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So, a green card holder has the same rights as a citizen. He pays taxes the same way, finds a job, travels, owns a car/house etc just like a citizen. Why do green card holders bother to apply for citizenship then?
They can even get a mortgage, and [SIZE=2]besides that, "Green Card holders receive Social Security benefits when they retire". So, what's the difference then: to be a resident with GK or a citizen?
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Green card holders cannot remain outside the U.S. for unlimited amounts of time or make their home elsewhere – doing so will result in abandonment of their residency and refusal of their request to reenter the United States. They can lose their residency rights by failing to advise U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) of changes in their address, committing crimes or acts of espionage or terrorism, and more.
Citizens can vote. Citizens can't be deported. The only way someone can take a former immigrant’s citizenship status away is if that person committed fraud in obtaining it in the first place.
Citizens can petition for a longer list of foreign national family members to join them in the U.S. than permanent residents can – for example, unlike green card holders, they can petition for their parents (as immediate relatives), their married children, and their brothers and sisters (in the fourth preference category – it’s a long wait).
So, a green card holder has the same rights as a citizen. He pays taxes the same way, finds a job, travels, owns a car/house etc just like a citizen. Why do green card holders bother to apply for citizenship then?
Green card holders cannot remain outside the U.S. for unlimited amounts of time or make their home elsewhere – doing so will result in abandonment of their residency and refusal of their request to reenter the United States. They can lose their residency rights by failing to advise U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) of changes in their address, committing crimes or acts of espionage or terrorism, and more.
Green card holders cannot remain outside the U.S. for unlimited amounts of time or make their home elsewhere – doing so will result in abandonment of their residency and refusal of their request to reenter the United States. They can lose their residency rights by failing to advise U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) of changes in their address, committing crimes or acts of espionage or terrorism, and more.
Citizens can vote. Citizens can't be deported. The only way someone can take a former immigrant’s citizenship status away is if that person committed fraud in obtaining it in the first place.
Citizens can petition for a longer list of foreign national family members to join them in the U.S. than permanent residents can – for example, unlike green card holders, they can petition for their parents (as immediate relatives), their married children, and their brothers and sisters (in the fourth preference category – it’s a long wait).
All this, and add that if you come from one of those countries where you need visas to travel to many countries, then a US passport is a great benefit.
Yes, voting and public office, but the biggest thing, like the others have mentioned, is if you're a citizen you can leave the country for as long as you want and come back whenever you want. Imagine you decided to start a business or take a job somewhere else and after 3 or 4 or even 10 years you want to go back to the US, well, as a citizen you can do it, if you were a permanent resident you would have lost your green card and couldn't go back.
Why do green card holders bother to apply for citizenship then?
Like others have written a green card only gives the individual so many rights. Voting of course is the big one but that may soon change. A benefit is a green card holder can get out of jury duty.
I know some green card holders that would like to become citizens but the time, effort and cost is prohibitive.
What is sad is that under the current administration many immigrants are not interested in working to obtain a green card due to the possibility of amnesty.
I know some green card holders that would like to become citizens but the time, effort and cost is prohibitive.
What is the time, effort and cost? To my understanding, it's much easier to get citizenship than green card status.
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