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Immigration

Becoming a Citizen

Becoming a Citizen
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.35

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    immigration, citizen, illegal, oath, armed, defend, journey, country, goal, history, prove, several, government, become, sentence, honor

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Becoming a Citizen
By Cathy Pearl 		  
1     Becoming a citizen of this country is not easy. For those who are doing it, it is worth all of the hard work and time. Immigrants come to love this country and becoming a citizen is just the next step in their journey. As time passes, most immigrants will become citizens.
 
2     When an immigrant becomes a citizen, it is called naturalization. This is not an easy thing to do. It has many different steps. Immigrants have to live in this country. They have to have lived here for many years. They have to study and go to school to learn about our history. They can't have committed any serious crimes. They also have to say they will support and defend the Constitution.
 
3     An immigrant has to be eighteen years old before becoming a citizen. He or she also has to have lived in this country for five years. The immigrant has to be here legally. Illegal immigrants cannot apply to be citizens right now. If an immigrant is married to a citizen of this country, he or she only has to wait for three years. Immigrants who serve in the armed forces only have to wait three years.
 
4     Some parents adopt children from other countries. The child is automatically a citizen if one or both of the parents are citizens. The child has to be under eighteen. He or she also has to live in this country with the parents.
 
5     Immigrants have to be of "good moral character." This can mean different things. The FBI will check to make sure the immigrant hasn't done anything illegal. A person who has done something very serious is usually not allowed to become a citizen.

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