Naturalization is a legal process by which a person becomes a citizen of an adopted country. Some nations, including Canada and France, give naturalized citizens the rights and duties of citizens by birth. Naturalized citizens of the United States cannot become president or vice president, but they have all the other rights and duties of people born as U.S. citizens.
A nation’s naturalized citizens have the right to the protection of their adopted government when they travel abroad. However, some nations do not grant the right to give up citizenship. Such a nation could claim as a citizen any person who returned after being naturalized by another country. The adopted government might not be able to protect the individual in this situation.
Naturalization laws differ from nation to nation. For example, foreigners cannot be naturalized in the United States or Canada unless they have lived in their new country for a certain number of years. Israel, however, allows Jews from another country, with a few minor exceptions, to be naturalized on the day they arrive. Many nations naturalize only people who understand the rights and obligations of citizenship and can use the national language. In many countries, foreigners who meet the requirements for citizenship take part in a naturalization ceremony. This ceremony includes an oath of loyalty or allegiance to the adopted nation. In the United States and some other countries, such an oath includes giving up citizenship in any other nation.
A special act by a government may naturalize groups of people without requiring them to follow the usual naturalization procedure. For example, an act by the U.S. Congress naturalized the people of Puerto Rico in 1917. The United States had gained Puerto Rico following the Spanish-American War (1898). Treaties also may include naturalization provisions.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, administers naturalization in the United States. Similar departments and agencies in other countries include Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the UK Border Agency in the United Kingdom, Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Immigration New Zealand, the National Immigration Branch of the South African Department of Home Affairs, and the Bureau of Immigration in India.
See also Alien; Citizenship; Citizenship and Immigration Services, United States; Immigration; Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
