Next question comes from Pedro Estevez. What's the main benefit or benefits to
becoming a citizen rather than just keeping my green card? You know that's an
excellent question one of the biggest benefits that I'm aware of is that as a
u.s. citizen you can get a u.s. passport with the u.s. passport you can travel to
quite a few countries without obtaining a visa so to me that's probably one of
the bigger benefits you can also vote in our country you know as a citizen and so
that's that's the two biggest things that I'm aware of
yeah and also there's kind of related to what Rick mentioned about the passport
if you're on a green card no matter how long you've been here you could be here
15 years if you've still got a green card you you you you know unless you get
unless you get a travel advance parole you really can't leave the country for
extended periods of time now if you have no plans of leaving that then that's
irrelevant but if you want to go back to your country and stay a year really if
you hold a green card and you leave the country after about six months you're
gonna have a little little resistance getting back in after a year they're
gonna consider you're out of the country on a green card they're gonna consider
you've abandoned it and now you're starting all over so if you want to go
back home a parent gets sick and you want to take care of them you want to go
back to your country to go to school or something and stay an extended period of
time then you absolutely want to naturalize first if you're eligible
because then you can stay out in whatever twenty years doesn't matter so
so that's another big benefit and and believe me we see a lot of cases where
people had no intention of leaving but they do you know mom gets sick it seems
critical you go to the country and it turns out it's a long lingering illness
and and a year and a half later you know unfortunately mom's pass or got better
or something and now you want to come back and and you've lost your green card
because you stayed out too long so so you know that's some of the
considerations like Rick says and then you know another consideration that
hopefully doesn't doesn't apply to you but a green card can always be revoked
it doesn't doesn't happen often but it can happen
and we're naturally seen can so if you have us if your citizen if you become a
citizen you naturalize and of course everything's honest now obviously if you
commit fraud on the naturalization process they can revoke it and it has
happened but if if you did a straight-up citizenship everything's legit you're a
citizen now for life unless you choose voluntarily to revoke it green card
holders not the case any felony you commit you could you could go to prison
and then they could kick you out of the country and again it doesn't happen
often but it definitely happens and it can't happen so you know there's several
good reasons to do it I haven't heard a good reason not to do it really although
there may be some out there but I would do it it's you know it's the it's a
little money involved for the fee but the test is pretty simple
the little civics tests that give you and and if you speak English you're
really not gonna have any problem my advice would be go do it as soon as you
can so you're not worried about it you'd mentioned a family also a nice
benefit to become a citizen is that you can petition for your family members
even if they're over age 21 as long as they're unmarried you know you you can
actually even if they're married once you become a citizen you can petition
for just about any family even though yeah that's right and only a citizen can
petition a parent so if you're a green card holder you can never bring your
parents here and only a citizen can do a k1 visa a green card holder cannot
petition a fiance so there's a couple of other benefits you know and and there
are certain government jobs you can't get unless you're citizens so that you
know there's really again there's a lot of good reasons to do it I would do it
if you have the means and and I would definitely just do it get it behind you.