 to talk to you about citizenship, let's see, so we're going to go over what is naturalization and what is citizenship, the requirements for naturalization and the process of going through that. And then afterwards we have attorneys available to provide one-on-one consultations and to help you prepare your forms if you're ready for that or to answer any questions. So what is naturalization? Naturalization is the process by which you obtain U.S. citizenship if you were not born with U.S. citizenship. So in order to apply for U.S. citizenship or naturalization, you need to complete what's called the Form N-400, but it's sent to U.S. Customs and Immigration Services. In addition to that form, there will be an interview and that is how the officers determine whether or not you're eligible and eventually grant citizenship. So why should you naturalize? Some really important benefits that you get, being able to vote, being able to obtain citizenship for your children if they're under 18, you get priority in bringing relatives from abroad, you, of course, freedom for deportation, being able to travel with the U.S. passport, there's some benefits to that, ability to run for elected office even. So but it's really important that we also talk about what are the liabilities and the risks with applying for citizenship. So it does expose people to grounds of deportation. What does that mean? When you apply for citizenship, immigration is going to look at your whole immigration history and your whole criminal history and all of that and review whether or not you're eligible to be a citizen but also you need to be in this country. So in some cases, in the worst case, you can end up in deportation proceedings by applying for citizenship. So it's really important as we talk through some of the issues that you consult with a lawyer before you apply and let them know if there are any criminal issues at all. Even if you think it's not a big deal, it's best to talk about it. Conversation with the attorney is confidential and you can only benefit you to make sure that you're best prepared for any issues that might come up. Also in some countries, dual nationality is prohibited and you may risk losing your citizenship in your other country and so that's in your original country. So that's something you might need to keep in mind. You'll need to take an oath of allegiance to the United States and you'll be required to serve on a jury which is good and bad for some people. So what are the requirements? This is a list of basic requirements. So you need to be at least 18 years old. You need to be a lawful permanent resident. You have been a permanent resident for five years continuously. It is three years that you've been married to a US citizen over that period of time. And you may have been physically present here for half of those five years or three years. You also need to have good moral character. You need to be able to pass an exam in English and US government in history and then be able to stay loyal to the United States. I'll go over these in detail a little bit. First requirement at your 18, kind of obvious how you prove that. But if you're under 18, if your parents become a citizen while you're under 18, you can then apply for derivation of citizenship as what we call it. It's a slightly different process, but essentially children under 18 acquire citizenship than their parents do. Being a lawful permanent resident, that means you have to be in the car. And like I said, immigration will look at your whole history, which means they might look into how your green card was obtained. So for example, if someone is an asylum seeker and the time that they were a green card holder, they traveled back to their country origin where they had fled. That might raise red flags for immigration could be a problem. So also residency requirements. So you need to have been continuously here in the United States. This is one that gets real sticky for a lot of people really fast. So, for example, as of today, five years would be, what is today? September of 2013. So you need to have been here since September of 2013, or sorry, your green card needs to have an issue before that date. In order to have five years continuous residence. And then you also need to have been in the district or state where you're applying for three months or more. So if you just moved from Texas last month, you need to wait two months to apply. So continuous residence. So this needs to be directly preceding your application. So like I said, you're going to go back five years from today to September of 2013. You won't be putting information about September of 2010 on the application, even if you have received your green card in 2010. That requirement is only for three years if you're married to a US citizen. But you need to show additional proof to show that you are married to a US citizen. That you're living together and all of that. So to show that you've been to the present though, you need to not have absences that show that you were gone for too long or that you haven't maintained your residence here in the United States. That you can go move to another country during the past five years. So what does that mean? Generally, absences or trips of less than six months are okay. Not going to be a problem. But if it's more than six months and less than a year, it could raise a red flag. You'll want to talk to an attorney about it. The officer might have questions about it. You want to be prepared to answer the officer's questions about why that trip was so long and how you actually in fact remained a US resident during that time. You kept your house, you were enrolled in school, you still had a job. Things like this will show that you still were a US resident. You're still paying your taxes, but you just had for some reason to take a really long trip. If you were gone for more than one year, that's when you really have a problem. And it breaks the period of continuous residence and you'll need to wait to apply for citizenship. So like I was talking about, the period of physical presence is also. So there's continuous residence and physical presence. They're very similar but different requirements. So this again refers to the time that you spend physically here in the United States. And even if you've had only six month trips, if they equaled three years out of the past five years altogether, then you would not qualify for citizenship because you would not need the physical presence requirement because you would not in the United States for half of the time for the past five years. You need to have been present for at least half of the five year or three year period that you're applying for. And again, in the district or state in the last three months. There's some exceptions to that physical presence and abandonment of status. So this is really important. So even if, for example, you had a very long trip for two years, but it was in 2008, so out of the five year period of time, you still could end up in rural proceedings because if you are a green car holder and you move outside of the United States, immigration could say that you abandoned your residency here. And then you would then need to present evidence to the immigration judge that you did not in fact abandon your residence, that there were extenuating circumstances. There was some reason that you were unable to remain here but that you still, your home was in the United States, you didn't leave. You weren't planning to not remain here. And that can be very complicated. So if you have any of those long out, I wouldn't say it's really important to consult an immigration attorney. But it's really important to also remember, particularly this, it happens to people at the border, that only an immigration judge can take away your green card. Only an immigration judge can make this determination. So you don't have to sign away your green card if someone's coming back from a trip for two years at the border. They still have the right to see a judge to make that determination improve. Provide evidence of why they don't, have not abandoned their residence. Again, with abandonment, there's no particular time period. But similarly, six months or less of a trip is usually another column. Six months to a year raises a rebuttable presumption. And then over a year, you'll presume to have abandoned your residence. And you will have a much higher burden to prove that you did not. So other important rules that you have, good moral character. So what does that mean? I mean, you're not deportable. You don't follow the categories of being deportable. You'll see once we get to that, once you do the application, that there's a very, very long list of questions at the end, which are getting at these issues of good moral character. So for example, any criminal issues such as an aggravated felony, those are very serious crimes. Those things that would make you permanently unable to apply for citizenship are permanently unable to show that you have good moral character. Other ones, let's see. It depends on when it happened. If it was the last serious crime, if it happened within the last five years, you probably wouldn't be eligible for citizenship. Yeah, you need to wait. And these are some of the other issues that would show you don't have good moral character, and like I mentioned, come up in that long list of questions. So for example, polygamy, being married to more than one person at the same time, legal gambling, habitual drunkenness, these kinds of things. Terrorist acts, yelling to play child support, or lying to gain immigration benefits. These are all things that will come up in those questions. There are some discretionary factors, and those include things like not having filed your taxes. Also really important to talk to an attorney about that, if that's the case. Also, whether or not you've registered those selective services, so men who work in the United States between the ages of 18 and 26 should have registered for a selective service if they didn't. It's a discretionary thing about whether or not they can determine that they have good moral character. And then we can talk to people about that one on one. One thing I wanted to point out is, one thing we've seen impact particularly in the Muslim community is this secret program that immigration has put forth, and it has led to a very long delays in processing applications. It could be at the green card level or the list of the essential level, and it's called CARP, which is a controlled application review and resolution program. But essentially the only way someone knows that they're being impacted by this is if their application has been delayed like two or five or ten years, and that's the thing that if anyone's application gets delayed, I recommend they speak with someone in our office or another who can assess whether or not that is an issue for them. But generally it comes out of national security concerns. Someone served in the military in their country of origin, things like this. So what's the process? So you will complete the form N400. Today we have copies of those forms today and we can go over that with you. You're eligible within a few, at least about a month or two when you apply to the nearest immigration office. There they will take your fingerprints, take your photo and run a background check. That's when they'll run FBI criminal-pitched background. So then it takes a few months for the background check to clear and then the backlog. So this slide says four months for the application. That's when I get it. Currently it's taking nine months, more or less, in some offices. Last year it was taking over a year. So it's hard to say what it will be when you apply today. You can check online what their processing times are. But generally, generally less than two years I can say uncertainty. But right now I think we're looking at about nine months. Again depending on which office you go to. And so once you have your interview, that's when they actually determine whether or not you become a citizen. The officer will go through your whole application with you again. So it's really important that before you mail it out, you make a copy because in nine months or a year you might not remember what you wrote in your application. So you want to review that before your interview because obviously you'll be looking for consistencies in your statements. And they'll go through that and then they will test you on your English language skills and your US civics, all of that. And then at the end of that they will issue a decision. Hopefully they will say congratulations to becoming a US citizen and they will give you an appointment to do your oath. Some cases they'll say it'll take time to make a decision. In other cases you will be not denied but they will tell you why. For example you didn't pass English requirements. Or you weren't here, you didn't meet your continuous presence requirements. They'll let you know what it is. So what is the English test? So you're required to show that you speak English. That's mostly tested by you speaking to the officer. It's only you and an attorney that can go into the interview. You'll be asked to read a sentence in English. You'll be then asked to write a sentence in English. You're given three opportunities in that one meeting to do that. There's some exceptions if you're over 50 or 55 and you've been here for over 15 or 20 years. The civics test is also administered in English. And there are 100 predetermined questions. You will be asked 10 of them, you have to get six right. So you have to get a 60% but a D, right? Not too hard. Seems like it sometimes but just a few six right. And you have all the questions ahead of time. There are CDs, there are apps. There are so many ways to study, prepare for that. If someone is over 65 and they've been a permanent resident for over 20 years, they can get less questions. And that's that. So but if you do fail the English required English test or the civics test, you get another chance to take it. So they will schedule you to come back in a few weeks. Hopefully they'll have them study and you can try again. You only get one other shot and then they deny your application. And then you have to reapply, which can be very costly. There is an exemption if you have a medically determined disability. So for example dementia is something that you could get a waiver for the English and civics requirements. But you have to get a doctor to sign a notice explaining all of that. And then finally there is no citizenship oath. Some people don't have to say it if, for example, they have a disability or they have religious reasons why they can't say the things of the oath. But this is the oath, it's also an application. So you support the Constitution of the United States, you bear allegiance, you're willing to bear arms, you support non-combatant services with armed forces, and perform work of national importance. And at the end of this all, you would do it in a big room with lots of other people who are also becoming citizens. It's a ceremony and a nice day. This is the USDA's website. If you don't know any immigration forms you get, you should get from there. They are free. All information is there. You shouldn't pay someone for a copy of the form. Everything can be found there. So today we have two organizations here. In addition to CARES Equality Center is also supporting us. They are another immigration service provider. And so you can reach out to either of our offices if you have any questions beyond the clinic. And thank you all so much.