The US clarifies residency requirements for citizenship

There are several requirements that you need to meet to obtain US citizenship. One of them is that you must be able to prove continuous residence and physical presence in the US for the stipulated amount of time.

The USCIS clarified the residency requirement in a new policy alert on Wednesday.

Continuous residence means to have lived uninterruptedly in the US for the required amount of time. The continuous residence and physical presence requirement are to prove that you genuinely want to become a US citizen. Spending too much time outside the US signals that you may not be committed to permanent residence in the US.

As per the USCIS, to become an American citizen, you must:

• Have continuously lived in the US for a minimum of five years prior to applying for citizenship
• Spouses of US citizens must have continuously lived in the US for at least three years before applying for citizenship

The new update is for those who have broken the continuity of residence. It clarifies when such applicants can apply for US citizenship.

The new USCIS update clarifies two requirements for citizenship by naturalization:

• If you have lived outside the US for more than six months but less than a year, you have broken the necessary continuity of residence
• If you have broken your continuity of residence, you must establish a new period of continuous residence as required

The USCIS clarified that until and unless you have met the continuous residence requirement, you are not eligible for US citizenship.

What are the other requirements for naturalization?

• You must be a Green Card holder (Permanent Resident) of the US
• You must be at least 18 years old at the time of applying for citizenship
• You should pass the character test, meaning you should have a clean criminal record for the past five years. It is imperative that you must not have falsified any information for immigration or any other procedure. An applicant charged with an aggravated felony does not qualify for citizenship.
• Know basic English; should be able to read and write in English
• Should have adequate knowledge of US history and the Govt.
• You should be willing to defend and support the US and the US constitution

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