A person may already be a U.S. citizen and does not need to apply for naturalization if his biological or adoptive parent became a U.S. citizen before he reached the age of 18.

There are certain requirements that must be met before you can file a US citizenship application. You must have resided for at least three months in the state where the application will be filed. You must meet the continuous residence requirement. It means that you must be physically present in the US for at least one-half of the 5 years (or one-half of 3 years) before you can apply.

An absence between 6 months and 1 year raises a rebuttable presumption that continuous residence has been interrupted. An absence of 1 year or more “shall” disrupt the continuity of residence. However, there are exceptions to this requirement.

A person whose continuous residence has been broken may reapply 4 years and 1 day (or 2 years and 1 day) following the date of his return to US to resume residency.

An applicant for US citizenship must show that he has been a person of good moral character for 5 years (or for a spouse of a US Citizen, 3 years, or for person in the military, 1 year). Some criminal and some non-criminal acts may prevent you from meeting this requirement.

Most applicants are required to take a test on their knowledge of English language. Also, the applicant must have knowledge of U.S. history and government.

You will be given two opportunities to take the English and civics tests and to answer all questions relating to your naturalization application in English. If you fail any of the tests at your initial interview, you will be retested on the portion of the test that you failed (English or civics) between 60 and 90 days from the date of your initial interview.

We are here to help you determine if you meet all the requirements to file an application to become a US citizen through naturalization. We can also help you with filing the application and preparing for the interview.