by Elizabeth R. Blandon

The greatest right and obligation of citizenship is the privilege of voting, allowing your opinion to be heard in one of the strongest governments of the world. The naturalization process with Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) can take over a year. After receiving the application, CIS can take almost a month to acknowledge that they received it. Then, the applicant is asked to have fingerprints taken. That process may take another month. The longest delay, however, is the security check. CIS will not schedule the interview until confirming that the applicant’s name has not cleared through the database. Client with the surname Rodriguez have waited over a year for interview scheduling. Even after the interview, an applicant is not a citizen until the oath ceremony, which can be scheduled for one or two months later.

In addition to voting, foreign nationals also consider the following reasons as valid ones for applying for naturalization:

• Tax Consequences. Federal and state regulations relating to estate matters can become excessively complicated when the beneficiary, usually the spouse, is not a U.S. citizen. As appropriate financial planning advice, professionals sometimes advise foreign national spouses to naturalize for this reason. Of course, because acquiring citizenship has tax consequences of its own a tax professional should be consulted.
• Immigration Benefits. Citizens receive top consideration for immigration benefits. Legal permanent residency (LPRs) can be terminated or cancelled through different methods but citizenship is not taken away easily. Also, absent very unusual circumstances, citizens cannot be removed from the U.S., while LPRs can be deported. Finally, citizens obtain immigration benefits for their family members much faster than LPRs. For example, the spouse or children of an LPR might have to wait more than five years to become a resident. On the other hand, the spouse and children of a citizen can apply for residency, or in some cases citizenship, immediately.
• Employment. The federal government gives priority to U.S. citizens when contracting employees. For some competitive positions, LPRs are not even considered at all.
• Public Benefits. Each day more and more, public assistance for foreign nationals is curtailed further. These restrictions do not affect U.S. citizens, however, who enjoy medical and financial assistance especially after retirement.