to apply or not?

[myfakeID 2]

Ok, maybe I'm mistaken on some of this - if so, someone please correct me.

Once someone has a 10 year card, he/she can (for the most part) stay in the country. When applying for citizenship, there are some questions that are asked. Answering some of them "yes" could prevent someone from being granted citizenship. I think I heard that anything that results in a denial could possibly also result in deportation. Could that same reason cause deportation if the person did NOT apply for citizenship? In other words, could some people be better off staying a permanent resident instead of risking deportation by applying for citizenship? I would imagine anything like murder would result in deportation anyway. I mean less obvious things - more minor offenses, things like that.

I hope that makes sense. It's late and I'm tired.

Please, try to keep the responses helpful. I'm a USC, so none of this applies to me. It's a question of curiosity.

Thanks.

[v333k 59]

Ok, maybe I'm mistaken on some of this - if so, someone please correct me.

Once someone has a 10 year card, he/she can (for the most part) stay in the country. When applying for citizenship, there are some questions that are asked. Answering some of them "yes" could prevent someone from being granted citizenship. I think I heard that anything that results in a denial could possibly also result in deportation. Could that same reason cause deportation if the person did NOT apply for citizenship? In other words, could some people be better off staying a permanent resident instead of risking deportation by applying for citizenship? I would imagine anything like murder would result in deportation anyway. I mean less obvious things - more minor offenses, things like that.

I hope that makes sense. It's late and I'm tired.

Please, try to keep the responses helpful. I'm a USC, so none of this applies to me. It's a question of curiosity.

Thanks.

There are questions in the naturalization application that ask about you background and history. However, you are correct, as a GC holder, a person needs to maintain continuous residence in order to keep the GC.

If you are interested, check out the N-400 application - you would be more interested in part 10 (N-400 application)

Edited April 24, 2010 by v333k

[NickD 202]

Without spending hours on the net to show proof, do recall reading that your odds of being deported are far greater as a LPR for some crime than if you are a naturalized citizen. This is a strong advantage of becoming a USC.

But these are crimes about to be committed, believe you are referring to crimes previously committed to filing the N-400. The general impression is, the worse crime in filing the N-400 is not revealing these previous crimes on your application. That is good cause for deportation if caught latter on. Key reason for that question, have you ever committed a crime you were never caught for? If a serious enough of crime you are caught later on for, can expect after serving your jail term to be deported because you lied on your application. In that sense, the N-400 can be tricky if you have something in your past to hide. Read someplace that some odd 4,500 naturalized citizens are in that boat, a court of law makes this decision and every case is different.

So if you are a LPR with something to fear, best to talk it over with a good immigration attorney first, but certainly have to be 100% honest when filling out the application. Even if never caught, still have to live with that fear, thats not good either.