TORKiYE BAROLAR BiRÙ G%i. il - Türkiye Barolar Birliği Yayınları

AKTIJELLE ENJWICKLUNGEPI 1M STAATSANGEHÖRIGKE İ TS -I AUSLANDER- UND FLÜUITL İ NGSRECHTARIf BY ili. NaturalizationPHIUPMARTINOver a million immigrants became naturalized US citizens inFYo8, including 23 percent from Mexico, almost seven percentfrom India, six percent from the Philippines, and four percenteach from China and Cuba (about 120,000 naturalization petitionswere denied in FYo8, or over 10 percent of those who appliedwere not naturalized). The backlog of irnrnigrants waitingto naturalize feil sharply, from 1.1 million at the end of 2007 to500,000 at the end of 2008.Legal irnrnigrants in the US at least five years and age 18 orolder may naturalize after they pass a test of English languageand US history. Most immigrants are in the US more than fiveyears before naturalizing; in FYo8, those who naturalized spenta median nine years as irnmigrants. lmmigrants wishing to naturalizepay a $675 fee and complete an application form, providefingerprints and personal data, and are called for an interviewthat includes an English test (www.uscisgov/naturalization). Ifapproved for naturalization, they are sworn in as US citizens, oftenin mass ceremonies on holidays such as July 4. A judge hasthern repeat an oath of allegiance that begins, "1 hereby deciare,on oath, that 1 abso!utely and entireiy renounce and abjure alIallegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, orsovereignty of whom or which 1 have heretofore been a subjector citizen."However, the US government does not check to determineif a new citizen has "renounced" her citizenship in another country,and does not inforrn other governrnents when their citizensbecorne naturalized US citizens. Thus, neitherthe US northe othercountry necessarily know that an individual isa dual national.Once naturalized, it is hard for a person to lose US citizenship.Polish immigrant Beys Afroyirn naturalized in 1926, movedto Israel in 1950, voted in Israeli elections in 1951, and could notget his US passport renewed in ı g6o. He sued, and a 5-4 US SuprerneCourt decision concluded that Afroyirn could not lose hisUS citizenship without his consent, and that voting in a foreign188