Citizenship

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Citizenship is the status or position of being a citizen of a nation. If you have citizenship in a country, you have the right to live, work and vote there and also have the obligation to pay tax.  A person may have multiple citizenships.

U.S. Citizenship

There are two primary types of U.S. citizenship: birthright citizenship and naturalized citizenship.

To be a U.S. citizen at birth, you must:

  • Have been born within the territorial limits of the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; or
  • If you were born abroad and you had one or two parents who were U.S. citizens at the time of your birth, you can apply citizenship through a Consular Report of Birth (CRBA)

To become a U.S. citizen through naturalization, you must:

  • Be a "derived" or "acquired" children of U.S. citizen parents and apply for citizenship.
  • Be a legal immigrant, meet the naturalization requirement and apply for naturalization

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