The New York Times recently reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) soon plans on assigning “civil litigators in 39 regional offices ... to file denaturalization cases against” 384 naturalized citizens. It’s high time DOJ — and DHS for that matter — took the issue of fraud and deliberate omissions during the naturalization application process seriously, if for no other reasons than U.S. citizenship deserves to be vigorously guarded and to send a message to any alien thinking about defrauding our immigration system.
The Naturalization Process in Brief
As USCIS explains: “Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is granted to a lawful permanent resident after meeting the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).”
It is the culmination of a process by which a foreign national legally immigrates to the United States and receives lawful permanent resident (LPR) — that is, “green card” — status.
Aliens who are at least 18, have LPR status, have resided here for three years after receiving a green card, and are “living in marital union with their U.S. citizen spouses can apply to naturalize, provided they can “read, write and speak English” and understand “the fundamentals of the history, and of the principles and form of government, of the United States”.
Green card holders who have “served honorably at any time in the U.S. armed forces for a period or periods totaling at least 1 year” and are at least 18 can apply for naturalization provided they meet the language and civics requirements and, if they have left the armed forces, “were separated under honorable conditions”.
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