Naturalization is something that you may want to consider doing,
especially with frequently travel abroad; as such travel/work/living
abroad COULD possibly jeopardize your PR status, depending on the
timeframes involved, where your principal residence is, etc...
After a short time upon your marriage with an American citizen, you get a
temporary green card. You can refer to it as a conditional green card as well.
The purpose of that is to put you in trial (so to speak) to see if the marriage
is real and not done just to obtain a green card. Since you were with him for 8
years, I don't think your green card is a trial-based (conditional) green card.
However, I have to ask you if it was the first and the only green card you ever
received. If so, I would be a little careful about that. If you, after you
received your first trial-based green card, didn't get the process completed
and consequently didn't receive another form of green card after your first
one, then I would be a bit careful if I were you. I recommend that you request
a status check on your green card.
Just for peace of mind and simplicity, I would strongly recommend that you
apply to become a U.S. citizen. To become a U.S. citizen, the only requirement
is to be a green card holder for at least 5 years but for married couples, It
could be even less than 5 years.
I have got a 10 year green card so I
suppose it should all be fine - my only concern with
naturalisation is that I may lose my UK citizenship, is that
true?
Well, the U.S. doesn't allow dual citizenship. However, it is not practiced as
a strict law. There are many people with dual citizenship in the U.S. because
the government simply can't spy on every single person. Concerning the U.S.
part of your problem, I don't think you will have to give up on your UK
citizenship. As a matter of fact, I have a friend with 3 different
citizenships.
I have to tell you that people with dual citizenship get to keep both
citizenship simply because they are not pressured to choose one single
citizenship by their home countries. If they were pressured to make a choice by
both countries, I am sure it would not be easy at all to maintain dual
citizenship.
So, You need to check on your home-country's approach for dual citizenship.
Yes they do. I am one, and the US consular office
has confirmed that it is allowed. They have no problem
with the fact that I am also a Canadian citizen
(by naturalization).
Or maybe it's because they don't need to spy on them
since dual citizenship is allowed.
The naturalization oath does have a renunciatory statement
but Britain doesn't view it as being binding under British
law. Therefore, a British citizen who naturalizes in the
US does keep his citizenship in Britain.
That's true. A lot of countries do not view the act of
naturalizing in a foreign country as causing loss of
original citizenship. That's why many naturalized
US citizens still keep their original citizenship despite
the renunciatory statement.
In her case, Britain has no problems with dual citizenship and
does not require British citizens who take another citizenship
to give up their British citizenship.
Wrong wrong wrong. The US doesn't CARE if you have dual citizenship
or not [except to the extent that they may not be able to help you if
you get into trouble in a country that you are a citizen of]. They do
NOT "not allow" dual citizenship. They also do not encourage it. But
there is NO prohibition under the law to having multiple citizenships.
Other countries have different rules.
The original poster is best to contact UK authorities and verify
whether or not she will lose her UK citizenship if she naturalizes as
a USC. IIRC, the UK does not recognize the US renunciation statement.
THIS SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE. I AM NOT A LAWYER. I DON'T
EVEN PLAY ONE ON TV!
I have followed this thread for a few days and have seen that you got some very
good advice as well as some garbage. At this point I think you understand that
retaining your permanent residence is not contingent on your marriage in any
way. I think you also understand that you could naturalize without losing your
U.K. citizenship.
Rich Wales is the dual citizenship guru in you. He has a web page that
discusses the various issues involved in dual citizenship in great detail. You
might wish to spend a bit of time becoming familiar with issues surrounding
dual citizenship. This page can be found at
"http://www.webcom.com/richw/dualcit/".
While it probably makes sense for Donna to become familiar with the
issues surrounding dual citizenship -- specifically, that even if she
does become a US citizen, this action will not be recognized by the UK
and will have no effect on her British citizenship -- it seems to me
that her more immediate concern (namely, keeping her "green card")
would more properly be addressed to an immigration lawyer, or someone
else who is familiar with the ins and outs of US immigration issues.
FWIW, my understanding is that since Donna has had her "green card" for
so long now, she ought to be able to keep it without any problem even
if she and her husband get divorced now. I'll assume her status was
originally of the two-year "conditional" variety (under a provision of
the law designed to curb immigration fraud via "sham" marriages), but
that she and her husband took care of making her status truly permanent
a long time ago. In any case, it certainly couldn't hurt for Donna to
double-check her situation with a competent immigration lawyer.
