When you apply for naturalization, otherwise known as citizenship, the immigration service is concerned with approximately five or six specific topics. Accordingly, what follows will be those citizenship interview tips.
The first is your ability to read and write in English. You will be asked to read a short sentence, approximately five or six words, which appears on a screen on the officer’s desk. Then next, you will be asked to write on that screen a sentence that is also about five or six words. The next issue that immigration is concerned with is your knowledge of United States history, otherwise known as a civics test. You will be required to answer six out of ten questions correctly. The ten questions will be taken from a list of one hundred questions that are available online for you to study. The officer will ask the questions that are randomly provided to him by an algorithm on his computer. As soon as you get six correct, the test is over.
The other three or four issues are more personal to you. Travel is a particularly important issue as well. If you have been out of the United States for more than six months in any one year, you may be deemed do you have abandoned your green card. If you have been out of the country for more than a year continuously you are not permitted to apply for citizenship.
The the next major issue that concerns USCIS is your criminal history. If you have committed any crimes in the five-year period prior to your application, otherwise known as a good moral period, you may not be qualified to become a citizen. DWIs can be very important in this context despite that fact that they are not a crime that can result in deportation, a DWI conviction in the five-year Good Moral period will disqualify you from citizenship. In addition, you cannot be on probation at the time of your citizenship interview.
The other two issues concern the officer, are taxes and child support. If you owe any back taxes, you must have a repayment plan set up with the government to become a US citizen. In addition, if you have had children that do not live in your household and you cannot prove you have been paying child support, you may be disqualified from US citizenship. These are the key issues that will arise during your citizenship interview.
The other important overriding concern at your interview is your immigration history. This interview is the last chance for the US government to review your background in the immigration context and in recent years they take that responsibility very seriously. Things USCIS looks for are marriage fraud, past credibility issues or any other type of immigration fraud.
We hope that these citizenship interview tips have been helpful. Nevertheless, it is best that you speak with an immigration attorney before applying and or appearing for an interview.