United States Citizenship

Our U.S. citizenship lawyers have assisted thousands of persons in obtaining US citizenship through naturalization across the United States during the past 30 years.  In the late 1970s, Attorney Carl Shusterman worked as an INS Citizenship Attorney in Los Angeles where he interviewed thousands of applicants for naturalization and for derivative citizenship.

On this page, we explain how to obtain United States citizenship. While generally only lawful permanent residents may apply for naturalization, there are certain narrow exceptions to this rule.

We provide videos, articles and links explaining who is eligible for naturalization as well as the application procedures, including an online, self-correcting history and government test.

Our citizenship attorneys have many years of experience helping persons in completing their N-400 applications, passing the naturalization test and accompanying them to their interviews.

When Carl Shusterman served an INS Citizenship Attorney, he established a program in which INS Attorneys made hundreds of appearances at evening citizenship classes in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California in order to educate the adult school students about naturalization requirements and procedures.

Generally, in order to be eligible to naturalize, a person must:

  1. Be a lawful permanent resident of the United States for 5 years, or 3 years if married to a U.S. citizen for a minimum of the 3 years (although there are certain exceptions to this requirement for persons who have honorable service in the U.S. Armed Forces);
  2. Be physically present in the United States for over 50% of the required residency period;
  3. Be a person of good moral character;
  4. Take an oath of loyalty to the United States;
  5. Be able to speak, read and write simple words and phrases in the English language (although there are certain exceptions to this rule); and
  6. Pass a test in U.S. history and government.

U.S. citizens may sponsor their spouses, parents, sons and daughters as well as brothers and sisters for lawful permanent residence in the U.S.

Some persons may obtain U.S. citizenship at birth, or while they are minors, through their U.S. citizen parents or grandparents. This is known as acquiring U.S. citizenship through acquisition or derivation. We have posted the government’s four handy citizenship charts on our web site.

It is also possible to have your naturalization revoked. Finally, we link to articles regarding who is eligible to be a “dual” citizen, a citizen of more than one country.

 

“Last June 30, 2011, I proudly became a citizen of the United States of America thanks to God and with the invaluable help of the law offices of Carl Shusterman, particularly Carl Shusterman and Atty. Amy Prokop and paralegal Ana Cruz..” (More client reviews…)

 

United States Citizenship is divided into the following subtopics:

 

 

Related Page:

 

 

NATURALIZATION: GENERAL INFORMATION

 

citizenship attorneys

 

 

SUCCESS STORIES

 

Naturalization Attorney

 

 

More success stories…

VIDEOS: HOW TO BECOME A U.S. CITIZEN

 

  • How to Become a U.S. Citizen (Part 1)
    This video explains the basics of applying for U.S. citizenship and answers questions such as: How long do you have to have a green card to apply? Do you qualify as a person of “good moral character”?

 

  • How to Become a U.S. Citizen (Part 2)
    In the second part of this video, Attorney Shusterman answers more questions, including: Can you become a dual citizen? Should you go to the interview alone or should you hire an attorney to come with you?

 

 

 

EXPEDITED NATURALIZATION THROUGH MILITARY SERVICE

 

United States Citizenship

 

 

OTHER CITIZENSHIP RESOURCES

 

 

PRACTICE ADVISORIES