How do you become a Citizen of the
United States?
United States citizenship is an exclusive
club guaranteed to make those on the outside looking
in view us as either the luckiest blokes walking the
earth or lapdogs of Satan, depending on your point
of view.
But what makes you a full-fledged
citizen and what basic rights does that give you?
Besides being able to take advantage of the Blue Light
special at K-Mart any day of the week, of course.
And even being a K-Mart shopper isn’t what it
used to be, considering all the pending bankruptcies
and store closures.
What will we do when we can no longer
buy our clothes made in Taiwan at a chain department
store the size of one of Saturn’s moons? But
never mind all that. Today we are talking about what
makes you a United States citizen and how to become
one if you so desire and meet the criteria.
There are two ways to become a United
States citizen. Either you must be born here or become
naturalized. There are no other methods. You cannot
claim to be adopted by a school of migrating dolphin
and ‘grandfathered’ in. Also, washing
ashore from Cuba, being sealed in a cargo container
from China, or swimming the Rio Grande from Mexico
will not do the trick. You might be allowed to stay,
but your arrival, in and of itself, does not bestow
citizenship of any kind.
The easiest way to become a United
States citizen is to be born here. Your mother may
not agree with such a cavalier assessment regarding
ease of entry but your part involves nothing more
than falling out of the womb and continuing to breathe.
Presto. You’re an instant American. If you were
born in the United States or any of its territories
or were born outside the country but one of your parents
was a U.S. citizen at the time of your birth and your
birth was registered with the U.S. consulate?well
then, you’re an American.
Naturalization is the other path
to full citizenship that millions have followed. That
means you weren’t born here but instead jumped
through the right hoops with the court system or Immigration
and Naturalization Service and, darn it, we like you
so stay here and be a citizen.
To become naturalized you first must enter the United
States as a permanent resident. This feat is accomplished
by obtaining a passport stamped by a U.S. consular
official in your home country. You also need an immigrant
visa, which is a permit to enter the United States
permanently. After five years of permanent residence
the immigrant may file a petition for naturalization
with the clerk of a U.S. district court or a state
court of general jurisdiction. If you are married
to a U.S. citizen you may file after three years.
At this point you will be sworn in
and take the oath to become an American citizen. Did
you know that a person who takes the oath falsely
or with serious mental reservations might be prosecuted
for having obtained naturalization fraudulently? It’s
true. And then you may be denaturalized (which is
NOT a high school science experiment involving table
salt and jellyfish) and deported to the country you
came from.
Okay, so now you are a real live United
States citizen. What’s the upside? What does
it get you besides your choice of 31 flavors of ice
cream at Baskin Robbins?
The two principal sources that define
your rights as an American citizen are the Constitution
of the United States and your state constitution.
You know what a state is, right? It’s one of
those fifty oddly shaped things on a map of the United
States with funny names like Idaho and Alabama.
To truly understand your rights you
need to keep in mind the dual nature of the American
system.We call it federalism. On one side you have
the governments of the fifty states. On the other
is the national government. Each have distinct powers
and must respect the powers of the other.
The struggle to balance these diametrically
opposed entities has continued throughout our nation’s
history and like getting your ear caught by a fish
hook, it’s not a pretty sight. In 1790 the framers
of the constitution feared tyranny from the national
government but not the states. They were used to that.
An over-reaching national government was a new and
scary thing and they wanted desperately to avoid the
evils of the British monarchy they had recently fled.
For this reason they concurrently
enacted ten amendments (called the Bill of Rights)
with the ratification of the constitution. This gave
only a few select powers to the national government
and reserved everything else for the states. Says
so right in the U.S. Constitution. You can look it
up in case you took frequent naps during history class.
So what does the Bill of Rights get
you? I can’t tell you right now. Sorry, that’s
just the way it is. Don’t hold your breath or
fret too much. Next week we’ll discuss these
rights and more in the thrilling sequel to our investigation
of United States citizenship.
Michael R. Barnes
practices law in Key West, Florida. His comments are
provided as a pro bono community service and are not
offered as legal advice for a particular set of circumstances.
This article was materially assisted in its preparation
by his paralegal, Derek Dowell. If you are concerned
that you may need a lawyer, you are encouraged to
contact one and follow his or her advice for your
individual situation.
