Ok, YES I'm sure all you need is a green card and a drivers license. I'm SURE> That is all my hubby needed and DISNEY is who told him so. It was our first cruise, so we wanted to be extra safe and get the passport, but we did NOT need it afterall... As for all this talk of citizenshop, I DO know about this, after all my husband just became naturalized like 2 weeks ago. It took him ( luckily) only about 9 months or so, from the time he applied for citizenship until he actually became one. NOT BAD, ehe? It COULD have taken up to 2 years we were told. As for children becoming citizens based on their parents, the original poster wasn't asking about that, BUT I do know about it since I was just at the swearing in ceremony and this topic was thoroughly explained by people who work at INS. Kids born to US citizens, whether in the US at the time of birth or not, are automatically US citizens, and can have dual citizenship if born in another country.. Kids born to NON U.S. citizens HERE are US citizens. If you have a kid who is NOT a citizen, and the PARENT applies to become a citizen, when the parent is sworn in,the child AUTOMATICALLY becomes a citizen, too... and as for "HOW can someone live here that long and not be naturalized..." That is easy to answer. My husband was born in Mexico, moved here when he was 10 years old, and it was 20 years before he became a citizen. He had no need to become a citizen, and he never thought about it- not until his parents both became citizens.. Then we started hearing how the laws are changing to make it more difficult, so we talked about it and decided to better get the ball rolling before it's too late to never do it. People who work here and live here that are non citizens have the same jobs, same pay and same social security we all do... It's only more convienient to be a citizen when traveling outside the U.S. AND, I can tell you we have lots of friends who are mexican citizens who are proud of where they are from, and don't want to renounce where they came from. And when you swear in, you DO have to renounce your country of origin. They travel freely between here and Mexico, and have good lives and work hard. They have no need to pay the U.S. government LOTS of money JUST to be able to vote basically. They get all the other same benefits as we all do, except they can't vote.. Anyways, I've rambled long enough. Just wanted to explain a few things for people who may not understand. Oh, and you have to wait 3-5 years AFTER you become a legal resident to apply for citizenship. Depending on whether you're married to a citizen or not.
