If you want to apply for U.S. citizenship and you ever registered to vote or voted in a U.S. election, you might have a problem having your citizenship approved. Read on to find out why, and what you should do if you decide to go ahead with your application.
Within the long list of questions that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asks you on the citizenship application form (USCIS Form N-400) so as to determine if you might be ineligible for citizenship, the first three questions are “Have you ever claimed to be a U.S. citizen in writing or any other way?,” “Have you ever registered to vote in any federal, state, or local election in the United States?,” and “Have you ever voted in any federal, state, or local election in the United States?.” USCIS asks you those questions as part of its investigation into your moral character.
USCIS normally looks only at things that have happened in the five years before you apply for citizenship in judging your moral character. (If you’re applying under the three-year rule for as the spouse of a U.S. citizen, USCIS looks at the past three years.) An applicant who has committed an “unlawful act” during the relevant period may be found to lack good moral character, which is necessary for U.S. citizenship. False claims to U.S. citizenship, illegal registration to vote, and illegal voting are all considered unlawful acts, whether you were convicted of any crime related to those acts or not.
USCIS can also look at things that you did before the relevant five- or three-year period, but those things will reflect permanently and negatively on your moral character only if they are really bad.
You can be reasonably confident that if your illegal voting or false claim to U.S. citizenship happened before the five (or three) years required for good moral character, you won’t have a problem. If it did happen within the relevant period, however, you should think twice before applying for citizenship until five (or three) years have passed since the false claim or illegal voting happened.
If you must answer “yes” to any of the three questions about false claims to U.S. citizenship and illegal voting, USCIS will require that you attach to your N-400 citizenship application an explanation of what happened and why you did it.
You may have had to claim that you were a U.S. citizen in order to register to vote, so if you did, make sure you answer yes to the question about claiming to be a U.S. citizen and explain how you did it. Once you tell USCIS about possible illegal voting or a false claim to citizenship for voting, it may require you to bring evidence about it to your citizenship interview. Such evidence might include your voter registration card, voter registration form, and voting record from the relevant board of elections commission. Don’t assume that what you did was actually illegal—USCIS must make that determination based on the law applicable where you voted.
If you were never convicted of a crime as the result of your false claim to citizenship, illegal registering to vote, or illegal voting within the good moral character period, USCIS will consider all the circumstances surrounding what happened and weigh all favorable and unfavorable factors.
Also, USCIS may determine that your false claim to U.S. citizenship, illegal registering to vote, or illegal voting isn’t a good moral character problem because of an exception in the law. The exception applies if you “reasonably believed” at the time of the violation that you were a U.S. citizen because you permanently resided in the United States before you turned 16 and your natural or adoptive parents were U.S. citizens at the time you violated the law.
If you claimed to be a U.S. citizen during the required good moral character period and you were convicted of the federal crime of falsely claiming to be a citizen in order to register to vote or to vote (under 18 U.S.C. §1015(f)), your citizenship is going to be denied. You can’t be convicted of that crime if the “reasonable belief” exception applies, so if you were convicted, USCIS will assume you’re not eligible for the exception (because you would have used it to avoid conviction!).
If you voted illegally in a federal election during the required good moral character period and you were convicted of the federal crime of unlawful voting (under 18 U.S.C. § 611), USCIS will have to look at all the circumstances and consider your explanation. (Again, you can’t be convicted of that crime if the “reasonable belief” exception applies, so if you were convicted, USCIS will assume you’re not eligible for the exception.) However, if you were imprisoned for 180 days or more, or if your sentence caused sentences from all your convictions to total five years or more, USCIS will automatically deny your citizenship on moral character grounds.
