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What Does "Good Moral Character" Mean for Naturalization?

What Does "Good Moral Character" Mean for Naturalization?

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is the main source of immigration laws in the US and prescribes the manner by which legal permanent residents can become US citizens. In order to become a naturalized US citizen, the applicant must meet several conditions. Generally, applicants must have been legal permanent residents for at least five years to be eligible for naturalization. During this five year period, the applicant must have remained in good immigration standing and exhibited good moral behavior.

The INA, however, does not define good moral behavior. Rather, the Act lists the types of behaviors that would demonstrate an applicant lacked good moral behavior, and thus would be either temporarily or permanently barred from attaining US citizenship. Applicants who have been convicted of murder or aggravated felonies are permanently barred from applying for citizenship. Behaviors that can result in a temporary bar or negatively impact a naturalization application include:

• Providing false testimony to gain immigration status or benefits
• Habitual drunkenness
• Failure to pay child support or alimony
• Adultery or polygamy
• DUI/DWI
• Earning income from illegal gambling
• Conviction of a crime of moral turpitude
• Conviction of a narcotics crime
• Conviction of two or more crimes with aggregate sentences actually imposed of five years or more
• Spending an aggregate period of 180 days or more in prison within the past five years

Even if the applicant has not committed one of the acts listed in the INA as examples of bad moral character, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services official reviewing his or her application still may find the applicant lacks the requisite good moral character for citizenship. Additionally, the USCIS is not constricted to considering events that occurred during the five year period prior to applying for naturalization and may examine behavior that happened before that time period.

Naturalization applicants are required to maintain good moral character throughout the entire naturalization process. The process is not considered completed until the applicant takes the Oath of Allegiance and becomes a US citizen. If the applicant is convicted of a crime after naturalization is complete, he or she may be denaturalized, which means the individual will be stripped of his or her US citizenship.

It is also important for applicants to remember to fill out their applications for naturalization completely and truthfully. Providing false or misleading information or failing to provide requested information can be viewed as actions exhibiting poor moral character, and can result in the USCIS denying a naturalization application. Applicants are required to provide information pertaining to any criminal convictions, including those that may have been expunged from their records or occurred while they were minors. The USCIS conducts extensive background and criminal checks on all naturalization applicants and is likely to catch anything an applicant failed to report. It is better for the applicant to be forthcoming with the information, rather than to have the USCIS uncover the information on its own.

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