What does naturalized citizenship give you?

Naturalized citizenship gives a person almost all the same rights as natural-born citizens, with one significant exception. Naturalized citizens may vote in federal, state, and local elections; serve on federal and state juries; hold most public offices including the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, governorships, state legislatures, and local elected positions; work in most federal jobs that require U.S. citizenship; serve in the armed forces with full rights; obtain a U.S. passport; sponsor immediate family members for immigration without numerical limits; receive consular protection while traveling abroad; and live in the United States permanently without fear of deportation absent fraud or denaturalization proceedings.

The Supreme Court reinforced this principle in Schneider v. Rusk (1964), which struck down a federal statute that revoked naturalized citizenship after extended residence abroad. Justice William O. Douglas wrote that the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity and are coextensive. Afroyim v. Rusk (1967) and Vance v. Terrazas (1980) further established that citizenship cannot be involuntarily revoked, requiring specific intent to relinquish before the State Department may take that step.

The single exception is eligibility for the Presidency. Article II Section 1 of the Constitution requires the President to be a natural-born Citizen, which the courts and Department of State have read to include people born in the United States and people born abroad to U.S. citizen parents under the relevant nationality statute in effect at the time of birth. Naturalized citizens are ineligible regardless of how long they have been citizens. The Vice President is subject to the same requirement under the Twelfth Amendment.

Naturalization itself follows specific statutory procedures under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Most adult applicants must be at least eighteen, lawful permanent residents for at least five years, or three years if married to a U.S. citizen, demonstrate continuous residence and physical presence, show good moral character for the relevant statutory period, demonstrate knowledge of English and U.S. civics through the naturalization test, and take the Oath of Allegiance. The Oath transforms a permanent resident into a U.S. citizen with all the rights and privileges of any other citizen, with the lone exception described above.

Denaturalization is rare but possible if citizenship was procured by fraud or willful misrepresentation under 8 U.S.C. § 1451. Naturalization candidates should know that taking the Oath of Allegiance creates virtually full constitutional citizenship.