{"id":2102,"date":"2017-12-12T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T08:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/?p=2102"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:54:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:54:02","slug":"criminal-record-prevent-united-states-citizen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/criminal-record-prevent-united-states-citizen\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a Criminal Record Prevent You From Becoming a United States Citizen?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you a <a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/services\/immigration-lawyers-chicago\/green-cards\/\">green card holder<\/a> who is ready to apply for United States Citizenship? If so, you need to fill out and submit application form <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/n-400\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">N-400<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (the official application for U.S. naturalization) and eventually go before immigration officers for a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">naturalization interview<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. United States immigration officials will take a very close look at your history and general character, including any history of arrests or criminal convictions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under United States immigration law, you are legally obligated to answer a wide array of questions regarding your criminal history on form N-400. Indeed, you will be required to disclose any arrests or convictions. To be clear, a criminal record will not automatically prevent you from becoming an American citizen. However, it will make things far more challenging, and certain crimes could make you ineligible to apply. Here, our experienced <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chicago immigration attorneys<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> explain the impact that certain crimes will have on the <a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/services\/immigration-lawyers-chicago\/citizenship-and-naturalization\/\">naturalization process<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Crimes That Will Permanently Ban You From Obtaining United States Citizenship<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under U.S. immigration law, a criminal conviction for any of the following will permanently bar you from getting American citizenship: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Murder;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rape;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sexual assault;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Violent sexual abuse;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Child sex crimes;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Possession of child pornography;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armed robbery; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Any violent crime that led to a prison sentence in excess of twelve months. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Crimes That Will Temporarily Bar You From Applying For United States Citizenship<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under U.S. immigration law, a criminal conviction for any of the following crimes will temporarily make you ineligible to apply for American citizenship: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prostitution;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Financial fraud;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other fraud crimes;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drug driving or drugged driving;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Possession of illegal drugs;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Certain drug trafficking crimes; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Certain violent crimes. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have been convicted of any of the crimes listed above and you wish to apply for U.S. citizenship, it is imperative that you speak to a qualified Chicago immigration attorney as soon as possible. Your Chicago immigration lawyer will be able to review the specific circumstances that you are facing, and explain when you will be able to apply and what type of supplemental documentation you will need to produce. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Consult With an Experienced Chicago Immigration Lawyer Today <\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kriezelman Burton &amp; Associates, LLC<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, our Illinois naturalization and citizenship lawyers have experience handling very complex immigration cases. To learn more about what we can do for you, please give us a call today at (312) 332-2550 to schedule your confidential case evaluation. From our main office in the heart of Chicago, we represent clients <a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/service-areas\/\">throughout Cook County<\/a>, including in Oak Lawn, Arlington Heights, Oak Park, Palatine, Northbrook and Evanston. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you a green card holder who is ready to apply for United States Citizenship? If so, you need to fill out and submit application form N-400 (the official application for U.S. naturalization) and eventually go before immigration officers for a naturalization interview. United States immigration officials will take a very close look at your &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/criminal-record-prevent-united-states-citizen\/\" class=\"more-link\">Czytaj dalej<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201eCan a Criminal Record Prevent You From Becoming a United States Citizen?\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":2104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,1,40],"tags":[92,50,53,54,51,64,28,26,9,16,17,43,24,19,18,46,48,45,47],"class_list":["post-2102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green_cards","category-immigration-law","category-visas","tag-criminal-record-become-united-states-citizen","tag-family-immigration","tag-family-immigration-attorney","tag-family-immigration-attorneys","tag-family-immigration-lawyer","tag-green-card","tag-green-card-attorney","tag-green-card-lawyer","tag-immigration","tag-immigration-attorney","tag-immigration-attorneys","tag-immigration-issues","tag-immigration-law-firm","tag-immigration-lawyer","tag-immigration-lawyers","tag-visa-attorney","tag-visa-attorneys","tag-visa-lawyer","tag-visa-lawyers","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2102"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11935,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2102\/revisions\/11935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}