Citizenship

Green Card :
A green card is a proof of lawful permanent resident status in the United States. It also means being officially granted immigration benefits to live and work in the United States legally.
There are many ways to get a green card. One way is being sponsored by your family members. You can also get one through employment. Here the sponsor is the US company that decides to employ you. There is also the Diversity Visa lottery program. You can be one among the 55,000 persons to get a green card through this program that is held annually. But you should meet certain eligibility requirements as not all countries are eligible to participate. You can also apply for a card if you were granted Refugee Status or Asylum. The process and procedures differ according to the category under which you are applying.
You can get a green card while you are in the US or abroad. If you are abroad or when you are not eligible to adjust status, you can get a green card through Consular Processing. In case you are in the US and eligible to apply for a green card based on being sponsored by an employer or your family member, or if you are presently in asylee or refugee status, you can file an application to adjust status to permanent resident by filing Form I-485 with the USCIS.
As mentioned earlier, if you are presently in the U.S. and have an approved immigrant petition, you can file an application to adjust status to a permanent resident of the US. Unless you apply under a category for which visa numbers are always available, you must have a "current" Priority Date to be eligible to file. If you are applying based on a relationship with your spouse who is a US citizen, the parent or child may be eligible to file the application to adjust status to permanent resident at the same time that the immigrant petition is submitted.
If you are an individual who was in a asylee or refugee status for one year or more, you may also be eligible to file to adjust status to a permanent resident. You cannot file to adjust status to permanent resident if you are outside the U.S. In such cases, you can get a green card by applying for an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate in your own country.
A conditional permanent resident card is different from a permanent resident card. A conditional permanent resident will get a green card that is valid for two years. Persons under this category have to remove the conditions 90 days before the date on which the card expires. A conditional green card cannot be renewed. If the conditions are not removed, you will lose your resident status in the US. You should file Form I-751 with the USCIS to remove the conditions.
Once your petition is approved and conditions removed, you will get a permanent resident card that will have a validity for the next ten years. Being a green card holder makes you eligible for citizenship as permanent resident status is one of the eligibility requirements for citizenship.

 Methods to get a Green Card :

There are about 10 ways through which a person can obtain a green card, USCIS refers to them as follows:
1. Green Card Lottery: This is thus far the easiest way to obtain the official green card through the USCIS.
The ground rules are not that complex and if you are one of those lucky winners you stand to win a green card.
2. Family Based Green Cards: Are provided to persons whose family members are already in the US and are US citizens or green card holders. Family in this sense would include spouse, sisters, brothers, married son or daughter, unmarried child or stepchild.
3. Green card through Employment: Persons with extraordinary skills or executives of multinational companies or scientists can get their green card through the USCIS for employment.
4. Green card through Investment: People willing to invest $500,000 in the USA are also eligible for a green card.
5. Asylum: Persons who have sought asylum in the USA for fear of prosecution in their own country can also be given a green card. The only condition is that these persons should be in the USA at the time of their petition for a green card.
6. Long Residency : Persons who are in the USA since January 1st 1972 may qualify for green cards.
7. Refugees: Persons who land in the USA due to political unrest in their country also stand a chance to obtain a green card through the USCIS.

8. Diplomat: High serving diplomats on an A1 Visa who are not willing to return to their home country for reasons of persecution can qualify for the green card.
9. Adoption: Children of US citizens or green card holders below the age of 16 years can qualify
10. Private Bills: For any foreign nationals that the Congress mandates can qualify for the green card. 

Immigration Laws :

In the US, the general immigration laws are determined by the federal government. The states create their own patterns of the immigration policies and these are done according to the federal laws. You have to follow the same rules and processes in the United States whether you are in California or South Carolina. Proper advice of an immigration lawyer is very helpful as he can guide you through the whole process.

When you hire a good immigration attorney, you can make sure that you get the best legal advice from a person who knows everything and can help you follow everything according to the rules when you apply for citizenship in the US. Even if you commit a violation, the attorneys can help you out in some way as they have the means and the right knowledge needed to defend you.

immigration laws are in affect in order to protect residents and immigrants. There are approximately 1.25 million immigrants who are new and either legal or illegal coming to the United States. Everyone coming to the United States must know the immigration laws and follow the requirements in order to come to the United States legally. If not, this is illegal and can require prison time and fines that need to be paid when immigration laws are broken

US Citizen 

:Even though there are some substantive needs for citizenship, the most crucial one, considered to be the most complex is the residence in the US. A place of general abode of a man or woman is usually termed as residence. In other words, the true dwelling area of a particular person is the residence. To use for US citizenship, a particular person need to be a resident in the US and the particular residence needs have to be adequately met.

People turn out to be citizens instantly if they ended up born in the US or if their parents have been US citizens at their time of birth.If a foreign national wishes to grow to be a citizen, it is certainly achievable by way of a procedure referred to as naturalization soon after which he/she can appreciate the privileges and the rights that come with the US citizenship.

The demands to use for US citizenship:

The simple requirement is that the personal ought to be a green card holder who is at least 18 decades aged. The specifications associated to residency need to be satisfied while applying for citizenship. In normal circumstances, an immigrant really should be a long term resident for five a long time to be qualified for citizenship. If married to a US citizen, then it is 3 a long time of long lasting residency. It is that the applicant ought to be married to a U.S citizen and should be residing with that U.S citizen for the previous three three years of their everlasting residency for the criteria to be applicable. The applicant ought to have lived for at least 3 months in the same state or USCIS district exactly where the software is going to be filed. Apart from this the other demands include the excellent moral character, enough understanding of written and spoken English and US background as well as an attachment to the US constitution.

Long lasting citizens require to maintain constant residence and bodily presence in the US. Traveling freely outdoors the US and returning inside 6 months is fine anything at all more than 6 months will terminate the constant residence requirement thereby impacting one's eligibility to utilize for US citizenship. Similarly, the applicant has to be physically present in the US for on fifty percent of the long term residence time period necessary (either five a long time of three many years).
The constant residence is disrupted in cases exactly where one leaves the US for a single 12 months or far more in spite of having a re-entry allow. You may possibly be capable to enter the US as a everlasting resident if you have a re-entry allow but the time you have put in in the US before leaving the US will not be counted in the direction of the steady residence requirement.
Prior to the software for US citizenship, quick absences from the US are good. But any absence of six months or much more can be construed as abandoning residence. An absence of six months to a single 12 months may possibly be excused if the applicantprovides substantial proof that they have been not intending to abandon residence in the US. With correct evidence, like continuing the US employment, sustaining a residence in the US, household in the US and also filing tax returns is evidence that the applicant was not making an attempt to abandon residence. 

How do I Be Granted US Citizenship?

A person may become a U.S. citizen by birth or following birth. An individual born inside the United States and persons born in specific territories or outlying possessions with the United States are citizens at birth. Individuals born outside the usa could possibly be citizens at birth if their mother or father(s) had been citizens in the time of their birth and if other needs have been met.
A person may turn into a U.S. citizen right after birth either by means of his/her parents or by applying for naturalization on their very own. Starting to be a citizen by means of one's mother or father(s) is known as aquiring or deriving citizenship. Any individual claiming to possess acquired (at birth) or derived (following birth) U.S. Citizenship by way of a U.S. citizen parent has to file Form N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship. The Certificate of Citizenship could be the proof of the person's citizenship status. The individual may additionally use his/her US passport as proof of his/her citizenship status.
Naturalization will be the method by which lawful permanent residents ("Green Card" holders) who are age 18 or older and who meet the many eligibility needs get citizenship by submitting a Form N-400, Application for Naturalization. The eligibility specifications contain the constant residence requirement, the physical presence requirement, great moral character, ample information of English and US History and civics understanding and allegiance to your US constitution.
Current rules permit an applicant meeting every one of the eligibility demands to file Form

N - 400 90 days before meeting the constant residence requirement. The accomplished N-400 has to be mailed for the USCIS along the fees, pictures and supporting documents. When the USCIS requires up the application for processing, they are going to send the applicant a letter informing in which he/she needs to go for his/her biometric appointment. The USCIS will ahead the fingerprints to your FBI who in turn will do a track record verify of your applicant. On clearance, USCIS when yet again will send information concerning the date and time for your citizenship interview. Through the interview, the applicant's information of English and US background and civics is going to be tested. If the applicant passes the US Citizenship check, he/she must take the Oath following which he/she becomes a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

US Citizenship Through Marriage

American citizenship is granted via the method of naturalization, once the foreign partner has fulfilled the demands established by Congress within the US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Almost each citizenship applicant, the applicant must be a green card holder or lawful permanent resident prior to submitting the naturalization application. For foreign spouses married to Americans, he/she might qualify for naturalization right after no less than three years of getting a permanent resident within the US prior to submitting. Otherwise, the permanent resident requirement is at least 5 years for candidates who obtained their green card via other signifies.
Under Area 319(a) with the INA, a wife or husband of the US citizen may possibly apply when he/she happen to be a green card holder for at the very least three years, happen to be residing in marital union with the exact same US citizen spouse throughout this kind of time, and meet all other eligibility needs under this section.
Often the US citizen partner who marries a foreign partner desires to retire or boost a household inside the foreign spouse's country but desires to pass citizenship to their foreign spouse right after marriage. Part 319(a) from the INA needs a citizenship applicant to reside constantly inside the US from your date of application for naturalization until eventually time of naturalization, and be physically present within the US for a minimum of 18 months from the three years immediately preceding the date of submitting the application. You can find no exceptions or waivers to this requirement, as a result most naturalization candidates should spend the initial handful of years on US soil before they could return to their region.
Other citizenship requirements are similar to individuals for your immigrant visa, the applicant is really a man or woman of great moral character, understand the ideas from the US Constitution, and ready to go through, publish, and communicate English and have a simple understanding from the US historical past and government.

Another problem to remember is the fact that US citizenship grants the individual the right to obtain a US passport, creating traveling significantly less cumbersome. Furthermore, US passport holders might be outside with the US indefinitely without having worry of losing their passport or US citizenship. Green card holders need to retain their residence within the US, which means they've to invest almost all of their   time within the US, otherwise they run the risk of losing their green card . A consular officer or customs and border patrol officer may possibly discover that the inordinate volume of time invested outside of your US without having a properly approved re-entry permit or travel document equates to the immigrant's intention to abandon lawful permanent resident status. US citizenship also removes the danger of deportation or removal for your immigrant, as they're nonetheless subject to the moral turpitude requirement each time they renew the green card or run afoul with the criminal court.
 Getting US citizenship  has numerous positive aspects for new immigrants and for those who obtained their green card even though a US citizen husband or wife, they have much less time to wait just before filing and obtaining their American citizenship.