 So if you go online and search for apply for US citizenship online that is going to come up in search through uscis.gov click that and it's going to take you to the page that is related to applying for citizenship. There are some valuable information that you can read but basically it says that the application or to apply for US citizenship by submitting form N400. So the form that you're looking for is called form N400. There is a button here to apply for citizenship online. Click that. And the first thing it's going to ask you is to create an account. The process of creating an account is very straightforward. You'll have to enter an email address. They'll ask you to confirm it and then they will send you a link to your email address. From there you can follow the link in order for you to set a passport. There is a step or two for verification because they are very thorough and particular. It's like any other government entity about their security and about their systems and websites being secure to follow the verification process and your account is going to be good to go. But when you're creating a new account, when your account is good to go, there will be a couple of options for you to choose from. Make sure to choose file form and then look for form N400. So I'm going to take you over here, show you what I have going on in my page. So once you find form N400, before you start anything, they are going to give you a quick snapshot of what's going to happen throughout the process including filing online, submitting, being able to come back and check on the status, being able to come back and upload your documents and get everything going on there. So just make sure to read through that. But the first step once you start the application process is going to be making sure that you are actually or indeed eligible to start applying for the citizenship. Obviously, there are some basic criteria, for example, having lived in the US for five years, leaving continuously for the past three years and obviously having a green card or being a green card holder throughout the past five years. But these are probably things that you already know and you do know when you are eligible to apply for the citizenship, but they do help you by asking you a couple of rudimentary questions just to say, okay, you're good to go. You can start the application process. So get those answered and start your application. Once you start the application, there are actually a lot of things that you will have to go through. Some questions are very straightforward. They don't even require time to think about them, but some of them you will have to take some time to go get some documentation and so on. And I'm going to help you by giving you even some tips and tricks. So before we start, just one thing that you should know is once you start your application online, you don't have to finish it in one go. You can always come back. Let's say you have to go find some documents or get some information from somewhere else. You can always come back. They do save a draft of your application, but they do delete it if you go past 30 days. So just keep that in mind. All right, let's go ahead and get started. There are six main tabs and each one of them have a bunch of questions. So there's getting started about you, your family, moral character, evidence. And then once you are ready, you can review and submit. So under getting started, we have a couple of questions related to change basis for eligibility, prepare an interpreter information, your name, contact info, where and where you were born, and your immigration information. And I would say this first tab does not require a lot of time to go through. So first question, what is your basis for eligibility? You specify whichever one applied to you. Next is someone assisting you with complacent this application. What is your current legal name? So provide that. And just a quick tip for you here, when you are entering information, try to give them as much as possible. Believe me, this is going to make the process of approval and review very fast. Instead of the USCIS having to come back to you. Hey, can you send us this paper? Can you send us this information? Just try to do it right from the beginning and get all of the information that you know, or to the best of your knowledge and try to not skip any fields. All right, how can we contact you phone number, daytime phone number, evening, those are not very important, but email address is important. And obviously, like you see here, there are some fields that are required, like your address, city, town, state, zip code. So get all of that information in once you are ready. You hit next. All right, next up was your date of birth. What is your country of birth? On what date did you become a lawful permanent residence for questions that need a little bit of thinking? I'm going to give some details. So this information right here is the official date when your permanent residence began as shown on your permanent resident card. So if you pick your green card, this date is going to be in there. So get that entered. Next question, what is your name exactly as it appears on your permanent resident card? Obviously, just get the exact first middle name or last name that you have on your green card. And next, what is your A number? So the A number is located on your permanent resident card also in your green card. So get that from there. It usually have seven, eight up to nine digit numbers depending on when this card was issued. So that is very important. You can't even, I don't think you can skip this step in here. So get that in there next. So as you can see right here, even though I did not enter them because I'm just trying to run you through this, this is just a draft that I'm creating. Even if you didn't enter that information, they do give you an error message saying, hey, you should enter the A number, but they're not going to stop you from progressing. Let's say you don't have your green card handy and you need to find it, you can skip to the next one. So next question is about your immigration information also. They're asking you about the US social security number. Honestly, I'm not familiar with scenarios where you do not have a US social number. So get the social security number from your social security card in there. And then finally, what is your USCIS online account number? So by now, the USCIS online account number, since you already created your account, you will be able to go back into your account from my.uscis.gov and you should be able to find the account number in there. So get that entered and then hit next. And that should take care of the getting started tab. So next step is going to be about you, gender, ethnicity, what is your race? What is your height? What is your weight? What is the color of your eyes? What is the color of your hair? Usually to be honest, like try to be as specific as you can, but I would, what I did, I grabbed the information that I had in my driver's license or my ID, got it added in there. So next we're still under the second tab. Where do you live? This is the current address or your residency right now. This is the one that they will send statuses or updates on your case. So make sure that this is an address that you live in and you can access the emails whenever it's necessary. They're going to ask you, when did you move here from which date to which date? So get that in there as well. And then hit next. Where have you worked and or attended school full-time or part-time during the last five years? So this is an important step. You have to trace back, especially if you change jobs or you graduated school and you started working. So for the past five years, they do want to know, where did you go to school? Where did you work? And that including the name of the place, the date from two, as well as their addresses if necessary. So if I click add in here, they are going to ask me, this is what the entry looks like. Choose new school employment type. So let's say add an employer. What is the name of the employer? What was your occupation with them? So you probably actually do have a lot of options to choose from just general buckets. So let's say production on what date where you employed in here. If you currently work there, get that checked from which date to which date. What is the employer's address? And here all you have to do is search for your employer online and then get that address added. If you already know it, just add it in there. And you can go ahead and save entry and same thing for school. So they're going to be added right here and listed one under one. And they are going to actually check towards the end when you do the review just to make sure that you did indeed provide information for five years time frame, but it's going to be one under the other. So once you get that information added, hit next. You see right here that they're telling you are missing information because obviously you did not include five years worth of evidence. So get that in there. Go next. These are questions about military service. If you have ever served in the US military, are you currently a member of the US Armed Forces? Next. And next up is the selective service. Are you a male who lived in the United States at any time between your 18th and 26th birthday? Get that in there. And then travel outside the US. This is also an important step because they would like to know for the past five years, which countries have you been to other than the US. And in my case, I did have to include everywhere. My short visits to Morocco, I had to include my trip to Peru. The one time we went to Mexico, even if we were driving from here. So they do want all the details. Try to not skip anything and enter them based on the best that you know. So if you say that you have taken a trip outside of the United States in the last year, you will say yes. Once you say yes, they will ask you to list all trips of 24 hours or longer that you have taken outside of the United States during the last five years. The reason that they are asking this question is because one of the eligibility criteria is to make sure that you lived continuously for the past three years. They do have a certain number of days that you do need to hit. Now these short trips, they're not going to impact it. Mine visits to Morocco were less than a month, Peru was like two weeks, Mexico for five days. So that didn't have any impact. It didn't come up in any of the questions either. So try to be as specific as you can and get that information added. You will need to specify what countries have you traveled to from which date to which date and then hit next. And obviously in order for you to find this information, I would just pick my passport and try to check entry and exit dates and try to come up with the right date. Sometimes I even go and check on my pictures, when did I leave the airports and so on. But really the passport will give you enough information if it was international travel. All right. And finally, under the second tab is request for accommodation. Do you have a physical or development disability or mental impairment that prevents you from demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of the English language and or civics requirements for naturalization. So this is just the USCI showing that they can accommodate you if you do have any specific needs or if someone else is applying on behalf of you, they can say that you are, you know, you have mental problems, you won't be able to demonstrate that you are able to understand these questions or answer them in one way or the other or even answer the civics tests and take the tests pretty much. So you'll get that answered and then hit next. And you can see we quickly went through the last tab in here. Are you requesting accommodation? So get no next. Okay, perfect. And that wraps up the second tab now about your family. Obviously, you do need to know information about your parents and your children if you have any, your current status, single, never married, married divorce. So get the one that applies for you. Second one is about your children. Do you have any children? Yes or no? Because here there will be questions or things that can happen down the line. If you become a citizen, you can help your children also become citizens if it's necessary. So get that in there. And then finally questions about your parents, where your parents married before your 18th birthday? Is your mother a US citizen? Is your father a US citizen? So no, no, next. And that's pretty much it for your family. Next up is the moral character. This is for the USCIS to make sure or determine that you are a person of good morals. You're not going to do anything to hurt yourself or hurt people around you or the country. Really. So citizenship claims and voting. Have you ever claimed to be a US citizen in writing or any other way? So hopefully you never lied about that. Next one, legal competency. Have you ever registered to vote in any federal state or local election in the United States? Have you ever voted in any federal? So just making sure that you never really lied to the governments about you being a citizen, which I don't know why you would do that. But do you now have or did you ever have a hereditary title or any order of nobility? Get that in there. Crimes and offenses. Do you owe any overdue federal states or local taxes? Have you ever not filed a federal tax? So these are just like crimes, crimes, crimes that you might have committed in the past. But even if you did, you do have to be honest about them because if they catch you at any point lying about anything, that's not going to make the process easy. So really just be honest about what you have to be honest about. And if they do have to follow, they will follow with you, but just don't lie. So get that in there. I feel like for the majority of people, these are straightforward questions, just like a yes-no question. Have you ever been declared legally incompetent? A party or group affiliation? Have you ever been a member of involved of any or in any way associated with any organization, association, fund, foundation, party, club, society? All right. So this is an interesting question. And I did reply yes to this question, thinking that it had to do with me being part of some organization or association, helping people, charity or whatever. But I think when I was asked actually during the interview, they said, well, what they meant is are you associated to some catchy groups or catchy organizations? And I was like, no, no, no, that's not what I meant. So I explained my case and I explained what I meant when it came to this. And actually, even when you go to your interview, they will actually go through all of these questions with you. And if you have to change anything, you can do it right there. So they will ask you the exact same question one more time, just like verify your personal information, verify your moral character question, they will go through pretty much half of them, just to make sure that you have not made any mistakes. So if you even made a mistake here to say, Oh, no, I did not mean yes, I did not mean no, you can still change it. So don't worry about that. Okay, have you ever been a member of or in any way associated either with the community party questions about the totalitarian party, terrorist organization? All right. So get those answered. And honestly, if you feel like there is I'm skipping those because I feel like those are straightforward. But if there is at any point, you don't understand what any of these mean, just like, you know, copy the question, put that in Google, and you're good to go. Let me know in the comments, we can talk about it further. Have you ever advocated either directly or indirectly the overthrow of any government by force of violence? No. Have you ever persecuted? No. So most of these questions, if you are a decently correct person are going to be no. All right, so we're still under more character. Were you ever involved in any way with genocide, with torture, killing, trying to kill someone, hurting someone, trying to hurt someone, sexual abuse, trying to stop in someone from practicing their religion or beliefs. So all of these are going to be pretty much no, no, no. Were you ever a member of or did you ever serve in help or otherwise practice in a military unit, militia? So all of these military, military-related questions, very specific questions. And sometimes they even rephrase them differently just to make sure that you understand what's being asked from you. So as you guys know, I'm not an attorney or an immigration specialist by any mean, but some of these questions, if you do have some something complex in your case, do make sure that you talk to an attorney or even try to call the USCIS. They are pretty helpful. They can pick up the phone and get your questions answered. But there is something here about the still under crimes and offenses they are saying before you start this section, if any of the questions on this page apply to you, you must answer yes, even if your records have been sealed. So I really am not sure about how things go. If your records were sealed, are you supposed to reveal them or not reveal them? But pretty much what they're saying, everything should be answered. Can't really give more input about this part here, but pretty much all of these questions are related to committing crimes or offense. All right, so we're still under crimes and offenses. Have you ever been habitual drunkard? Have you ever been a prostitute or procured anyone for prostitution? So really all the information or all the questions that you can imagine about being a correct moral person. Stop. Have you ever given any US government officials any information or documentation that was false, fraudulent or misleading? Hopefully not. Obviously, if you do have not as very straightforward case, you would want to talk to an attorney. I know that a lot of people, if they have some complex cases, it's very easy to get an attorney to help you throughout the process and even help you with the application process. Have you ever been removed, excluded or deported from the US? Have you even been ordered to remove the excluded or deported from the United States? Have you ever been placed in removal, blah, blah, blah. So all of these immigration related questions, all of them are yes, no, yes, no. So get that in there, click next. And that is going to take you to the military section of moral character. Two questions here. Have you ever been court-martialed, administratively separate, disciplined or have you received an other than honorable discharge while in the US armed forces? Have you ever been discharged from training or servicing the US armed forces because you were an alien? All right. So when you hit next, that is going to take you to more questions. Have you ever left the United States to avoid being drafted into US armed forces? So a few more questions about the army. If you have served in the army before or served in the military is why I mean apologize. And finally, the last question under moral character is whether you support the constitution and form of government of the United States. So by now, you probably know that you should be supporting the constitution. So anyway, do you support the constitution form of government of the United States? Get that in there and then hit next. Which obviously, if you don't support the constitution, why are you even here? Sorry, this is true. A few more questions. Do you understand the full oath of allegiance to the United States? So if you actually even type in Google, what is the oath of allegiance? It's going to not only show you the oath of allegiance, but pretty much just give you some explanation. This is the official oath of allegiance that must be taken and subscribed by every lawful, permanent resident who wishes to become a national of the United States. So during the oath ceremony when they determine yes, you're going to become a US citizen, you have to go through the oath of allegiance. One of the officer will be reading it with you. You'll have your right hand up and then just follow and agree to whatever the officer is saying. But that's pretty much the oath of allegiance. If you want the whole text of the oath of allegiance, you can get that from the internet. And are you willing to take the full oath of allegiance to the United States? So get that in there as well. And you're, all right, if the law requires it, are you willing to bear arms on behalf of the United States? If the law requires it, are you willing to perform no combatance services in the United States? If the law requires it, are you willing to perform work of national importance under civilian directions? So pretty much all of these questions, they are still related to the oath of allegiance. When you read the oath of allegiance, you will see that most of these principles or values are already in there. So yeah, so we're done with the moral character. We covered four tabs so far. The next one is pretty important. And that is the evidence of everything that you said. Well, not everything, but a good chunk of it. You're saying here that as part of the naturalizing process, you will need to provide evidence to support your application. So these are usually documents like your green card, for example, birth certificate. So a couple of them you will have to submit them as part of the initial application, but some of them can be submitted either later on if they ask you by mail, say, Hey, we need this document or during your civics test or when you go for your biometrics, you might be asked for some additional information. But so if we go next in here, it's going to pretty much say what's document you will need to add. So additional evidence to support your application, you can provide additional documents that support your application and help explain any of your responses on the application if you want to provide. Okay, so they don't really specify what evidence they need, but it depends on your case. If you have any question that you think, okay, this is important enough that I have to, to give some sort of evidence, you can add it in there. But personally what I did when it came to adding evidence, I took a scan of my green card. I thought this is the most important one. It shows my first name, last name, dates of birth to my alien number. When did I become a resident? And I felt like those are the information that they are really looking for. So I did take a scan. And by the way, if you don't have a scan at home, there is an application that, that I use. It's called cam scanner or scanner cam. I'm going to leave the link in the description box. And all you have to do put your green card on, you know, just like a clean steady service, take a picture of the front and the back, and you will convert it into a PDF document or whatever other format that you want. So really what I did in here, I converted to a PDF document and I attached it in here. And that's it for addresses. I thought maybe I would need to give some evidence about where I lived, but I did not include. Yeah. So all I did for this tip was attach my green card. But again, this is different from one person to the other. But all you have to do, if you have any file that you need to, to add in here, you go under drug files here, or to click choose file, and then you can add whatever you need. There is no limit as to how much or how many documents, but there is a limit on the size. It has to be not more than six megabytes per file. So once you get your file added in there, get next, and that is going to take you to the last step of the whole process. And that is to check your application before you submit. So you will have to review your application. And as part of the review process, they tell you that there is obviously a fee for the application. And that is $725 is the amount of money you have to pay for this. And so they go through your eligibility. Like here, for example, they say, okay, we checked your eligibility, you have been a lawful permanent resident for more than five years. So you're good to go. They go through everything. So they give you alerts like here, because I did not enter all of the information they're saying, okay, you must provide your lawful permanent resident date. You must provide your A number. So anything that you missed, they did that they think is very crucial for the application to process. They add this in there. So so at this step, you can't proceed any further if you don't fill in this information. So all you have to do if anything is red, you go in, edit my response, edit my response, get that information added in there. And once everything is green, you click next and you are good to go. So that is going to take you to the next step of payment. So I'm not going to do that because I'm not actually submitting an application. But basically this is it. You go last step, you apply, you pay the fees that are necessary and they will give you an alert or some sort of notification that said that's okay, good job, your application was submitted. So and on top of that, you will also receive a notification in the mail, just a letter that says pretty much, hey, we received your application for the citizenship. And here are the next steps. And you can always use this account to check the steps of your application. But this is pretty much it for how to apply for your US citizenship step by step online all by yourself. In the next episode of Journey to the American Passports, I'm going to show you exactly how long it's going to take from the time you submit your application. And I'm going to share with you my case history, date by date and step by step what I did after I submitted my application online. Hope you guys found this video to be useful. And if you did, please give it a thumbs up and consider subscribing to our channel. And we'll see you soon in the next episode.