American citizenship comes with various rights and responsibilities, and it can be challenging to obtain it. If you are concerned about your naturalization or citizenship application, you should discuss your situation with dedicated Coral Gables immigration law attorney Lupe Lafont. Ms. Lafont is a Venezuelan lawyer who brings compassion to her role in her clients’ immigration petitions and other matters. Formerly involved in the surgical field, she brings a high degree of care and insight into the urgency of her clients’ needs while navigating a complicated system in order to become a citizen.

 

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship

 

United States citizenship provides various rights that many people around the world hope to have. As a citizen of this country, you’d be able to vote in elections, petition for your family members to immigrate, and be able to live abroad while retaining the right to come home when you want.

 

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You can’t be naturalized unless the following conditions exist:

 

• Immediately before you filed, you lived continuously within the country for a minimum of five years. During those five years, you must have been physically present in the country for at least half of the time, and you must have lived within a state or district of the service in the country in which you filed the application for a minimum of three months.

• You lived continuously within the country from the application date to the time you were admitted to citizenship

• The government deems that during those periods, you were and still are a person of good moral character who is attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and you’re well-disposed to the country’s happiness and good order.

 

Effect of Absences on Citizenship

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Absences from the country can break the requirement of continuous residence immediately before the date you file an application for naturalization or during the period between the date you filed an application and the date of the hearing. If you are absent from the country for more than 6 months but less than a year during the continuous residence period, continuity is broken unless our attorney can establish to the Attorney General’s satisfaction you didn’t abandon residence in the country during that period.

With certain exceptions, being absent from the country for a continuous period of a year or more during the period in which continuous residence was required for admission to citizenship breaks your continuity, so it’s important to talk to us about your travel plans. 

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Good Moral Character Requirement

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The Attorney General’s finding that you are not deportable is not accepted as conclusive evidence you have good moral character. To decide whether you’ve sustained the burden of establishing good moral character and other qualifications for citizenship, the Attorney General won’t simply look at how you acted in the five years you applied. Rather, any acts you committed prior to that period can also be taken into consideration.

Exams

Once you submit an application, you’ll need to pass two exams during a citizenship interview at USCIS. These will be held during the citizenship interview at a USCIS office. They’re intended to test whether:

• You can speak, read, and write in English.

• You can pass a test that covers the history and government of the United States. However, there are exceptions for people with specific disabilities.

Retain an Experienced Coral Gables Immigration Lawyer

 

If you are hoping for naturalization or citizenship, you should seek legal counsel to make sure your application is appropriate and presented in the best possible way. Compassionate, tenacious Immigration Lawyer Lupe Lafont may be able to help you with immigration law matters in Miami, Florida. Prior to serving as an attorney in immigration law matters, she worked in surgical health care. She transfers this strong dedication to people seeking naturalization and citizenship.