A person who is born within the United States acquires U.S. citizenship at birth.  Persons who are born in certain territories of the United States also may be citizens at birth.  In general, this includes the persons born in the following territories or zones (but subject in some cases to other requirements, including residence requirements as of certain dates):

1.    Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899.
2.    Canal Zone or the Republic of Panama on or after February 26, 1904.
3.    Virgin Islands on or after January 17, 1917.
4.    Guam born after April 11, 1899.
5.    Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on or after November 4, 1986.

The persons born in the American Samoa and Swains Island are also generally considered American nationals, but not citizens of the United States.

In addition, persons that were born outside of the United States may still be U.S. citizens at birth if one or both their parents were U.S. citizens at their time of birth.  Persons who are not U.S. citizens at birth may become U.S. citizens through the process called naturalization.  Naturalization is the conferring of a U.S. citizenship after birth for a person who was not born in the U.S. and would like to voluntarily become a U.S. citizen.

In general, first an applicant files a naturalization application and then after adjudicating the application, the USCIS would grant citizenship.  In some cases, a person may be naturalized just by operation of law.  This is generally referred to as deriving a citizenship.  In either case, the foreign citizen or American national must fulfill all of the necessary requirements previously established by Congress.  In most cases, a person may not be naturalized unless he/she has been lawfully admitted to the U.S. for permanent residence for either five or three years.

Deciding to apply to become a U.S. citizen is definitely one of the most important decisions an immigrant can make.  Naturalized U.S. citizens share equally in all the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship.  U.S. citizenship offers immigrants the ability to do all the following:

1.    Vote in Federal elections.
2.    Travel with a U.S. Passport.
3.    Run for elective office where citizenship is required.
4.    Participate on a jury.
5.    Become eligible for federal and certain law enforcement jobs.
6.    Obtain certain State and Federal benefits not available to noncitizens.
7.    Obtain citizenship for minor children born abroad.
8.    Expand and expedite their ability to bring family members to the United States.

Mayzel Law Group will be happy to assist you in this process.  You will be aware of all details of the process from the beginning until the very conclusion of this possibly complicated process.