July 29, 2008 3:20 PM
Immigration 101 tracks my immigration law class at Hofstra Law School.
In the last instastallment of Immigration 101, I looked at the first requirement for becoming a U.S. citizen (USC). An immigrant first must be a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR), in most cases for at least five years, before applying for citizenship. But that is hardly the only requirement.
The next thing that Homeland Security will look at is whether the applicant has good moral character. All immigrants applying for citizenship go through biometric identification. A background check is done to see if the applicant has ever been arrested, or is a possible security threat. Any serious criminal history will render the immigrant ineligible for citizenship.
The Naturalization Officer interviewing the immigrant will also look over the applicant's taxes for the last five years to make sure he or she is filing and does not owe any back taxes. If the immigrant has children not living with him, the officer will ask for evidence that child support is being paid.
Any immigration violations charged against the applicant will also be reviewed.
The citizenship applicant pays for these background examinations. An application for citizenship must be accompanied by a $675.00 fee for the Department of Homeland Security review as well as for FBI and CIA checks.
In the next installment, I'll finish up with the requirements to become a citizen.
Read other parts of this series:
Immigration 101 is a comprehensive series on American immigration law for the layperson. This series tracks my course on immigration law at Hofstra Law School and answers many of your questions about immigration policy.
Here is the current list of articles in this series.
Immigration 101 Overview of the Immigration System
Immigration 101 Employment Based
Immigration 101 Family Based Immigration
Immigration 101 So what makes up a family
Immigration 101 History We need a new Ellis Island
Immigration 101 Coming to the U.S.
Immigration 101 Stopping 'em at the border
Immigration 101 Don't Give Me Your Poor
Immigration 101 Free Speech Part 1
Immigration 101 Free Speech Part 2
Immigration 101 Keeping the Chinese Out Part 1
Immigration 101 The Chinese Exclusion Act Cases Part 2
Immigration 101 Employer Sanctions Part 1 Introduction
Immigration 101 Employer Sanctions Part 2 How employers evade the law
Immigration 101 Employer Sanctions Part 3 The impact of sanctions on immigrants
Immigration 101 ICE Storm-An on the ground look at raids
Immigration 101 Sept. 11 and immigration
Immigration 101 How the Sept. 11 Hijackers got into the United States
Immigration 101 Becoming a Citizen Pat 1
Immigration 101 Becoming a Citizen Part 2 Good Moral Character
Immigration 101 Becoming a Citizen Part 3 English
Immigration 101 Becoming a Citizen-Part 4 What is an American?
Immigration 101 Becoming a Citizen-Part 5 What does an American believe?
Immigration 101 Becoming A Citizen Part 6 A confident view of who we are