shepslady

Hi to everyone,
Been a long time since I stopped by to visit. Ive now been married for 8 1/2 years & life is still amazing. So much has happened in tha time. To those of you who remember me I am happy to say that one of my sons met & married a lovely girl form Nebraska on one of his visits here they have now been married for 5 years & have three beautiful children. I have been working at ou local hospital for the past 4 years & in the past year I have had two surgeries on my shoulder. Ive seen one of my brother inlaws go through a painful divorce & on a brighter side Ive seen my husband & his baby brother reunite with the brother they had been estranged from for more than 12 years. Live is good. Hope things are well for all of you too.

What I need your imput on is Citizenship. While Ive been eligible for a few years now its something Ive thought long & hard about. I have read up on it & want to know if I hav e read it correctly. If I take US Citizenship does that mean I have to give up my NZCitizenship? I read it that no I dont but Im not 100% sure that Ive read it right or understood everything Ive read.

I value all advice that you can offer.

Shepslady

Noorah101

Well hello there, Miss Shepslady! So nice to see you again, and congratulations on all your news!

No, you do not have to give up your NZ citizenship...you become a dual citizen of both NZ and USA.

Life is good here too...coming up on my 7th wedding anniversary in April 2011...time really flies! Sadegh became a USC last year, too.

Rene

rpjs

There's two sides to it. Firstly, there's the US government's side. When you take the citizenship oath you "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". Once you've done that, as far as the US is concerned you are only a citizen of the US, so you can no longer call on the New Zealand consul if you get arrested. However, the US government doesn't require you to do anything further with your original country to end your original citizenship. As far as the US is concerned, their oath is enough.

The second side is New Zealand. Some countries don't allow dual nationality (Australia was one until recently) and automatically cancel your citizenship if you take another, or at least would treat the language of the US oath as giving up their citizenship. Other countries, such as the UK, require you to formally renounce your citizenship before one of their own officials (such as a consular officer). Some countries, in fact, either have no provision for renouncing nationality, or make it difficult to do so. You need to find out New Zealand's position. Your nearest NZ consulate should be able to tell you.

ian-mstm

NZ has allowed dual citizenship since 1/1/49.

Ian

Rete

Hello there lovely lady. LTNS. I loved reading about the many changes in your life and congratulations on your son's marriage and double congrats on being a grandma. Isn't it awesome? My girls has gifted us with 4 (2 boys, 2 girls) in the last 5 years. DH and I have been married over 12 yrs now.

Go for your naturalization. They have speeded it up and you should have it all done and dusted in six months. How's that for service. Complete the app, enclose your fee, and mail away.

Don't be a stranger.

shepslady

To Renee Ian & Rete

So glad that you all remember me. Happy to know you are all doing well.
Thanks you so much for your wonderful replies. I thought I was right but nothing like asking the advise of some experts. lol.

I want to become a USC but have kind of stalled off not being sure if I could keep dial citizenship. Years ago when I made the move here I promised my family that I would always keep my NZ citizenship.

Now I can move ahead & make everyone happy.

I will try not to be a stranger & will look in on you once in a while.

Until then I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiing.

Cindy

Rete

Thanks, Cindy, and a Happy Thanksgiving to your family as well.

Remember you will be applying for naturalization based on the 5 year since you are so long past your third wedding anniversary. It really is painless. Just study.

jeffreyhy

I hestitate to say this, but I'm going to anyway - there's nothing that says one can no longer apply on the basis of marriage to a US citizen if one has been qualified to apply on that basis for a long period of time.

Without regard to how long she's been married, I would look up the guidelines for applying to naturalize on the basis of both having been a PR for the last 5 years with no special circumstances, and on the basis of being currently married to and living with a US citizen for 3 years (whoops - that may be a special circumstance?). Then, if meeting the Continuous Residence or Physical Presence test should happen to present a problem under one of those bases, I'd go with the other.

Or, if it was simply easier to document the last 3 years rather than the last 5 years, I'd apply on the basis of marriage to a US citizen.

Regards, JEff

Rete

There is no law that says she can't and I thought about it and it does not seem the best way to approach it as then she would need to apply with more evidence than a 5 year qualification would required. I was aware that Mrs. Shepslady fulfills the presence test for the last five years so that was not an issue.

In her case it is not just an either/or application, but also less or more application. I opted to quote the less is better option.

meauxna

Well there's a blast from the past! Hi!!!
Gosh, you all filed your I-130 about a month before we did.. where has the time gone! My DH is a happy naturalized USC now; he's said it really sealed his immigration experience and has all been positive for him. He's really proud to be dual.
Best wishes to you!

cindyabs

I know I was thinking " I remember when we were sweating out the K3 approvals."

Seems a lifetime ago.

randomgirl

Really? So you can't have dual US/UK citizenship? I was under the impression you could...

RG

Rete

Yes you can have both British and US citizenship.

randomgirl

Thanks

ian-mstm

Your response doesn't make sense from the bit you quoted. What RPJS suggested (and quite correctly, I might add) was that to lose your UK citizenship, you must formally renounce it in front of the proper UK authority. The corollary therefore, is that if you don't formally renounce your UK citizenship in front of the proper UK authority, you get to keep it! Many of us here, myself included, hold both UK and US citizenship. Some of us, myself included, also hold citizenship in a third country!

Ian