Pierce Brendan, naturalized U.S. citizen

If ever Miki likened himself to James Bond, well, take note: Pierce Brosnan became a naturalized citizen in 2004! And he gets all those hot babes!!

Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist who holds Irish and American citizenship. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele (1982–87).

After Remington Steele, Brosnan took the lead in many films such as Dante's Peak and The Thomas Crown Affair. In 1995, he became the fifth actor to portray secret agent James Bond in the official film series, starring in four films between 1995 and 2002. He also provided his voice and likeness to Bond in the 2004 video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing. Since playing Bond, he has starred in such successes as The Matador (nominated for a Golden Globe, 2005), Mamma Mia! (National Movie Award, 2008), and The Ghost Writer (2010).

In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, a Los Angeles-based production company. In later years, he has become known for his charitable work and environmental activism.

He was married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris from 1980 until her death in 1991. He married American journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith in 2001, becoming an American citizen in 2004.

Obama Born In Kenya? His Grandmother Says Yes.

Miki's path to becoming a 'naturalized' citizen is somewhat analogous to Barack Obama's path to U.S. citizenship.

Obama's grandmother claimed that he was born in Kenya. If that is so, and he is now the president of the U.S., then by definition, he is a de-facto U.S. naturalized citizen, because no president can be president without also being a citizen; quod erat demonstrandum, was zu beweisen war.

Miki should be too!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28526061/

Supermoon next two nights.

This Friday and Saturday the full moon will be the closest to earth in 18 years!  It will appear 30% brighter and 14% larger!

Not only that, but if you are a citizen of the U.S., you get priority viewing, and a chance at jury duty, plus you can vote in presidential elections!!

Budget- it's time to get serious about budget cuts

As a citizen, I feel compelled to contact my representative, and the Speaker of the House.

I just sent the following to Speaker Boehner:

We elected a majority of Republicans specifically to address budget deficits. A debt crisis is looming. For the sake of my child I'd respectfully ask that you shut down the parts of government as necessary to ensure that there is a meaningful cut in spending. I believe the Democrats will eventually capitulate, and this shutdown will only be temporary. $61 Billion is almost negligible with respect to an almost $4 Trillion dollar budget. That's like a dozen golf balls for a weekend outing to president Obama, compared to the cost of the whole outing including Air Force One. So please do not listen to the biased media, and do what it takes, including not expanding the debt limit.

Thanks in advance for consideration for my and all our future generations of Americans.

Patrick Ewing: Naturalized Citizen of the U.S.

Miki: be like Patrick Ewing. He was born in Jamaica, and is now a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Become a citizen, man!

Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Famebasketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic. Ewing was named as the 16th greatest college player of all time by ESPN.^[1] He won Olympic Gold Medals as a member of the 1984 and 1992 US Men's National Basketball teams. In a 1996 poll celebrating the 50th anniversary of the NBA, Ewing was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time. On April 7, 2008 he was elected to the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 5, 2008 along with former NBA coach Pat Riley and former Houston Rockets center, Hakeem Olajuwon. His number 33 was retired by the Knicks in 2003.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Ewing excelled at cricket and soccer. He was 11 years old when he arrived in the United States with his family, settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He learned to play basketball at Cambridge Rindge and Latin. In order to prepare for college, Ewing joined the MIT-Wellesley Upward Bound Program. Upward Bound is a federally-funded college-prep program for disadvantaged high school students. He went to Georgetown University inWashington, D.C..

Patrick Ewing

Famous Naturalized U.S. Citizens

Famous Naturalized U.S. Citizens

Madeleine Albright, US Secretary of State, from Czech Republic

Pamela Anderson, actress, from Canada

Isaac Asimov, author, from Russia

Dan Aykroyd, actor, from Canada

Mischa Barton, actress, England

Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer, Russia

Pierce Brosnan, actor, Ireland

Mother Cabrini, Saint, Italy

Jim Carrey, actor, Canada

Oleg Cassini, fashion designer, France

Nadia Comaneci, gymnast, Romania

Willem de Kooning, artist, the Netherlands

Albert Einstein, scientist, Germany

Patrick Ewing, pro basketball player, Jamaica

Peter Frampton, musician, England

Diane von Furstenberg, fashion designer, Belgium

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor, Scotland

Cary Grant, actor, England

Wayne Gretzky, pro hockey player, Canada

Salma Hayek, actress, Mexico

Alfred Hitchcock, director, England

Bob Hope, actor, England

Anthony Hopkins, actor, Wales

Khaled Hosseini, author, Afghanistan

Ariana Huffington, author, Greece

Iman, model, Somalia

Henry Kissinger, diplomat, Germany

Ivan Lendl, pro tennis player, Czech Republic

Bela Lugosi, actor, Hungary

Dave Matthews, singer, South Africa

Vladimir Nabokov, writer, Russia

Martina Navratilova, pro tennis player, Czech Republic

Yoko Ono, artist, Japan

I.M. Pei, architect, China

Wolfgang Puck, chef, Austria

Mark Rothko, artist, Latvia

Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor, Austria

Siegfrieg and Roy, entertainers, Germany

Gene Simmons, musician, Israel

Annika Sorenstam, pro golfer, Sweden

Sammy Sosa, baseball player, Dominican Republic

Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist, Germany

NATURALIZATION CITIZEN OATH:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, State, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law, that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

 

Honor Someone on Citizenship Day

September 17th is Constitution Day, also called Citizenship Day.  This is one of the newest federal holidays to be established by Congress, as it was passed in just 2004.  Citizenship Day was the name given to the holiday prior to its official designation. It is celebrated on September 17th unless it falls on a weekend.

link

Alfred Hitchcock: natrualized citizen of the U.S.

Miki's life draws heavily on fantasy (he's a legend in his own mind), and he too is known for his droll humour!

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a highly influential director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. He directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of talkies, to the colour era. Hitchcock was among the most consistently successful and publicly recognizable directors in the world during his lifetime, and remains one of the best known and most popular directors of all time, famous for his expert and largely unrivaled control of pace and suspense throughout his movies.


He was born in the United Kingdom, where he began his directing career before working primarily in the United States from 1939 on, applying for citizenship in 1956. The "Master of Suspense", as he was commonly known, and his family lived in a mountaintop estate high above Scotts Valley, California from 1940 to 1972. He died of a heart attack in 1980.

Hitchcock's films draw heavily on both fear and fantasy, and are known for their droll humour. They often portray innocent people caught up in circumstances beyond their control or understanding. This often involves a transference of guilt in which the "innocent" character's failings are transferred to another character, and magnified. Another common theme is the basic incompatibility of men and women; Hitchcock's films often take a cynical view of traditional romance.

Charlie Sheen

Unfortunately, not all natural born citizens make our country proud. However, America is indeed a proud melting pot. It's still the greatest nation on earth, especially since we let idiots like this run loose, and still maintain and even defend their right to free speech.

Carlos Irwin Estevez (born September 3, 1965), better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American actor.

His character roles in films have included Chris Taylor in the 1986 Vietnam War drama Platoon, Jake Kesey in the 1986 film The Wraith, and Bud Fox in the 1987 film Wall Street. His career has also included more comedic films such as Major League, the Hot Shots! films, and Scary Movie 3 and 4. On television, Sheen is known for his roles on two sitcoms: as Charlie Crawford on Spin City and as Charlie Harper on Two and a Half Men. In 2010, Sheen was the highest paid actor on television, earning $1.8 million per episode of Two and a Half Men.^[2] Sheen's personal life has also made headlines numerous times, including reports about marital problems and drug abuse.

Sheen in March 2009

September 11 attacks

On March 20, 2006, Sheen stated that he questions the US government's account of the September 11 attacks.^[21] Sheen said during the interview that the collapse of the World Trade Center towers looked like a controlled demolition.^[22][23]

Sheen has since become a prominent advocate of the 9/11 Truth movement.^[24] On September 8, 2009, Sheen appealed to US President Barack Obama to set up a new investigation into the attacks. Presenting his views as a transcript of a fictional encounter with Obama, he was characterized by the press as believing the 9/11 commission was a whitewash and that the administration of former US President George W. Bush may have been responsible for the attacks.^[25][26][27]

On January 27, 2011, Sheen was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by paramedics. Sheen's representative said the actor was suffering from "severe abdominal pains".^[55] On January 28, Sheen began undergoing a substance rehabilitation program in his home^[56] and CBS announced that Two and a Half Menwould go into hiatus.^[57] The network subsequently announced that the season then underway and due to film its last four episodes was canceled after Sheen made offensive comments about the creator and lead writer of Two and a Half Men, Chuck Lorre, on the February 24 edition of a radio broadcast hosted by Alex Jones.^[58]

On February 28, 2011, Sheen publicly demanded a 50 percent raise for the show "Two and a Half Men" ^[59] Although he is already the highest paid actor on television, Sheen demanded 3 million dollars per episode.^[60]

Bob Hope, born in England, became a U.S. Citizen

Miki's often more concerned with style, over the more pragmatic substance of any aspect of life.

He could be a leading man, if only he'd become a naturalized U.S. Citizen, just like Bob Hope.  Yes, there still is hope!

Sir Bob Hope KBE, KCSG, (May 29 1903 – July 27 2003), born Leslie Townes Hope, was a famous British-born American entertainer who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio and television, in movies, and in performing tours for U.S. Military personnel.

British origins

Hope was born in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons. His English father, William Henry Hope, was a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare and his Welsh mother, Avis Townes, was a light opera singer but later had to find work as a cleaning woman. The family lived in Weston-super-Mare, then Whitehall and St. George in Bristol, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1907. Hope became a U.S. citizen in 1920 when he was 17.

Early career

From the age of 12, Bob Hope worked at a wide variety of odd jobs at a local board walk. When not doing this he would busk, doing dance and comedy patter to make extra money. He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests, and won prizes for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. He also boxed briefly and unsuccessfully under the name Packy East. Fallen silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw one of his performances and in 1925 got him steady work with Hurley's Jolly Follies. A year later Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with the Hilton Sisters, conjoined twins who had a tap dancing routine. After five years on the Vaudeville circuit, by his own account Hope was surprised and humbled when he and his partner Grace Louise Troxell failed a 1930 screen test for Pathé in Culver City, California. Hope returned to New York City and subsequently appeared in several Broadway musicals including Roberta, Say When, the 1936 Ziegfeld Follies and Red, Hot and Blue with Ethel Merman. His performances were generally well-received and critics noted his keen sense of comedic timing.His name was changed to "Bob", reportedly because people in the US were calling him "Hopelessly". His given name as stated above is Leslie.

Films

Hope returned to Hollywood during the mid-1930s but at first was relegated to indifferently produced B-pictures and several one-reel comedies for Warner Brothers; however his movie career soon accelerated. In the 1938 film The Big Broadcast of 1938, during a duet with Shirley Ross, Hope introduced the bittersweet song later to become his trademark, Thanks for the Memory, which became a major hit and was praised by critics. The sentimental and fluid nature of the music allowed Hope's writers (whom he is said to have depended upon heavily throughout his career) to later invent endless variations of the song to fit specific circumstances, such as bidding farewell to troops whilst on tour. According to Hope, early during his film career a director advised him that movie acting was done mostly with the eyes, resulting in the exaggerated and rolling eye movements which characterized many of his onscreen performances.

Hope's regular appearances in Hollywood films and on radio made him one of the best known entertainers in North America and at the height of his career he was also making a large income from live performances. For example, during an eight-week tour in 1940 he reportedly generated $100,000 in receipts, a record at the time (this is the equivalent of $1.4 million dollars in 2006 money).

As a movie star he was best known for My Favorite Brunette and the highly profitable Road To movies in which he starred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour (whom he had first seen performing as a nightclub singer in New York and subsequently invited to work with him on his USO tours). Lamour is said to have shown up for filming fully prepared with her lines, only to be baffled by completely new material which had been written by Hope's own staff of writers without the studio's permission. Hope and Lamour were lifelong friends and she is the actress most associated with his film career along with others such as Lucille Ball, Jane Russell, and Katharine Hepburn.

RE: Hedy Lamarr - a naturalized citizen - So should Miki

From: Miki

Rob does not get Hedy....just get '-marred'...and it shows in his envy over yet another waitress who spent time with me...over him...no surprises there!!

_________

From: Rob

If Miki had a snowball's chance in hell of getting a girl like Hedy Lamarr perhaps he'd have become a U.S. citizen long ago… (we all remember Miki's pretend waitress kiss incident in Massachusetts… he couldn't even get a kiss from a lowly service wench in a dump bar).

Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr (November 9, 1913 â€" January 19, 2000) was an actress and communications technology innovator. She was known for her great beauty on camera, and also for co-inventing the first form of spread spectrum, a key to modern wireless communication.

Life

Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, on November 9, 1913, and died in 2000 in Altamonte Springs, Florida (near Orlando, Orange County, Florida) of natural causes at the age of 86.

While married to her first husband, Friedrich Mandl, aka Fritz Mandl, an arms manufacturer, she socialized with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. She also became educated technically in his trade. Mandl was obsessed with his wife and never let her out of his sight. She hated him and his Nazi friends and finally escaped to London by drugging him and the French maid he had hired to spy on her. Ironically, Mandl was from a Jewish background. Whether the Nazis ever knew about Mandl's and Lamarr's Jewish origins has been debated by historians; Friedrich Mandl came from an extremely assimilated family and it appears that he overtly hid his Jewish origins, and he converted to Christianity under evident pressure. Many also say that Lamarr's co-invention of spread spectrum as a potential World War II military application was sparked by her desire to do anything in her power to help see Nazism defeated.

She met Louis B. Mayer in London. He hired her and changed her name to Hedy Lamarr, the surname in homage to a famously beautiful film star of the silent era, Barbara LaMarr, who had died of a drug overdose in 1926. She had already appeared in several European films, including Ecstasy (1933), in which she played a love-hungry young wife of an indifferent old husband. Closeups of her face in passion, and long shots of her running nude through the woods, gave the film notoriety. She also gained notoriety as one of the first actresses to bare her breasts in a major film. Mandl bought up as many copies of the film as he could possibly find, as he objected to her nudity, as well as "the expression on her face."

In Hollywood, she appeared in many films, usually cast as glamorous and seductive, including Algiers (1938), White Cargo, and Tortilla Flat (both 1942), based on the novel by John Steinbeck. In 1941 she was cast alongside two other Hollywood beauties Lana Turner and Judy Garland in a musical extravaganza Ziegfeld Girl (1941), Her biggest success came in Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949) with Victor Mature as the Biblical strongman. Unfortunately, she was more used for her stunning exotic beauty than her ability as an actress.

Lamarr became a naturalized citizen of the United States on April 10, 1953.

Frequency-hopped spread spectrum invention

Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil received U.S. patent #2,292,387 for their Secret Communication System. This early version of frequency hopping used a piano roll to change between 88 frequencies and was intended to make radio-guided torpedoes harder for enemies to detect or jam. The patent was little-known until recently because Lamarr applied for it under her then-married name of Hedy Kiesler Markey. Neither Lamarr nor Antheil made any money from the patent. It had expired by the time the U.S. military barely began using this system after 1962. It took electronics technology a long time to catch up with the concept.

Lamarr's frequency-hopping idea served as the basis for modern spread-spectrum communication technology used in devices ranging from cordless telephones to WiFi Internet connections. In 1997, the two of them received an EFF Pioneer Award for the invention.

Lamarr wanted to join the National Inventors Council but she was told that she could better help the war effort by using her celebrity status to sell War Bonds. She once raised $7,000,000 at just one event.

In 2003, the Boeing corporation ran a series of recruitment ads featuring Hedy Lamarr as a woman of science. No reference to her film career was made in the ads.

In 2005, the first Inventor's Day in German-speaking countries was held in her honor on November 9, on what would have been her 92nd birthday.

Hedy Lamarr - a naturalized citizen - So should Miki

Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr (November 9, 1913 â€" January 19, 2000) was an actress and communications technology innovator. She was known for her great beauty on camera, and also for co-inventing the first form of spread spectrum, a key to modern wireless communication.

Life

Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, on November 9, 1913, and died in 2000 in Altamonte Springs, Florida (near Orlando, Orange County, Florida) of natural causes at the age of 86.

While married to her first husband, Friedrich Mandl, aka Fritz Mandl, an arms manufacturer, she socialized with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. She also became educated technically in his trade. Mandl was obsessed with his wife and never let her out of his sight. She hated him and his Nazi friends and finally escaped to London by drugging him and the French maid he had hired to spy on her. Ironically, Mandl was from a Jewish background. Whether the Nazis ever knew about Mandl's and Lamarr's Jewish origins has been debated by historians; Friedrich Mandl came from an extremely assimilated family and it appears that he overtly hid his Jewish origins, and he converted to Christianity under evident pressure. Many also say that Lamarr's co-invention of spread spectrum as a potential World War II military application was sparked by her desire to do anything in her power to help see Nazism defeated.

She met Louis B. Mayer in London. He hired her and changed her name to Hedy Lamarr, the surname in homage to a famously beautiful film star of the silent era, Barbara LaMarr, who had died of a drug overdose in 1926. She had already appeared in several European films, including Ecstasy (1933), in which she played a love-hungry young wife of an indifferent old husband. Closeups of her face in passion, and long shots of her running nude through the woods, gave the film notoriety. She also gained notoriety as one of the first actresses to bare her breasts in a major film. Mandl bought up as many copies of the film as he could possibly find, as he objected to her nudity, as well as "the expression on her face."

In Hollywood, she appeared in many films, usually cast as glamorous and seductive, including Algiers (1938), White Cargo, and Tortilla Flat (both 1942), based on the novel by John Steinbeck. In 1941 she was cast alongside two other Hollywood beauties Lana Turner and Judy Garland in a musical extravaganza Ziegfeld Girl (1941), Her biggest success came in Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949) with Victor Mature as the Biblical strongman. Unfortunately, she was more used for her stunning exotic beauty than her ability as an actress.

Lamarr became a naturalized citizen of the United States on April 10, 1953.

Frequency-hopped spread spectrum invention

Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil received U.S. patent #2,292,387 for their Secret Communication System. This early version of frequency hopping used a piano roll to change between 88 frequencies and was intended to make radio-guided torpedoes harder for enemies to detect or jam. The patent was little-known until recently because Lamarr applied for it under her then-married name of Hedy Kiesler Markey. Neither Lamarr nor Antheil made any money from the patent. It had expired by the time the U.S. military barely began using this system after 1962. It took electronics technology a long time to catch up with the concept.

Lamarr's frequency-hopping idea served as the basis for modern spread-spectrum communication technology used in devices ranging from cordless telephones to WiFi Internet connections. In 1997, the two of them received an EFF Pioneer Award for the invention.

Lamarr wanted to join the National Inventors Council but she was told that she could better help the war effort by using her celebrity status to sell War Bonds. She once raised $7,000,000 at just one event.

In 2003, the Boeing corporation ran a series of recruitment ads featuring Hedy Lamarr as a woman of science. No reference to her film career was made in the ads.

In 2005, the first Inventor's Day in German-speaking countries was held in her honor on November 9, on what would have been her 92nd birthday.

Canadian Citizenship

Canadian Citizenship

October 19, 2009 

Picture this: You're hitch-hiking in Winnipeg in July. Which means it's freezing out, so you hop in without properly addressing the situation. About a half mile down the road, you're perturbed when you realize the driver is a crazy murderer and before you can say "Stop what you're doing, eh!" you are impaled on the blade of his hockey stick. That my friends, is a normal day in Canada.

Now why would anyone want to become a citizen of this backwards "country?" This is one of the great remaining mysteries of the world –- right up there with Stonehenge, crop circles, and why all Brazilian women are 10's.

Well, I have a plan. If enough of us Uncle Sam lovin', red white and blue bleedin' patriots take the Canadian citizenship test, we can vote to make it our fifty-first state and dissolve it once and for all. With that in mind, here's a cheat sheet to the Canadian citizenship test.

The Official Canadian Citizenship Test for Canadian Citzenship

1) Do you want to be a Canadian?

2) Really?

3) Which is more fun?

eh) Watching hockey

b) Having Sex

4) Alex Trebek is ________

eh) Canadian

b) Creepy

c) Canadian and Creepy

5) Which country do you most wish you were really a citizen of?

eh) U.S.A.

b) All of the above

6) Moose are __________

eh) A National Treasure

b) Good eats

c) Proctoring this test

7) The colors of the Canadian Flag are:

eh) Red and White

b) Maple Syrup and Mountie

c) Cold

8) Canada's Biggest Export is:

eh) Petroleum

b) Teeth

c) Mustachioed Game Show Hosts

9) Boxing Day is:

eh) A Holiday celebrated the day after Christmas

b) A day devoted to punching people? The sounds awesome!

10) If you answered "yes" to questions 1 and 2, there is still time to back out. Just get up and walk away and no will be the wiser.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/community/barney_blog/index.php

Lugosi immigrated to the United States in 1921 and on June 26, 1931 became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Miki should emulate Bela Lugosi and become a naturalized citizen of the United States!

Bela Lugosi

Bela Lugosi was the stage name of actor Bela Ferenc DezsÅ' Blaskó (October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956). He was born in Lugos, Hungary, at the time part of Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), the youngest of four children of a baker. The blue-eyed actor is best known for his portrayal of Dracula in the American Broadway stage production, and subsequent film, of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story.

United States Nationality Law

This article will aid you in your journey to become a Naturalized U.S. Citizen

The United States flag

Article I, section 8, clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. The Immigration and Naturalization Act sets forth the legal requirements for the acquisition of, and divestiture from, citizenship of the United States. The requirements have become more explicit since the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, with the most recent changes to statutory law having been made by the United States Congress in 2001.

Contents [hide] 1 Rights and Responsibilities of U.S. Citizens 1.1 Rights of citizens 1.2 Responsibilities of citizens 2 Acquisition of citizenship 2.1 Birth within the United States 2.2 Through birth abroad to United States citizens 2.2.1 Birth abroad to two United States citizens 2.2.2 Birth abroad to one United States citizen 2.3 Naturalization 2.3.1 Eligibility for naturalization 2.3.2 Citizenship test 2.3.3 New naturalization test and interview 2.3.4 Eligibility for public office 2.4 Expeditious naturalization of children 2.5 Child Citizenship Act of 2000 3 Dual citizenship 4 Nationals who are not citizens 5 Citizenship at birth on the U.S. territories and former U.S. territories 6 Loss of citizenship 7 Emigration from United States 8 Notes and references 9 See also 10 External links 11 Further reading

[edit] Rights and Responsibilities of U.S. Citizens

[edit] Rights of citizens

See also: Voting rights in the United States

Adult citizens of the United States who are residents of one of the 50 states have the right to participate in the political system of the United States, as well as their state and local governments (with most states having restrictions on voting by persons convicted of felonies, and a federal constitutional prohibition on naturalized persons running for President and Vice President of the United States), to be represented and protected abroad by the United States (through U.S. embassies and consulates), and to reside in the United States and certain territories without any immigration requirements.

[edit] Responsibilities of citizens

Some^[1] U.S. citizens have the obligation to serve in a jury, if selected and legally qualified. Citizens are also required (under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code) to pay taxes on their total income from all sources worldwide, including income earned abroad while residing abroad. Under certain circumstances, however, U.S. citizens living and working abroad may be able to reduce or eliminate their U.S. federal income tax via the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and/or the Foreign Tax Credit.^[2] U.S. taxes payable may be alternatively reduced by credits for foreign income taxes regardless of the length of stay abroad. The United States Government also insists that U.S. citizens travel into and out of the United States on a U.S. passport, regardless of any other nationality they may possess.

Male U.S. citizens (including those living permanently abroad and/or with dual U.S./other citizenship) are required to register with the Selective Service System at age 18 for possible conscription into the armed forces. Although no one has been drafted in the U.S. since 1973, draft registration continues for possible reinstatement on some future date.^[3]

In the Oath of Citizenship, immigrants becoming naturalized U.S. citizens swear that when required by law they will bear arms on behalf of the United States, will perform noncombatant service in the U.S. Armed Forces, and will perform work of national importance under civilian direction. In some cases, the USCIS allows the oath to be taken without the clauses regarding the first two of these three sworn commitments.^[4]

[edit] Acquisition of citizenship

There are various ways a person can acquire United States citizenship, either at birth or later on in life.

[edit] Naturalization

A judge swears in a new citizen. New York, 1910

A person who was not born a U.S. citizen may acquire U.S. citizenship through a process known as naturalization.

[edit] Eligibility for naturalization

To become a naturalized United States citizen, one must be at least eighteen years of age at the time of filing, a legal permanent resident of the United States, and have had a status of a legal permanent resident in the United States for five years less 90 days before they apply (this requirement is reduced to three years less 90 days if they (a) acquired legal permanent resident status, (b) have been married to and living with a citizen for the past three years and (c) the spouse has been a U.S. citizen for at least three years prior to the applicant applying for naturalization.) They must have been physically present for at least 30 months of 60 months prior to the date of filing their application. Also during those 60 months if the legal permanent resident was outside of the U.S. for a continuous period of 6 months or more they are disqualified from naturalizing (certain exceptions apply for those continuous periods of six months to 1 year). They must be a "person of good moral character", and must pass a test on United States history and government^[9][10] Most applicants must also have a working knowledge of the English language.^[9] There are exceptions, introduced in 1990, for long-resident older applicants and those with mental or physical disabilities.^[11][12]

[edit] Citizenship test

Applicants for citizenship are asked ten questions, and must answer at least six with the expected answers. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has published a list of 100 sample questions (with the answers that should be given when taking the test), from which the questions asked are always drawn. The full list of questions is in the "A Guide to Naturalization," available for free from the USCIS.^[13]

[edit] New naturalization test and interview

There is a new naturalization test that is being used for all N-400 applications filed on or after October 1, 2008.^[14] If the applicant filed the N-400 application before October 1, 2008 then the applicant may choose to take the new test or the old test. The new test examines the applicant's knowledge of American society and the English language. Sample questions and answers are published by the USCIS in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.^[15]

Besides passing the citizenship test: citizenship applicants must also satisfy other specific requirements of naturalization to successfully obtain U.S. citizenship.^[16]

An applicant will also be required to submit to an in-person interview.

[edit] Eligibility for public office

A person who becomes a U.S. citizen through naturalization is not considered a natural born citizen. Consequently, naturalized U.S. citizens are not eligible to become President of the United States or Vice President of the United States, which would ordinarily be the case as established by the Presidential Succession Act. For example, though the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor are tenth and eleventh in the presidential line of succession, Elaine Chao and Carlos Gutierrez (respectively former U.S. Secretaries of Labor and Commerce under President George W. Bush) would have been unable to succeed to the presidency because they became U.S. citizens through naturalization. The highest-ranking naturalized citizens to have been excluded from the Presidential Line of Succession were Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, each of whom would have been fourth in line as Secretary of State had they been natural born citizens.

Whether this restriction applies to children born to non-U.S. citizens but adopted as minors by U.S. citizens is a matter of some debate, since the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 is ambiguous as to whether acquisition of citizenship by that route is to be regarded as naturalized or natural-born. Those who argue that the restriction does not apply point out that the child automatically becomes a citizen even though violating every single requirement of eligibility for naturalization, and thus the case falls closer to the situation of birth abroad to U.S. citizens than to naturalization. This interpretation is in concert with the wording of the Naturalization Act of 1790, that "the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens", which does not draw a distinction between biological children and adopted children, even though the process of adoption was certainly well known at the time.

Some argue that the phrase "natural born citizen" describes a category of citizenship distinct from that described by the phrase "U.S. Citizen" in Article Two of the United States Constitution, and this was discussed during the constitutional convention of 1787.^[17] While it is true that "natural born citizen" is not defined anywhere within the text of the Constitution and that the Constitution makes use of the phrase "citizen" and "natural born citizen," Supreme Court Decisions from United States v. Wong Kim Ark to the present have considered the distinction to be between natural-born and naturalized citizenship.

Most legal scholars believe that the phrase "natural born citizen" is derived from the works of William Blackstone and depends on the legal doctrine of Jus soli. For example, in her 1988 article in the Yale Law Journal, Jill Pryor wrote, "It is well settled that 'native-born' citizens, those born in the United States, qualify as natural born."^[18]

An April 2000 CRS report by the Congressional Research Service, asserts that most constitutional scholars interpret the phrase "natural born citizen" as including citizens born outside the United States to parents who are U.S. citizens under the "natural born" requirement.^[19]

Chester Arthur (born of an American mother and Irish father, purported birthplace of Canada) was sworn in as President, however his status as a "Natural born citizen" was challenged because he was born with British citizenship ^[20] (therefore not jus sanguinis) and it is contended, on foreign soil (therefore not jus soli). Some argue that those born abroad to U.S. citizens are not eligible to ascend to the Presidency (not jus soli), since an act of the United States Congress such as the Naturalization Act may not overrule the Constitution (see "Natural born citizen" as presidential qualification).^[21] Presidential candidates George W. Romney (born in Mexico), Barry Goldwater and John McCain (born in U.S. territories), were never seriously challenged on the basis of their "natural born" citizenship, but no candidate falling under this classification has ever actually become President.

[edit] Dual citizenship

Physicist Albert Einstein receiving his certificate of American citizenship from Judge Phillip Forman in 1940. He also retained his Swiss citizenship.^[23]

Based on the U.S. Department of State regulation on dual citizenship (7 FAM 1162), the Supreme Court of the United States has stated that dual citizenship is a "status long recognized in the law" and that "a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both. The mere fact he asserts the rights of one citizenship does not without more mean that he renounces the other," (Kawakita v. U.S., 343 U.S. 717) (1952). In Schneider v. Rusk 377 U.S. 163 (1964), the US Supreme Court ruled that a naturalized U.S. citizen has the right to return to his native country and to resume his former citizenship, and also to remain a U.S. citizen even if he never returns to the United States.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) neither defines dual citizenship nor takes a position for it or against it. There has been no prohibition against dual citizenship, but some provisions of the INA and earlier U.S. nationality laws were designed to reduce situations in which dual citizenship exists. Although naturalizing citizens are required to undertake an oath renouncing previous allegiances, the oath has never been enforced to require the actual termination of original citizenship.^[24]

Although the U.S. Government does not endorse dual citizenship as a matter of policy, it recognizes the existence of dual citizenship and completely tolerates the maintenance of multiple citizenship by U.S. citizens. In the past, claims of other countries on dual-national U.S. citizens sometimes placed them in situations where their obligations to one country were in conflict with the laws of the other. However, as fewer countries require military service and most base other obligations, such as the payment of taxes, on residence and not citizenship, these conflicts have become less frequent. As a result, there has been a dramatic increase in recent years in the number of people who maintain U.S. citizenship in other countries.

One circumstance where dual citizenship may run counter to expectations of government agencies is in matters of security clearance. Any person granted a Yankee White vetting must be absolutely free of foreign influence, and for other security clearances one of the grounds that may result in a rejected application is an actual or potential conflict of national allegiances.