fact he asserts the rights of one citizenship does not without more mean that he renounces the other,” (Kawakita v. U.S., 343 U.S. 717) (1952).
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) neither defines dual citizenship nor takes a position for it or against it. There has been no prohibition against dual citizenship, but some provisions of the INA and earlier U.S. nationality laws were designed to reduce situations in which dual citizenship exists. Although naturalizing citizens are required to undertake an oath renouncing previous allegiances, the oath has never been enforced to require the actual termination of original citizenship.
Although the U.S. Government does not endorse dual citizenship as a matter of policy, it recognizes the existence of dual citizenship and completely tolerates the maintenance of multiple citizenship by U.S. citizens. In the past, claims of other countries on dual-national U.S. citizens sometimes placed them in situations where their obligations to one country were in conflict with the laws of the other. However, as fewer countries require military service and most base other obligations, such as the payment of taxes, on residence and not citizenship, these conflicts have become less frequent. As a result, there has been a dramatic increase in recent years in the number of Americans who maintain citizenship in other countries.
Eligibility For Public Office
A person who becomes a U.S. citizen through naturalization is not considered a natural-born citizen. Consequently, naturalized U.S. citizens are not eligible to become President of the United States or Vice President of the United States. For example, as of 2007, the U.S. Secretary of Labor (Elaine Chao) and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce (Carlos Gutierrez) cannot succeed to the presidency because they became U.S. citizens through naturalization. Ordinarily, the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor are tenth and eleventh in the presidential line of succession, as established by the United States Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act. The naturalized people to hold the highest position in the Presidential Line of Succession were Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, both of whom were fourth.
Loss of Citizenship
As an historical matter, U.S. citizenship could be forfeited upon the undertaking of various acts, including naturalization in a foreign state, service in foreign armed forces, and voting in a foreign political election. However, a line of U.S. Supreme Court decisions beginning with Afroyim v. Rusk (1967) constitutionally limited the government's capacity to terminate citizenship to those cases in which an individual engaged in conduct with an intention of abandoning their citizenship. In the wake of administrative practice changes adopted by the U.S. Department of State during the mid 1990s, it is now virtually impossible to lose one's citizenship without expressly renouncing it before a U.S. consular officer.
There are also special provisions for persons who are deemed to have renounced citizenship for purposes of avoiding U.S. taxation (which is, in some cases, applicable on certain income for up to ten years after the official loss of citizenship), which can result in loss of right to entry into the United States. While in practice there is little to stop a foreign citizen who has performed a said act from entering the U.S., the U.S. State Department "requires" that a Certificate of Loss of Citizenship be obtained at a U.S. embassy or consulate (though this is generally treated as a grey area, judged on a case by case basis).
