What does it take to become a US Citizen? (interview, regular, marriage)

[STT Resident]

Originally Posted by Penguin_ie

Depends how much time the US citizen parent spent in the USA.

I believe incorrect. Citizenship is based on the country of one's birth.

[Threestep]

Originally Posted by STT Resident

I believe incorrect. Citizenship is based on the country of one's birth.

Not necessarily. The US has certain requirements for Consular Birth Abroad which can only be filed up to the 18th birthday of a child.

I do not have the link for Penguin's post handy. Give me a day. A friend of mine went that route.

[Chromekitty]

This is best contact to get the truth and the way to do it legally.

U.S. Department of State

[STT Resident]

I believe that a child born in the US to parents from a foreign country and of foreign citizenship is considered a US citizen. For a child born of American parents in a foreign country there are steps to take to have the child become a US citizen. The American system actually differs quite a lot from other countries laws on the subject.

[freetohope]

Freespeach and sponger 42....Thank you for posting the truth! Only people who went through the immigration process can truly speak on it and those who are angry with the illegal immigrants should truly do some research and educate themselves on what it takes to go through the process legally. I believe most people want to do things right and would love to be able to follow the steps and immigrate here legally as it is evident on this post...people from the UK, Australia, Ireland, Italy etc...these people have a love for this country and dream about being part of it in a legal, honest way...Unfortunately, the truth is most of them will not be able to do it, because the way the law is set up, unless you are some incredible IT genius and get sponsorship from an employer or you have family or you get married or have tons of money to buy a business...there are no other ways to legally immigrate here.

Most Americans I speak to think that once you get married, you automatically become a citizen...they have no clue what it takes to do this....all the thousands of dollars spent, the time spent on paperwork and driving down to the USCIS office, waiting in line to get fingerprinted for the 10th time...the time spent on the phone (3 hours once on hold) to finally get a human being on the phone who is reading off a script ...the same exact words they have on their website and who will not really answer your question....despite you paying taxes for years prior and paying thousands of dollars on the forms. What I am saying is....the immigration process needs a major makeover!

As to those hating the illegals and all the healthcare and wellfare etc they get....I always wondered about that....Isn't this something that should be addressed to your government officials who put these bills into place? Don't be angry at the illegal immigrants...they wouldn't be here if business owners did not break the law and hired them for super low pay and if the benefits were not in place for them...They would be better off home than here. I think all the anger should be directed to the businesses that ILLEGALLY hire them....bottom line! No jobs, no illegal immigrants..simple as that. If they still want the cheaper work force, they have to go through the immigration process and apply for work visas for these workers....but guess what...as I described above....doing it legally is expensive and time-consuming!

[violent cello]

Originally Posted by Nativechief

Maybe the millions here a that are illegals is the reason you only make a few dollers a day. They are stealing jobs and forcing the pay down.

Riiiiight, because so many Americans want to pick fruit and clean toilets. Those were once prestigious all-American jobs that little kids dreamed of doing once they got older. And now look, "the illegals" have ruined it all for us! Those jobs used to be secure careers that provided benefits and sick leave and retirement and everything!

[Artsywoman]

This is true about our laws etc, but illegal immigrants are not innocent victims in no way. They play the system to the end. In fact my illegal immigrant neighbor is one of them.

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by Threestep

Not necessarily. The US has certain requirements for Consular Birth Abroad which can only be filed up to the 18th birthday of a child.

I do not have the link for Penguin's post handy. Give me a day. A friend of mine went that route.

The US citizenship requirements used to be for children born to a US citizen outside the USA was that US citizen had lived at least for 10 years in the US and out of the 10 years - five of those years had to be above the age of 14. The US citizen has to show proof of residency for that time period. The proof could be payslips, school diplomas, etc. An aunt of mine did this for her 2 children born outside the USA when she wanted to bring them to the USA as American citizens. The children were about ages 5 & 10 at that time. Since this was many years ago, it is possible that requirements have changed.

[Artsywoman]

Originally Posted by freetohope

Freespeach and sponger 42....Thank you for posting the truth! Only people who went through the immigration process can truly speak on it and those who are angry with the illegal immigrants should truly do some research and educate themselves on what it takes to go through the process legally. I believe most people want to do things right and would love to be able to follow the steps and immigrate here legally as it is evident on this post...people from the UK, Australia, Ireland, Italy etc...these people have a love for this country and dream about being part of it in a legal, honest way...Unfortunately, the truth is most of them will not be able to do it, because the way the law is set up, unless you are some incredible IT genius and get sponsorship from an employer or you have family or you get married or have tons of money to buy a business...there are no other ways to legally immigrate here.

Most Americans I speak to think that once you get married, you automatically become a citizen...they have no clue what it takes to do this....all the thousands of dollars spent, the time spent on paperwork and driving down to the USCIS office, waiting in line to get fingerprinted for the 10th time...the time spent on the phone (3 hours once on hold) to finally get a human being on the phone who is reading off a script ...the same exact words they have on their website and who will not really answer your question....despite you paying taxes for years prior and paying thousands of dollars on the forms. What I am saying is....the immigration process needs a major makeover!

As to those hating the illegals and all the healthcare and wellfare etc they get....I always wondered about that....Isn't this something that should be addressed to your government officials who put these bills into place? Don't be angry at the illegal immigrants...they wouldn't be here if business owners did not break the law and hired them for super low pay and if the benefits were not in place for them...They would be better off home than here. I think all the anger should be directed to the businesses that ILLEGALLY hire them....bottom line! No jobs, no illegal immigrants..simple as that. If they still want the cheaper work force, they have to go through the immigration process and apply for work visas for these workers....but guess what...as I described above....doing it legally is expensive and time-consuming!

Well isn't that the way it is supposed to be? Do you think other countries would allow a US citizen to become a citizen easily?

[1979]

Originally Posted by Kele

On behalf of myself and millions of other Americans who are tired of watching our country being handed over to 20 millions illegal invaders, thank you for emigrating legally. I for one, appreciate you.

Why? Becoming a citizen is very easy. The test has been made more simple, and our quotas are higher than ever, in spite of a poor economy.