Top 4 Ways You Can LOSE Your Citizenship! (Denaturalization)

What are the top four ways that you could lose your US citizenship after you've worked so hard to naturalize? I know a lot of you may be concerned about the best ways to protect your citizenship status after getting it and how to not lose it.

So today we are going to discuss the four most common ways that your US citizenship may be in danger. And as a bonus, I'm going to also explain to you the likelihood that USCIS might come after you and your citizenship, so stay tuned. Okay, so what are the top four ways that you might lose your US citizenship?

1st Way To Lose Citizenship

The first top way that you could become denaturalized is if USCIS finds out that you obtained your citizenship illegally. That means that if you intentionally obtained US citizenship even though you were not qualified to do so.

As many of you know, you have to meet a specific set of criteria in order to become naturalized, including:

-Having lawful permanent resident status for a specific period of time

-Maintaining continuous residency

-Being physically present inside the US for a specific amount of time

-Living in the state where you filed for at least three months prior to the date of application

-Having good moral character

-Being willing to swear an oath of allegiance to the US

So if the government awards you citizenship only to later find out that one of these criteria was not actually met before they granted you citizenship status, then they can in fact use that to denaturalize you.

For example, in 2003, a man lost his citizenship status after it was discovered that he was arrested for shoplifting twice. The government did not actually find out about this shoplifting instance until years after it had already occurred. However, once they found out, they took him to court and argued that his shoplifting pattern evidenced a lack of good moral character. And as we just discussed, good moral character is one of the requirements that is necessary in order to obtain US citizenship.

So since it was later found out that he did not have good moral character at the time of his naturalization, the US government argued that he technically never met the good moral character requirements in order to become a US citizen, which means that he obtained his US citizenship illegally. As a result, his US citizenship was revoked almost eight years after it was granted, even though it was for something as minor as stealing sunglasses.

Now that probably sounds super scary, and in a moment I'll describe the actual likelihood that USCIS might even go after anyone for something so seemingly trivial, so stay tuned.

2nd Way To Lose Citizenship

The second way is if you intentionally hide something about yourself or misrepresent something about yourself to USCIS in order to gain your citizenship. This can in fact be used against you in order to initiate a denaturalization proceeding in order to force you to give up and lose your citizenship.

Misrepresentation has to be knowing and it has to be intentional inside immigration law. And if that misrepresentation actually resulted in you getting your citizenship when you otherwise could have been denied, then it can be grounds for denaturalization.

For example, in 2020, a 63-year-old grandmother from Peru had her US citizenship taken away from her 30 years after legally entering the US, all because of a simple answer to one question on her form. From 2003 to 2009, she had been the secretary of a company that defrauded the Export and Import Bank of the USA. And during that time, in 2007, she submitted an N-400 application for naturalization to USCIS. But when filling out her form, she answered no to the question of, "Have you ever knowingly committed a crime?"

Even though she only played a small role in that company and she never made any money beyond her normal salary, and she even had cooperated with law enforcement to investigate the company, the fact that she participated yet answered no to that question caused her to have her citizenship revoked.

Now, note that in order to lose your citizenship over a misrepresentation requires several factors to be met.

These four criteria include:

1. That you misrepresented or concealed a fact

2. That your concealment or misrepresentation was willful, meaning that you did so on purpose

3. That the concealed facts or misrepresentation were material, meaning that had they been known

4. It would have made a difference to your case or the lack of putting it there cut off a line of inquiry by the USCIS officer, and concealing that fact or making that misrepresentation actually resulted in you becoming a US citizen

So if you had left out a relatively unimportant detail in your application, like deciding not to disclose a parking ticket that you got more than 10 years ago, that may not meet these four criteria. And the government probably will not bother to reopen your process to denaturalize you over a parking ticket.

However, if you do something worse, like work in a company where you know that fraud is taking place to defraud, especially the US government, then the consequences of not disclosing this on your application can be far worse.

3rd Way To Lose Citizenship

Next, the third way that you could get your US citizenship taken away is if you partook in certain organizations or activities, or have affiliations with certain groups, such as communist parties, totalitarian parties, or terrorist organizations within five years of naturalizing. Historically, most people who have been denaturalized as a result have typically been war criminals and people with ties to terrorist groups.

But more recently, the Biden administration has announced a new denaturalization policy that claims that anyone who poses a potential danger to national security or who has a serious felony can be targeted for denaturalization. It also implies that the government can go after people outside of these categories. So in the future, we might possibly see more people become denaturalized underneath this new policy.

4th Way To Lose Citizenship

Next, the fourth way that you could become denaturalized is if you have anything other than a honorable discharge from the military. You must meet certain criteria, including:

-You actually became a US citizen because of your service in a US armed force

-You must have separated from said armed forces based upon anything other than honorable conditions

-You must have received the other than honorable discharge before you've served honorably for a period of at least five years

That basically means that if you became a US citizen based upon your service in the US military, if you did not serve honorably for at least five years prior to naturalizing, then you may in fact not have met that criteria. And this could be used as grounds for denaturalization against you.

But please note that this only applies to persons who received their citizenship through military service after November 24th, 2003.

Will You Lose Yours?

Okay, now that we have covered the top four ways that you could lose your US citizenship, will you in fact lose your citizenship? In the past, denaturalization has been quite rare. The government has to meet a high burden of proof in order to be able to strip you of your US citizenship. And the US Supreme Court has put on many limits to who can be denaturalized.

As a result, from 1990 until 2017, the government only averaged about 11 denaturalization cases per year, and they focused on the most extreme cases.

However, that increased to an average of 30 per year underneath the Trump administration, who created a special denaturalization unit in the Department of Justice that was focused exclusively on rooting out cases for which they would seek denaturalization.

And just as we learned, the Biden administration has actually continued this trend by passing a policy that seemingly broadens the scope of the ability of the US government to denaturalize folks. So there is a chance that more people will be targeted and we could possibly see an increase in denaturalization proceedings in the future. However, does this mean that you need to be worried?

The prospect of losing your US citizenship, something you have worked so hard to attain, is definitely and understandably scary for all immigrants. If one were to become denaturalized, you would lose your citizenship status and revert back to a green card status. And worse, you could be deported back to your home country. And any derivative family members who receive their US citizenship could also lose their status as well.

But what I will say from my experience is that as long as you do not intentionally misrepresent yourself when obtaining US citizenship and making your application for it, then you should not have reasons to worry. That is why it is so important to work with trustworthy attorneys and disclose everything that you can think about for this application. It's better to be safe than sorry.

That said, even if you decided to not disclose something seemingly as insignificant as a parking ticket, normally the government will not come after you for this. However, it could become evidence of not having good moral character.

So you'll want to proceed carefully and still make sure you disclose everything as much as possible.

And if you have any sort of criminal activity that you think may prevent you from becoming a US citizen, do yourself a favor, get everything checked out, get everything analyzed, and make sure your case is airtight before you make that application. It is so important to speak with an immigration lawyer before you submit this application.

It is not always as simple as it seems.

My name is Moumita Rahman, and I'm an immigration attorney, and I have been practicing immigration law for the past 14 years. Even though I am based in New York, I work with clients all over the U.S. So no matter where you are, you can give our office a call at 212-248-7907. We're with our clients every step of the way.

Plenty of people live in the US without ever becoming a US citizen, so it's not the end of the world if you don't get it. And many people in fact choose not to become a US citizen. In fact, in one of my most recent videos, I explain why nearly one third of green card holders decide not to become a US citizen. For some it's because they can't, and for others it's because they choose not to.

To find out more, click here to watch the next video and I'll see you there.