{"id":28,"date":"2018-02-22T15:40:41","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T15:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/?p=28"},"modified":"2026-04-10T15:51:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T15:51:33","slug":"immigration-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/immigration-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration: What You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>CITIZENSHIP<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you meet certain requirements, you may become a U.S. citizen either at birth or after birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To become a citizen at birth, you must:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Have been born in the United States or certain territories or outlying possessions of the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; OR<\/li><li>had a parent or parents who were citizens at the time of your birth (if you were born abroad) and meet other requirements.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To become a citizen after birth, you must:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Apply for \u201cderived\u201d or \u201cacquired\u201d citizenship through parents.<\/li><li>Apply for naturalization.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Some of the benefits of becoming a Citizen include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Right to vote.<\/li><li>Bring family members to the United States.<\/li><li>Obtaining citizenship for children born abroad.<\/li><li>Traveling with a U.S. Passport<\/li><li>Becoming eligible for Federal jobs.<\/li><li>Becoming an elected official.<\/li><li>Showing your patriotism.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You may file for naturalization if your eligibility is based on being a<br>Permanent resident for at least 5 years; or<br>Permanent resident for at least 3 years if you are married to a U.S. Citizen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to these, you must also meet the following requirements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Continuous residence<\/li><li>Good moral character<\/li><li>English and Civics knowledge<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Please call our office for a free consultation and to further discuss your case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Family-Based Immigration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Family-based immigration is the process of applying for permanent residency or green card through a spouse or other family member.&nbsp; Each applicant must be fingerprinted, submit photographs, go through a background check, submit supporting documentation to include a medical examination by a certified USCIS approved physician and have a qualified financial sponsor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>U.S. citizens may sponsor:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Parents, if the U.S. citizen is over 21 (immediate relative);<\/li><li>Spouse (immediate relative);<\/li><li>Children (immediate relative if the child is unmarried and under the age of 21; preference relative if the child is married or unmarried and over the age of 21);<\/li><li>Brothers and Sisters (preference relative).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lawful Permanent Residents may sponsor:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Unmarried Children (preference relative)<\/li><li>Spouse (preference relative)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Family based immigration does not extend to family members such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins. It is limited to immediate relatives.<br>The individual obtaining the immigrant visa is called the principal beneficiary.&nbsp; Those individuals immigrating with the principal beneficiary are called derivative beneficiaries.&nbsp; If the principal beneficiary is an&nbsp;immediate relative, then there are&nbsp;no&nbsp;derivative beneficiaries.&nbsp; Each intending immigrant requires his or her own petition.&nbsp; Preference category principals may immigrate their spouses and children as derivative beneficiaries on the same petition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A spouse of a United States citizen or permanent resident may apply for permanent resident status (a green card) and obtain a work permit within the United States ONLY if:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>the spouse entered the U.S. legally, or<\/li><li>the spouse had a petition filed on their behalf prior to April 30, 2001.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If neither of these are the case, then the spouse must leave the United States to follow the process of&nbsp;Consular Processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the couple is not yet married,&nbsp;a U.S. citizen may apply for a&nbsp;K-1 visa&nbsp;in order to bring&nbsp;his or her&nbsp;fianc\u00e9e to the United States in order to get married. Once the couple is married, the immigrant relative can&nbsp;then apply for permanent resident status.&nbsp; In order to obtain a fianc\u00e9(e) visa, the couple must prove:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>That they have met in person within the past two years (in some cases this requirement can be waived);<\/li><li>They have a good faith intention to marry; and<\/li><li>That they are legally able and willing to marry within 90 days of the spouse\u2019s arrival to the U.S.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CITIZENSHIP If you meet certain requirements, you may become a U.S. citizen either at birth or after birth. To become a citizen at birth, you must: Have been born in the United States or certain territories or outlying possessions of the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; OR had a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52,"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.delandcriminalattorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}