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 21st Edition

U.S. Immigration
Made Easy

Ilona Bray, J.D.

Updated by Attorney Kyle A. Knapp

LAW for ALL

TWENTY-FIRST EDITION APRIL 2023
Cover Design SUSAN PUTNEY
Book Design SUSAN PUTNEY
Proofreading IRENE BARNARD
Index ACCESS POINTS INDEXING
Printing SHERIDAN

ISSN: 1055-9647 (print)

ISSN: 2326-0041 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-4133-3071-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-4133-3072-4 (book)

This book covers only United States law, unless it specifically states otherwise.
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Please note
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a good idea—consult an attorney licensed to practice in your state.
Acknowledgments
For help in updating and revising this book for recent editions, special
thanks are owed to:
Kyle Knapp, at attorney practicing in Ohio, who lent his considerable
immigration law experience to the task of reviewing and updating the
majority of chapters in this 21st edition.
Taylor Jameson, staff attorney at Legal Services of Eastern Michigan
in Flint, Michigan, for past assistance updating the chapter on U visas.
Under Nolo’s roof, thanks go to the Production Department for doing
the layout.
This book was originally authored by Laurence A. Canter and
Martha S. Siegel.
About the Authors
Ilona Bray, J.D., came to the practice of immigration law through her
long interest in international human rights. Before joining Nolo as
legal editor in charge of immigration, she ran a solo law practice and
worked for various nonprofit immigration agencies, as an attorney
at the International Institute of the East Bay (Oakland), and as a
Goldmark Fellow at Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (Seattle).
Ilona was also an intern in the legal office of Amnesty International’s
International Secretariat in London. She is a member of the American
Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). She received her law degree
in 1990 from the University of Washington along with an M.A. in East
Asian Studies, and her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College. She
has authored numerous other books for Nolo, including Becoming a U.S.
Citizen: A Guide to the Law, Exam & Interview; ­Fiancé & Marriage Visas: A
Couple’s Guide to U.S. Immigration; and Effective Fundraising for Nonprofits:
Real-World Strategies That Work.
Kyle A. Knapp is an experienced immigration attorney. He earned his law
degree from Capital University Law School in 1998 and is licensed to
practice in Ohio and Florida.
Kyle concentrates his practice on helping organizations hire individuals
who are not U.S. citizens. He also advises organizations on the requirements
to ensure that all of their employees have authorization to work in the
United States. The former sometimes is referred to as “visa processing,”
while the latter is referred to as “I-9 compliance.” Additionally, Kyle assists
people with naturalization applications for U.S. citizenship and with
family-based immigration cases to sponsor relatives for lawful permanent
resident status. Kyle explains to organizations in simple terms what steps
they must follow to hire people who are not U.S. citizens.
His other areas of expertise include a wide range of nonimmigrant
(temporary) and immigrant (green card or permanent resident) visas. In
the nonimmigrant category, he has extensive experience with B/Visa
Waiver (visitors for business or pleasure), E (treaty traders and investors),
F (students), H (specialty occupation workers for individuals with relevant
college degrees), J (exchange visitors), L (intracompany transferees from
affiliate organizations abroad), O (individuals of extraordinary ability),
R (ministers), and TN (professional workers from Canada and Mexico
under the North American Free Trade Agreement).
 CHAPter

Table of Contents

Your Immigration Companion..................................................................................................... 1

PART I: Getting Started: U.S. Immigration Eligibility and Procedures........................ 3

1 Where to Begin on Your Path Toward Immigration...................................................... 5

A. Roadmap to U.S. Immigration................................................................................................. 7
B. The Typical Application Process...........................................................................................11
C. Immigration Eligibility Self-Quiz...........................................................................................12

2 Are You Already a U.S. Citizen?.................................................................................................19

A. Acquisition of Citizenship Through Birth to U.S. Citizen Parents......................20
B. Automatic Derivation of U.S. Citizenship Through Naturalized Parents.......25
C. Obtaining Proof of U.S. Citizenship.....................................................................................27
D. Dual Citizenship............................................................................................................................ 30

3 Can You Enter or Stay in the U.S. at All?..............................................................................31

A. Particularly Troublesome Grounds of Inadmissibility...............................................33
B. Avoiding or Reversing an Inadmissibility Finding....................................................... 60

4 Dealing With Paperwork, Government Officials, Delays, and Denials............65

A. Getting Organized........................................................................................................................67
B. How to Obtain and Prepare Immigration Application Forms............................ 68
C. How to Obtain Needed Documents..................................................................................78
D. Before You Mail Anything........................................................................................................82
E. Dealing With Delays and Other Issues............................................................................. 84
F. Attending Interviews With USCIS or Consular Officials......................................... 90
G. Procedures for USCIS Interviews..........................................................................................95
H. What to Do If an Interview Is Going Badly..................................................................... 98
I. What to Do If an Application Is Denied.......................................................................... 99
J. When All Else Fails, Call Your U.S. Congressperson.................................................102
K. How COVID-19 Might Affect Your Case.......................................................................103
 5 Special Rules for Canadians and Mexicans......................................................................105
A. Canadian Visitors and Nonimmigrants..........................................................................106
B. Special Work Privileges for Canadian and Mexican Visitors...............................107
C. Fiancés.............................................................................................................................................. 115
D. Simplified Procedures for Canadian Students and Exchange Visitors........... 115
E. F-3 Visa for Border Commuter Students....................................................................... 115
F. Preflight Inspections for Canadians................................................................................. 117
G. NEXUS for Faster Entry by Canadians............................................................................. 117

6 How and When to Find a Lawyer........................................................................................... 119

A. When Do You Need a Lawyer?........................................................................................... 120
B. Where to Get the Names of Good Immigration Lawyers....................................122
C. How to Avoid Sleazy Lawyers..............................................................................................123
D. How to Choose Among Lawyers.......................................................................................125
E. Signing Up Your Lawyer.......................................................................................................... 126
F. Paying Your Lawyer...................................................................................................................128
G. Firing Your Lawyer..................................................................................................................... 129
H. Do-It-Yourself Legal Research..............................................................................................130

PART II: Introduction to Permanent U.S. Residence (Green Cards)........................ 133

A. Categories of Green Card Applicants..............................................................................134
B. How Many Green Cards Are Available?.........................................................................138

7 Getting a Green Card Through Family Members in the U.S................................ 139

A. Are You Eligible for a Green Card Through a Relative?..........................................140
B. Quick View of the Application Process..........................................................................154
C. Step One: Your U.S. Relative Files the I-130 Visa Petition..................................... 157
D. Step Two: Preference Relatives Wait for an Available Visa..................................164
E. Step Three: You Submit the Visa or Green Card Application............................166
F. Step Four: Immigrant Visa Holders Enter the U.S. ..................................................179
G. Removing Conditional Residence in Marriage Cases.............................................. 181
 8 Getting a Visa to Come Marry Your U.S. Citizen Fiancé (K-1)............................185
A. Do You Qualify for a K-1 Visa?.............................................................................................187
B. Quick View of How to Apply for a K-1 Visa.................................................................188
C. Step One: Your U.S. Citizen Fiancé Submits a Visa Petition...............................189
D. Step Two: You Apply at a U.S. Consulate...................................................................... 193
E. Step Three: You Enter the U.S. on Your Fiancé Visa................................................196

9 Getting a Green Card Through Employment................................................................199

A. Are You Eligible for a Green Card Through Employment?..................................200
B. Quick View of the Application Process.......................................................................... 213
C. Step One: The Prevailing Wage Determination......................................................... 214
D. Step Two: Employer Advertising and Recruitment.................................................. 215
E. Step Three: Your Employer Seeks Labor Certification........................................... 218
F. Step Four: Your Employer Files the I-140 Petition.................................................... 219
G. Step Five: You Might Have to Wait for an Available “Visa Number”.............228
H. Step Six: You Submit the Green Card Application...................................................231
I. Step Seven: Immigrant Visa Holders Enter the U.S................................................. 241

10 Getting a Green Card Through the Diversity Visa Lottery................................... 243

A. Are You Eligible for a Green Card Through the Lottery?...................................... 245
B. Quick View of the Application Process.......................................................................... 247
C. Step One: Registering for the Lottery.............................................................................. 247
D. Step Two: Your Application for Permanent Residence..........................................250
E. Step Three: Immigrant Visa Holders Enter the U.S..................................................263

11 Getting a Green Card as an Investor...................................................................................265

A. Are You Eligible for a Green Card Through Investment?......................................267
B. Quick View of the Application Process..........................................................................271
C. Step One: You File a Visa Petition.....................................................................................271
D. Step Two: You May Have to Wait to Apply for Permanent Residence......... 274
E. Step Three: You Apply for an Immigrant Visa or Green Card............................275
F. Step Four: Immigrant Visa Holders Enter the U.S....................................................285
G. Step Five: Converting Your Conditional Residence Into Permanent
Residence........................................................................................................................................286
12 Getting a Green Card as a Special Immigrant...............................................................289
A. Do You Qualify for a Green Card as a Special Immigrant?..................................290
B. Quick View of the Application Process..........................................................................294
C. Step One: You File the Petition...........................................................................................295
D. Step Two: You Might Need to Await an Available Visa Number.....................298
E. Step Three: You Apply for Permanent Residence.....................................................299
F. Step Four: Immigrant Visa Holders Enter the U.S....................................................309

13 Getting a Green Card as an Asylee or Refugee............................................................. 313

A. Do You Qualify as a Refugee or an Asylee?.................................................................. 315
B. How to Apply for Refugee Status......................................................................................322
C. How to Apply for Asylum...................................................................................................... 324
D. How to Get a Green Card as a Refugee or an Asylee..............................................335

14 After Your Approval for a Green Card...............................................................................343

A. How to Prove You’re a U.S. Resident...............................................................................344
B. Traveling Abroad........................................................................................................................346
C. Your Immigrating Family Members’ Rights.................................................................348
D. Losing Your Permanent Resident Status........................................................................349
E. How to Renew or Replace Your Green Card...............................................................350
F. Green Cards and U.S. Citizenship......................................................................................353
G. Green Cards and U.S. Taxes..................................................................................................354

PART III: Introduction to Nonimmigrant (Temporary) Visas......................................355

A. Types of Nonimmigrant Visas.............................................................................................356
B. Difference Between a Visa and a Status.........................................................................359
C. Security Measures......................................................................................................................360
D. Getting a Nonimmigrant Visa at a Consulate Outside Your Home
Country............................................................................................................................................360
E. At the Border................................................................................................................................361
F. Time Limits on Nonimmigrant Visas..............................................................................361
G. Effect of Nonimmigrant Visas on Green Cards..........................................................365
H. Nonimmigrant Visas and U.S. Taxes................................................................................366
15 Getting a Business or Tourist (B-1 or B-2) Visa.............................................................367
A. Do You Qualify for a Visitor Visa?.....................................................................................369
B. How to Apply for a Visitor Visa..........................................................................................372
C. Visa Issuance and Entry Into the U.S...............................................................................376
D. Extensions of Stay......................................................................................................................377

16 Getting a Temporary Specialty Worker (H-1B) Visa..................................................379

A. Do You Qualify for an H-1B Visa or Status?.................................................................381
B. Quick View of the H-1B Visa Application Process....................................................386
C. Step One: Your Employer Files an LCA...........................................................................386
D. Step Two: Your Employer Files a Petition......................................................................388
E. Step Three: Applicants Outside the U.S. Apply for Visa.......................................396
F. Step Four: H-1B Visa Holders Enter the U.S. ...............................................................397
G. Extending Your U.S. Stay........................................................................................................397
H. Your Rights as an H-1B Worker...........................................................................................399

17 Getting a Temporary Nonagricultural Worker (H-2B) Visa.................................401

A. Do You Qualify for an H-2B Visa?......................................................................................404
B. Possibilities for a Green Card From H-2B Status........................................................ 410
C. Quick View of the H-2B Visa Application Process....................................................411
D. Step One: Your Employer Applies for PWD................................................................. 412
E. Step Two: Your Employer Places a Job Order.............................................................. 413
F. Step Three: Your Employer Applies for Temporary Labor Certification...... 415
G. Step Four: Your Employer Conducts Recruitment.................................................. 419
H. Step Five: The DOL Certifies the Temporary Labor Application.....................420
I. Step Six: Your Employer Submits an H-2B Visa Petition.......................................420
J. Step Seven: Applicants Outside the U.S. Apply to a U.S. Consulate..............427
K. Step Eight: You Enter the U.S. With Your H-2B Visa...............................................428
L. Extending Your U.S. Stay........................................................................................................428

18 Getting a Temporary Trainee (H-3) Visa........................................................................... 431

A. Do You Qualify for an H-3 Visa?.........................................................................................432
B. Quick View of the H-3 Visa Application Process......................................................435
C. Step One: Your Employer Submits an H-3 Petition.................................................435
 D. Step Two: Applicants Outside the U.S. Apply to a U.S. Consulate..................442
E. Step Three: H-3 Visa Holders Enter the U.S.................................................................443
F. Extending Your U.S. Stay........................................................................................................445

19 Getting an Intracompany Transferee (L-1) Visa...........................................................447

A. Do You Qualify for an L-1 Visa?...........................................................................................448
B. Possibilities for a Green Card From L-1 Status............................................................455
C. Quick View of the L-1 Visa Application Process........................................................455
D. Step One: Your U.S. Employer Files a Petition............................................................456
E. Step Two: Applicants Outside the U.S. Apply to a U.S. Consulate..................463
F. Step Three: L-1 Visa Holders Enter the U.S. .................................................................464
G. Extending Your U.S. Stay........................................................................................................466

20 Getting a Treaty Trader (E-1) Visa......................................................................................... 471

A. Do You Qualify for an E-1 Visa?..........................................................................................472
B. Quick View of the E-1 Visa Application Process........................................................479
C. How to Apply From Outside the U.S..............................................................................479
D. How to Apply If You’re in the U.S.....................................................................................484
E. Extending Your U.S. Stay........................................................................................................486
F. Visa Revalidation........................................................................................................................489

21 Getting a Treaty Investor (E-2) Visa......................................................................................491

A. Do You Qualify for an E-2 Visa?..........................................................................................492
B. Quick View of the E-2 Visa Application Process........................................................499
C. How to Apply From Outside the U.S..............................................................................499
D. How to Apply If You’re in the U.S.....................................................................................506
E. Extending Your U.S. Stay........................................................................................................ 510
F. Revalidating Your Visa..............................................................................................................511

22 Getting a Student (F-1 or M-1) Visa.......................................................................................513

A. Do You Qualify for a Student (M-1 or F-1) Visa?........................................................ 516
B. How Long the Student Visa Will Last.............................................................................522
C. Quick View of the Student Visa Application Process............................................ 524
D. Step One: Your School Issues a SEVIS I-20....................................................................525
 E. Step Two for Applicants Outside the U.S.: Applying at a U.S.
Consulate........................................................................................................................................525
F. Step Two for Some Applicants Inside the U.S.: Applying to USCIS
for a Change of Status..............................................................................................................530
G. Step Three: Student Visa Holders Enter the U.S........................................................535
H. Extending Your Student Stay...............................................................................................535
I. Traveling Outside the U.S. While You’re a Student.................................................538
J. Reinstatement of Student Status.......................................................................................539
K. Getting Permission to Work................................................................................................539
L. Transferring to a Different School.....................................................................................545
M. Changing Your Course of Studies......................................................................................546

23 Getting an Exchange Visitor (J-1) Visa................................................................................547

A. Do You Qualify for a J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa?.........................................................550
B. How Long the J-1 Status Will Last.....................................................................................554
C. Students: Comparing J-1 Visas to F-1 and M-1 Visas...............................................556
D. Business and Industrial Trainees: A Good Option for Work in the U.S........ 557
E. Internships as a Way for Foreign Students to Work in the U.S......................... 557
F. Can You Apply for a Green Card From J-1 Status?...................................................558
G. Quick View of the J-1 Visa Application Process.........................................................558
H. Step One: Your Sponsoring Organization Issues a Certificate
of Eligibility.................................................................................................................................... 559
I. Step Two for Applicants Outside the U.S.: Apply for a Visa
at a U.S. Consulate..................................................................................................................... 559
J. Step Two for Some Applicants Inside the U.S.: Apply to USCIS
for a Change of Status..............................................................................................................564
K. Step Three: J-1 Visa Holders Enter the U.S....................................................................567
L. Extending Your J-1 Stay in the U.S.....................................................................................568
M. Transfer to a New Sponsor....................................................................................................570
N. Change of Category..................................................................................................................570
O. Reinstatement..............................................................................................................................571
P. Working as an Exchange Visitor.........................................................................................573
Q. Annual Reports for Foreign Medical Graduates.......................................................575
R. Traveling Outside the U.S. While on an Exchange Program...............................575
 24 Getting a Visa as a Temporary Worker in a Selected Occupation
(O, P, or R Visa)...................................................................................................................................577
A. Do You Qualify for an O, P, or R Visa?.............................................................................578
B. Quick View of the O, P, and R Visa Application Process.......................................586
C. Step One: Your Employer or Agent Submits a Petition.........................................587
D. Step Two: Applicants Outside the U.S. Apply to a U.S. Consulate..................593
E. Step Three: Visa Holders Enter the U.S..........................................................................595
F. Extending Your U.S. Stay........................................................................................................595

PART IV: Introduction to Other Forms of Long-Term Legal Status in the U.S........597

25 Humanitarian Remedies Allowing Stays in the U.S...................................................599

A. Do You Qualify for TPS?.........................................................................................................600
B. TPS Application Process.........................................................................................................601
C. Are You Eligible for Deferred Enforced Departure?.................................................602
D. Humanitarian Parole................................................................................................................603

26 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)........................................................607

A. Do You Qualify for DACA?....................................................................................................608
B. Who Is Not Eligible for DACA.............................................................................................609
C. Risks and Downsides to Applying for DACA.............................................................. 611
D. Who Shouldn’t Apply for DACA ...................................................................................... 612
E. How to Apply for DACA ....................................................................................................... 613

27 Getting a U Visa as a Crime Victim Assisting Law Enforcement...................... 617

F. Are You Eligible for a U Visa?............................................................................................... 618
G. How to Apply for a U Visa..................................................................................................... 624
H. Will You Be Eligible for a Green Card After Your U Visa?........................................630

Glossary........................................................................................................................................................ 635
Index.................................................................................................................................................................. 645
Your Immigration Companion
I
f you’re considering immigrating to the
United States, or are helping some­one
who is, then this book was written for
you. It was written for real people, not for
lawyers. We try to give you a realistic view
of your immigration possibilities and how
to succeed in reaching your goals.
But why is this book so thick—especially
considering that the title promises it will
be “easy”? Don’t worry, you won’t have to
read the whole book. It’s just that we cover
a lot of ground, including some categories
of visas and green cards that other books
don’t discuss. Also, the original law that
we’re trying to describe for you is not easy at
all—it contains many categories of potential
visas and green cards, complex criteria for
who qualifies, and paperwork-intensive
application procedures. All of that takes
space to explain! So we start the book with
an overview of your possibilities, then direct
you toward one or two particular chapters
that will help you understand what lies
ahead and how to proceed if you decide to
apply for something.
Some people will find that they don’t
qualify for U.S. immigration at all, or at
least not yet. Nevertheless, huge numbers
of people successfully come from other
countries to the U.S. every year, whether
with green cards or temporary, “nonim-
migrant” visas (such as tourist, work, and
student visas). With the right information
and preparation you can be one of them.
This book will help you:
• learn whether you match the
criteria to receive either a green card
(permanent residence) or a temporary
(nonimmigrant) visa
• learn what difficulties you’ll have
to overcome
• strategize the fastest and safest way
through the application process
• deal with bureaucrats and delays, and
• know when to find a lawyer.
Think of this book as your legal com-
panion, providing practical and supportive
advice and information along the way and
helping you find a warm welcome in the
United States.
2  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY

RESOURCE
Looking for a lawyer? Asking for a
referral to an attorney from someone you trust
can be a good way to find legal help. Also, two
sites that are part of the Nolo family, Lawyers.com
and Avvo.com, provide excellent and free lawyer
directories. These directories allow you to search
by location and area of law, and list detailed
information about and reviews of lawyers.
Whether you’re just starting your lawyer
search or researching particular attorneys,
visit www.lawyers.com/find-a-lawyer and
www.avvo.com/find-a-lawyer.
What Doesn’t This Book Cover?
You’ll find loads of useful information in
this book—but it’s plenty thick already,
and we had to leave a few topics out.
In particular, removal and deportation
defense are not covered here. (Definitely
get a lawyer’s help if you are facing im-
migration court proceedings.) Nor are the
immigration law implications of criminal
convictions covered. Nor is how to apply
for naturalized U.S. citizenship.

Get Updates and More at This Book’s Companion Page on Nolo.com

When there are important changes to the information in this book, we’ll post
updates online, on a page dedicated to this book
www.nolo.com/back-of-book/IMEZ.html
You’ll find other useful information on the Nolo website, too, including articles
covering many aspects of U.S. immigration law.

l
 PART

Getting Started: U.S. Immigration

Eligibility and Procedures I
 C H A P T E R

Where to Begin on Your Path Toward Immigration 1

A. Roadmap to U.S. Immigration...........................................................................................7
B. The Typical Application Process.................................................................................... 11
C. Immigration Eligibility Self-Quiz................................................................................... 12
6  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY
I
f you’ve already tried to research how
to immigrate to the United States, you
might have come away more confused
than enlightened. We’ve heard immigrants
ask frustrated questions like, “Are they
trying to punish me for doing things
legally?” or “Do they want to let me in or
keep me out?”
The trouble is, the U.S. immigration
system is a little like a mythical creature
with two heads. One head might smile
and grant people the right to live or
work in the United States, temporarily
or permanently. The U.S. tends to be the
most welcoming toward people who:
• will pump money into the U.S.
economy (such as tourists, students,
and investors), or
• can fill gaps in the U.S. workforce
(mostly skilled workers).
This creature’s other head wears a
frown. It is afraid that the U.S. will be
overrun by huge numbers of immigrants,
and depending on the political climate
can reflect racist and nativist sentiments.
It tends to try especially hard to keep out
anyone who:
• doesn’t fit the narrow eligibility
categories set forth in U.S.
immigration law
• has a criminal record
• is a threat to U.S. ideology or
national security
• has spent a long time in the U.S.
illegally or committed other
immigration violations
• is attempting fraud in order to
immigrate, or
• will not earn enough money to stay
off government assistance.
Not surprisingly, these two heads don’t
always work together very well.
You could find that, even when you
know you have a right to visit, live, or work
in the U.S. and you’re trying your best to
fill out the applications and complete your
case properly, you feel as if you’re being
treated like a criminal. The frowning head
doesn’t care. Sadly, it views you as just
another number and as no great loss if your
application fails—or is, literally, lost in the
files of thousands of other applications.
! CAUTION
Have you heard people say that
a U.S. citizen could simply invite a friend
from overseas to live here? Those days are
gone. Now, every immigrant has to find a legal
category to fit within, deal with demanding
application forms and procedures, and pass
security and other checks.
! CAUTION
Almost everyone should consult
an experienced immigration attorney before
submitting an application. Unless your case
presents no complications whatsoever, it’s best
to have an attorney confirm that you haven’t
overlooked anything. However, by preparing
yourself with the information in this book, you
can save money and make sure you’re using a
good attorney for the right services.
 CHAPTER 1  |  WHERE TO BEGIN ON YOUR PATH TOWARD IMMIGRATION |  7
EXAMPLE: An American woman was
engaged to a man from Mexico and figured,
since she herself had been to law school,
that she didn’t need an attorney’s help. She
read that a foreign-born person who was in
the U.S. on a tourist visa could get married
and then apply for a green card within the
United States. Unfortunately, what she
didn’t realize was that this possibility works
only for people who decide to get married
after entering the United States. Applying
for a tourist visa with the idea of coming
to the U.S. to get married and get a green
card amounts to visa fraud and can ruin a
person’s chances of immigrating. Are you
already confused? The U.S. immigration
system doesn’t always make a lot of sense.
This is why an attorney’s help is often
needed—to get you through legal hoops
that you’d never imagined existed.
A. Roadmap to U.S. Immigration
Because this book covers a lot of territory,
it helps to have a road map—particularly
so you’ll know which subjects or chapters
you can skip entirely.
Take a look at the imaginary map below,
then read the following subsections to
further orient yourself.
As you can see, the first stop along the
way is the Inadmissibility Gate. This gate
represents a legal problem that can stop
you on your path to a visa or green card
before you’ve even started. If, for example,
you have committed certain crimes,
been infected with certain contagious
diseases, appear likely to need welfare
or government assistance, have violated
U.S. immigration laws, or match another
description on the U.S. government’s
list of concerns, you are considered
“inadmissible.” That means you won’t be
allowed any type of U.S. visa or green
card, except under special circumstances
or with legal forgiveness called a waiver.
This gate gets closed on a lot of people who
lived in the U.S. illegally for more than six
months. Even if you think you haven’t done
anything wrong, please read Chapter 3 for
more on the problem of inadmissibility.
If you get past the Inadmissibility
Gate, the next stop along your theoretical
journey is the Eligibility Bridge. This is
where you must answer the question,
“What type of visa or green card are you
eligible for?” Answering this will involve
some research on your part. You might
already know the answer—for example,
if you’ve just married a U.S. citizen, it’s
pretty obvious that you want to apply
for a green card on this basis and should
read the appropriate chapter of this book
(Chapter 7). Or, if your main goal is
to attend college in the U.S., then you
probably know that you need a student
visa, and can proceed straight to the
chapter covering that topic (Chapter 22).
8  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY

Roadmap to U.S. Immigration

U.S. Entry Door

‹
‹

Application
Process Bog

‹
‹

Eligibility Bridge
‹

Citizen Parents or Grandparents

Inadmissibility
Gate
‹

Alternate
Access Road Main Road
‹

You Are Here

 CHAPTER 1  |  WHERE TO BEGIN ON YOUR PATH TOWARD IMMIGRATION |  9
If you don’t already know you’re eligible
for a certain type of visa or green card,
however, start by reading Section B,
below, which reviews the possibilities for
spending time in the U.S. and directs you
to the appropriate chapters for follow-up.
You’ll see that this book covers more
than just permanent green cards—we
know that not everyone will either want,
or be eligible to receive, the right to live
in the U.S. their whole life. There are
many useful ways to stay in the U.S.
temporarily, for example on a student or
employment-based visa. And even if you
don’t fit into one of the usual categories,
there might be an emergency or other
special category that helps you.
Not many people will travel down the
Citizen Parents or Grandparents Alternate
Access Road. It’s for the lucky few who,
after doing a little research, realize that
they are already U.S. citizens because
their parents or grandparents had U.S.
citizen­ship. Okay, we admit that this is
rare. Most people would not be picking
up a book on immigration if they were
already U.S. citizens. Nevertheless, a
few people are surprised to find that,
because their parents were either born
in the U.S. or became U.S. citizens later
(possibly because their own parents
were U.S. citizens and passed it to them
automatically), they are already U.S.
citizens themselves—in which case they
can put this book back down and go
get a U.S. passport. See Chapter 2 for
a full discussion of who can claim U.S.
citizenship through parents.
The next stop along your journey is
the Application Process Bog. We added
this because, even after you realize that
you match the eligibility requirements
for a U.S. visa or green card, you can’t
just march into a U.S. immigration office
and claim your rights on the spot. The
application process involves intensive
document collection, form preparation,
and generally molding your life around
monitoring the handling of your case
until you’ve gotten what you want. Even
if you do your part correctly, most visas
and green cards take a much longer
time to obtain than you would ever
imagine—anywhere from a few months
to several years.
Some people never make it through
the bog, simply because they fail to
adequately prepare their applications
or to respond to government follow-up
requests on time. Others get bogged
down through no fault of their own
because the U.S. government loses
track of their application. Dealing with
bureaucracy and delays is such a large
concern that we’ve devoted a whole
chapter of this book to it: Chapter 4.
10  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY
What You’ll Need to Know
We try not to use confusing legal language
in this book. However, there are a few words
that will be helpful to know, especially if
you look at other books or websites. For
further definitions, see the Glossary at the
back of this book.
Citizen (U.S.). A person who owes
allegiance to the U.S. government, is entitled
to its protection, and enjoys the highest level
of rights due to members of U.S. society. A
person can become a U.S. citizen through
birth in the United States or its territories;
through parents who are citizens; or through
naturalization (after applying for citizenship
and passing the citizenship exam). Citizens
cannot have their status taken away except
for certain extraordinary reasons.
Immigrant. Though the general public
usually calls any foreign-born newcomer to
the United States an immigrant, the U.S.
government prefers to think of immigrants
as only including those people who have
attained permanent residence or a green card.
Nonimmigrant. Everyone who comes
to the United States legally but with only
a short-term intent to stay is considered a
nonimmigrant. For instance, students and
tourists are nonimmigrants.
Green card. This slang term refers to the
identification card (printed in green)
carried by lawful permanent residents of
the United States.
Lawful permanent resident. A green
card holder. This is a person who has been
approved to live in the United States for
an unlimited amount of time. However,
the status can be taken away for certain
reasons, such as having committed a crime
or made one’s home outside the United
States. Usually after five years, a permanent
resident can apply for U.S. citizenship.
That number drops to three years if the
immigrant has been married to and living
with a U.S. citizen all that time.
Visa. A right to come to the border and
apply for entry into the United States. An
immigrant visa allows someone to enter the
U.S. permanently; a nonimmigrant visa allows
one to enter for a short-term, temporary
stay. Physically, the visa usually appears as a
stamp in the applicant’s passport, given by a
U.S. consulate overseas. Having a visa doesn’t
guarantee you’ll actually be able to enter the
U.S., because U.S. immigration officials at the
border must give you the final permission to
do so. But assuming you pass this inspection,
your visa is your ticket in.
If you forget these words, or encounter
other words that you don’t understand,
check the list at the back of this book.
 CHAPTER 1  |  WHERE TO BEGIN ON YOUR PATH TOWARD IMMIGRATION |  11
And you should also read Chapter 6,
on how to find and work with a high-
quality immigration attorney. Attorneys
are familiar with the difficulties of the
application process, and the good ones
will have access to inside phone numbers
or email addresses to use when there’s
a problem. You only have one chance
at getting this right, so it’s often worth
paying to hire an attorney.
If you make it this far, then the door
to U.S. immigration should be opened to
you—with one final caveat. This edition
was prepared during the height of the
COVID-19 or coronavirus pandemic.
Bans had been placed upon entry by
people from certain countries, U.S.
government offices were closed, and
obtaining any sort of U.S. visa became
nearly impossible. Hopefully by the time
you are reading this, the situation will
have resolved. Nevertheless, added delays
are likely to last far into the future, as the
government works to catch up.
B. The Typical Application
Process
Now let’s assume that you are not inad-
missible and that you have what it takes
to be eligible for either a permanent green
card or a temporary U.S. visa. Although
we’ll give you more detail about the appli-
cation processes later in this book, here’s a
preview of your main steps:
• deciding whether you’ll need legal
help to complete your application
• if you’re applying for a permanent
green card, or in some cases a
temporary work visa, waiting
while your U.S. family member or
employer fills out what’s called a “visa
petition,” proving either that you are
the person’s family member or have
been offered a job; and then waiting
even longer for the U.S. immigration
authorities to approve the petition
• if, in the category under which you’re
applying, only limited numbers of
visas or green cards are given out
every year, waiting until the people in
line ahead of you have received their
visas or green cards, otherwise known
as waiting for a current “priority
date” (which can take years)
• filling out your own set of application
forms, collecting documents, and
submitting them to either a U.S.
consulate in your home country or to
the U.S. immigration authorities if
you’re already in the United States
• tracking your application to make
sure it doesn’t get lost in the system
12  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY
• attending an interview at a consulate
outside of the U.S. or a U.S. immigra-
tion office, at which your application
is reviewed and you answer questions
• receiving either a visa for entry into
the U.S. or a green card or another
right to stay in the U.S. (unless you
are denied, in which case, you might
want to reapply), and finally
• entering the U.S. (if you’re not
already here), protecting your status,
and working toward the next step,
if any. (If you received a green card,
you might want to work toward U.S.
citizenship, the highest and most
secure status you can receive.)
One issue that will make a big
difference in how your application
proceeds is whether you are currently
living inside or outside the United States.
The U.S. has government offices to
handle U.S. immigration applications
both outside the U.S. (at U.S. consulates)
and within (at USCIS district offices
and service centers). However, not
all of these offices handle all types of
immigration applications. See “Which
Government Office Will Be Handling
Your Immigration Application,” below.
What’s more, many of the people who
would prefer to file their immigration
applications in the United States—
because they have been living here for
many years, perhaps illegally—will find
that they are not allowed to do so. We
will discuss this at length in Chapter 3.
The short explanation is that, if you
either entered the United States illegally
(not with a visa or another entry document
or right), overstayed a visa, or you have
worked here illegally, you cannot (with a
few exceptions), use the services of a USCIS
immigration office. Instead, you will likely
need to leave the U.S. and go to a U.S.
consulate to make your visa or green card
request. That creates a huge problem for
people who have lived unlawfully in the
United States for more than six months
after January 1, 1997. See Chapter 3 for
details.
C. Immigration Eligibility
Self-Quiz
Since we don’t know who you are, we’re
going make a broad assumption: You’re
looking for any possible way to spend time
in the United States, preferably permanently.
The following quiz will help you find
out what type of visa or green card you
might be eligible for and which chapter of
this book to read for more information.
 CHAPTER 1  |  WHERE TO BEGIN ON YOUR PATH TOWARD IMMIGRATION |  13

Question Possible rights to a visa or green card For more information

Are you from Canada or Mexico?
Are you engaged to marry a U.S.
citizen and living overseas?
Do you have close family (parents, hus-
band or wife, children over 21, brothers
and sisters) who are U.S. citizens?
Do you have any close family members
(parents, husband, or wife) who are
U.S. permanent residents (green card
holders)?
Are you a U.S. citizen who wishes to
adopt a child from overseas?
Permanent Green Cards
You have rights and visa possibilities
that others don’t.
You could be eligible for a K-1 fiancé
visa, allowing you to enter the United
States in order to get married.
You might qualify for a green card if one
of them is willing to petition for you.
You might qualify for a green card if one
of them is willing to petition for you.
You might be able to adopt an orphan
or a child under age 16.
See Chapter 5 regarding
immigration possibilities
for Canadians and Mexicans.
See Chapter 8 more on
obtaining a fiancé visa.
See Chapter 7 for more
on obtaining a green card
through family.
See Chapter 7 for more
information on obtaining
a green card through
family.
See Chapter 7 for more
information on obtaining
green cards for adopted
children.

Do you have a job offer from a U.S. You might be able to obtain a green See Chapter 9 for more
employer? card, if you have the right background information on getting
and qualifications, if the employer is a green card through
willing to sponsor you, and in most cases, employment.
if no U.S. workers are willing or able to
take the job.
NOTE: Some job offers qualify you for temporary work visas; keep a lookout further on in this quiz.
Do you have extraordinary ability in the You might qualify for a green card even See Chapter 9 for more
sciences, arts, education, business, or without a job offer, based on a “self information on getting
athletics, including publicly recognized petition.” a green card based on
achievements that resulted in sustained professional skills.
national or international acclaim?
Do you (or your spouse or parents) You can enter the visa lottery once See Chapter 10 for more
come from a country on the State a year. Winners who meet the on how the visa lottery
Department’s list of those eligible for educational and other qualifying works.
the diversity visa lottery? criteria can apply for green cards.

Do you have $900,000 or more to
invest in the creation or expansion
of a U.S. business?
Are you a member of the clergy or a
religious worker wishing to come to
the U.S. to work for the same religious
organization that you’ve already been
working for over the last two years?
You might be eligible for an investment- See Chapter 11 for more
based green card. information on obtaining
an investment-based
green card.
You might qualify for a green card as a See Chapter 12 for more
special immigrant (or for a temporary on obtaining a green card
“R” visa, described below). as a special immigrant.
 14  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY

Question Possible rights to a visa or green card For more information

Are you a graduate of a foreign medical You might qualify for a green card as a See Chapter 12 for more
school who came to the U. S. before special immigrant. on obtaining a green card
January 10, 1978 and still lives in the as a special immigrant.
United States?
Are you a former overseas U.S. govern­ You might qualify for a green card as a See Chapter 12 for more
ment worker or a retired employee of special immigrant. information on obtaining
an international organization, and have a green card as a special
you worked half of the last seven years immigrant.
in the United States?
Are you helping a child who is living The child could qualify for a green card See Chapter 12 for more
in the U.S. and has been declared as a special immigrant. information on the child’s
dependent on a juvenile court and obtaining a green card as
eligible for long-term foster or state a special immigrant.
agency care?
Have you served in the U.S. armed You might qualify for a green card as a See Chapter 12 for more
services for a total of 12 years or more special immigrant. information on obtaining
Permanent Green Cards

after October 15, 1978? a green card as a special

Are you fleeing a country (non-U.S.)
where you have faced or fear persecu­
tion, either by the government or by
someone the government can’t control
—and is that persecution because of
your race, religion, nationality, political
opinion, or membership in a particular
social group?
Are you in the United States now, but
fear returning to your home country
because you have faced or still fear
persecution, either by the government
or someone the government can’t
control—and is that persecution be-
cause of your race, religion, nationality,
political opinion, or membership in a
particular social group?
Have you lived in the U.S. continuously You might be eligible for a green card
since January 1972? based on registry.
Have you said “no” to all of the above
questions?
You might (if still outside the U.S.)
qualify as a refugee, which would allow
you to travel to the United States and
apply for a green card after one year.
You may apply for asylum within your
first year in the U.S., which would allow
you to stay in the United States, and
apply for a green card after one year.
immigrant.
See Chapter 13 for more
information on obtaining
refugee status from
overseas.
See Chapter 13 for more
information on obtaining
asylum.
See a lawyer for help on
obtaining a registry-based
green card.
See an immigration
attorney to reevaluate
whether you qualify for
any type of green card.
 CHAPTER 1  |  WHERE TO BEGIN ON YOUR PATH TOWARD IMMIGRATION |  15

Question Possible rights to a visa or green card For more information

Are you interested in a short trip to
the U.S. for pleasure, business, or
medical care?
Has a U.S. employer offered you a job
requiring highly specialized knowledge
gained from a university degree or
equivalent work experience?
Has a U.S. employer offered you a
temporary or seasonal nonagricultural
job, whether skilled or unskilled?
Does a U.S. company plan to offer you
on-the-job training in order to help your
career in your home country?
Does your company, which has offices
both inside and outside the U.S., want
to transfer you to the U.S. as an owner,
executive, manager, or an employee with
special knowledge?
Temporary Visas
You might qualify for a B-1 or B-2 visitor
visa.
You might qualify for an H-1B work visa
(good for up to six years).
You might qualify for an H-2B work visa
(good for up to one year).
You might qualify for an H-3 visa
(good for the length of the training,
up to two years).
You might qualify for an L-1 visa
(usually good for five to seven years).
See Chapter 15 for more
information on obtaining
B visas.
See Chapter 16 for more
information on obtaining
H-1B visas.
See Chapter 17 for more
information on obtaining
H-2B visas.
See Chapter 18 for more
information on obtaining
H-3 visas.
See Chapter 19 for more
information on obtaining
L-1 visas.

Are you a part owner or key employee of You might qualify for an E-1 treaty trader See Chapter 20 for more
a company that trades with the U.S., and visa (initially good for up to two years). information on obtaining
coming to the U.S. to trade or help develop E-1 visas.
or direct the company’s operations?
Are you a part owner or key employee of You might qualify for an E-2 treaty investor See Chapter 21 for more
a U.S. company supported by investment visa (initially good for up to two years). information on obtaining
from natives of your home country, and E-2 visas.
coming to the U.S. to work for
that company?
Have you been accepted to study at You might qualify for an F-1 (academic See Chapter 22 for more
an academic or vocational school in student) or M-1 (vocational student) visa information on obtaining
the U.S.? (good for the length of your studies except F-1 and M-1 visas.
that M-1s are limited to a one-year stay).
Have you been accepted to participate in You might qualify for a J-1 exchange See Chapter 23 for more
an exchange program in the U.S.? visitor visa (good for the length of the information on obtaining
program). J-1 visas.
Has a U.S. employer offered you a job You might qualify for an O, P, or R visa See Chapter 24 for more
based on either your extraordinary ability (good for the time period necessary to information on obtaining
in the arts, sciences, education, business, accomplish an event or activity, up to O, P, or R visas.
or athletics; or as a religious worker? three years for O and P visas, and five
years in the case of R visas).
Have you said “no” to all of the above See an attorney to see
questions? whether you have over­
looked any possibility.
16  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY
Which Government Office Will Be Handling
Your Immigration Application
Getting your green card or nonimmigrant visa
may require dealing with more than one U.S.
government agency, and maybe more than
one office within that agency. The possibilities
include the following:
• The U.S. Department of State (DOS,
at https://travel.state.gov), through U.S.
embassies and consulates located around
the world, and its Kentucky Consular
Center, which handles the diversity visa
lottery and coordinates USCIS petition
approval with the embassies and
consulates. If you’re coming from outside
of the U.S., you’ll be dealing primarily
with a U.S. consulate—and if you’re
currently in the U.S., you, too, might
have to travel to a consulate to complete
your application. Not all U.S. consulates
provide visa-processing services. To
find more information about the U.S.
consulate nearest to your home, either
check listings for your country’s capital
city, or go to www.usembassy.gov.
Note that you cannot normally apply for
an immigrant visa (permanent residence)
in a U.S. embassy or consulate outside
your home country, unless the U.S. has
no diplomatic relationship with the
government of your homeland. You
might be able to apply for nonimmigrant
visas (such as a tourist visa) in a third
country, so long as you have never
overstayed your permitted time in the
U.S., even by one day.
• The National Visa Center (NVC), a
private company under contract to
the DOS for the purpose of handling
case files during certain intermediate
parts of the green card application
process. After USCIS approves a visa
petition by a U.S.-based family member
or company, the NVC is given the file
and handles the case until it’s time to
forward the file to the appropriate
U.S. consulate or USCIS district office.
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS, formerly called INS,
at www.uscis.gov), an agency of the
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS). Even if you’re living outside
the United States, you might have
to deal with USCIS, particularly if
you’re applying for a green card rather
than a temporary visa. Most green
card applications begin by a U.S.-
based family member or company
filing a visa petition with USCIS.
USCIS has various types of offices
that handle immigration applications,
including service centers and
lockboxes (large processing facilities
that serve a wide region, which you
cannot visit in person), district offices
(which interact with the public
primarily by holding interviews),
suboffices (like district offices, but
smaller and with more limited
services), Application Support Centers
 CHAPTER 1  |  WHERE TO BEGIN ON YOUR PATH TOWARD IMMIGRATION |  17

Which Government Office Will Be Handling

Your Immigration Application (continued)
(where you go to have fingerprints
taken), and asylum offices (where
interviews on applications for asylum
are held).
• Customs and Border Protection
(CBP at www.cbp.gov), also under
DHS, responsible for patrolling the U.S.
borders. This includes meeting you at
an airport or other U.S. entry point
when you arrive with your visa and
doing a last check to make sure that
your visa paperwork is in order and
that you didn’t obtain it through fraud
or by providing false information.
• The U.S. Department of Labor
(DOL at www.dol.gov), through
its Employment and Training
Administration. If your visa or green
card application is based on a job
with a U.S. employer, certain parts of
the paperwork might have to be filed
with and ruled on by the DOL. The
DOL’s role is to make sure that hiring
immigrant workers doesn’t make it
harder for U.S. workers to get a job
and that you’re being paid a fair wage
(one that doesn’t act to bring down the
wages of U.S. workers).
Although you needn’t learn a lot about
these various agencies, it’s important to keep
track of which one has your application as
it makes its way through the pipeline. This
is especially true if you ever change your
address, because you might need to advise
the office that actually has control of your
application.

Now that you have some idea whether
there’s a visa or green card that you qualify
for, please go on to read either Chapter 2
(if you have parents or grandparents who
were U.S. citizens) or Chapter 3, concerning
inadmissibility. Then proceed straight to
the chapter concerning the visa or green
card you’re interested in.
If, after reading the detailed eligibility
requirements, you confirm that you qualify,
don’t forget to read Chapter 4, which
contains crucial advice on handling the
paperwork and dealing with bureaucrats,
and Chapter 6 on when and how to find a
good lawyer.
l
 C H A P T E R

Are You Already a U.S. Citizen? 2

A. Acquisition of Citizenship Through Birth to U.S. Citizen Parents.............20
1. Birth Prior to May 24, 1934............................................................................................22
2. Birth Between May 25, 1934, and January 12, 1941...........................................22
3. Birth Between January 13, 1941, and December 23, 1952................................23
4. Birth Between December 24, 1952, and November 13, 1986.........................24
5. Birth Between November 14, 1986, and the Present..........................................24
6. Exception to Requirements for Retaining Citizenship.....................................24
B. Automatic Derivation of U.S. Citizenship Through
Naturalized Parents................................................................................................................25
1. Parents Naturalized Before May 24, 1934...............................................................25
2. Parents Naturalized Between May 24, 1934, and January 12, 1941...........25
3. Parents Naturalized Between January 13, 1941,
and December 23, 1952....................................................................................................26
4. Parents Naturalized Between December 24, 1952,
and October 4, 1978..........................................................................................................26
5. Parents Naturalized Between October 5, 1978,
and February 26, 2001.......................................................................................................27
6. Parent Born in U.S. or Naturalized Between February 27, 2001,
and the Present.....................................................................................................................27
C. Obtaining Proof of U.S. Citizenship..............................................................................27
1. U.S. Passports........................................................................................................................28
2. Certificates of Citizenship...............................................................................................28
3. Certificates of Consular Registration of Birth......................................................29
D. Dual Citizenship...................................................................................................................... 30
20  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY
M
ost people who are U.S. citizens
already know it, either because
they were born in the U.S.
or because they successfully applied to
become naturalized citizens. However,
U.S. citizenship can be obtained in two
additional, less well-known ways, namely:
• birth outside the U.S. to U.S. citizen
parents (acquisition), or
• citizenship or naturalization of
parents after the child has obtained a
green card in the U.S. (derivation).
Many people born or living outside the
U.S. are already U.S. citizens but don’t
know it. The key to acquisition of citizen-
ship is having U.S. citizens in your direct
line of ancestry. Even if you were born
elsewhere and your U.S. ancestors have
perhaps not lived in the U.S. for a long
time, U.S. citizenship might have still
been passed down the line.
Derivation of citizenship helps people
who live in the U.S., but who didn’t realize
that minor children with green cards can
acquire citizenship automatically, without
having to apply for naturalization.
TIP
You can’t lose your citizenship
just by living outside of the U.S. for too long.
People who were born in the U.S. but have lived
most of their lives in other countries sometimes
believe that their long absence from the U.S.
and voting or military activities elsewhere have
stripped them of U.S. citizenship. That’s not the
case—people born with U.S. citizenship will
retain it for life unless they perform some act
to intentionally lose it, such as filing an oath of
renunciation.
RESOURCE
This book does not describe how
people with green cards can apply to become
naturalized citizens. For complete information
on your eligibility and the process, see Becoming
a U.S. Citizen: A Guide to the Law, Exam &
Interview, by Ilona Bray (Nolo).
A. Acquisition of Citizenship
Through Birth to U.S.
Citizen Parents
In many circumstances, even though a
child is born outside the U.S., if at least one
parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of the
birth, the child automatically “acquires”
U.S. citizenship. When this child marries
and has children, those children may also
acquire U.S. citizenship at birth.
The laws governing whether or not a
child born outside U.S. boundaries acquires
U.S. citizenship from parents have changed
several times over the decades. The law that
was in effect on the date of the child’s birth
determines whether the child acquired U.S.
citizenship from a parent or grandparent. If
anyone in your direct line of ancestry might
be a U.S. citizen, it is worth your time to
read what the U.S. laws were on the date of
your birth and theirs.
 CHAPTER 2  |  ARE YOU ALREADY A U.S. CITIZEN? |  21
What If You Were Born “Out of Wedlock” to a U.S. Citizen Father?
In many cases, your right to U.S. citizenship
could depend on your relationship to a U.S.
citizen father. However, if your parents weren’t
married at the time you were born, the laws
of the time might refer to you as “illegitimate,”
meaning in legal terms that you have no
recognized father.
As you’ll see in the sections below, your
right to claim citizenship could depend on
your providing evidence that your father
took the actions necessary to satisfy the
legitimation law of your birth country.
Legitimation laws require fathers to legally
acknowledge their children.
Many hoped change was on the horizon
when, in June of 2017, the U.S. Supreme
Court declared in a case called Sessions v.
Morales-Santana that such gender-based
distinctions (in Section 309(c) of the
I.N.A.) violate the U.S. Constitution. The
case concerned the laws in effect in 1962,
the year Mr. Morales-Santana was born in
the Dominican Republic. To acquire U.S
citizenship through his unmarried father,
he needed to show that the father had lived
in the U.S. for at least ten years, with five
of those years occurring after he turned
14, and the father must have either been
listed on the birth certificate or taken other
steps to acknowledge paternity, such as
“legitimating” him prior to his 21st birthday
and before he married.
Meanwhile, to acquire U.S. citizenship
through an unmarried mother in and
around 1962, the law required only that
the mother had U.S. nationality when the
child was born, and have previously been
physically present in the U.S. or one of
its outlying possessions for a continuous
period of only one year. Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, who wrote the opinion, called
this law’s variation in treatment of mothers
versus fathers “stunningly anachronistic,”
and found that it fails to achieve its
supposed purposes of ensuring that children
born overseas have a strong connection
to the U.S. in order to be allowed U.S.
citizenship.
Unfortunately for Mr. Morales-Santana
(facing deportation from the U.S. for a
criminal conviction), the Supreme Court
did not feel it had the power to extend the
shorter period of required physical presence
to children of unwed citizen fathers. Such a
move, it said, was up to the U.S. Congress. As
of late 2020, Congress has not followed up.
Perhaps it will, at some point, act to create
a uniform prescription for acquisition of
citizenship that’s not based on gender. Until
then, however, the Court said that the longer
residency requirement should continue to
apply to everyone seeking to acquire U.S.
citizenship under this (and of course, any
other) section of U.S. law.
22  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY
Most laws controlling the passage of
U.S. citizenship from parent to child
require that the parent, the child, or both
have a period of living in the United States
(“residence”). Sometimes the residence
is required to be for a specified length of
time (like five years) and sometimes it is
not. When the law doesn’t say exactly how
long the residence period must be, you
can assume that even a brief time, such
as a month, might be enough. The key
element is often not the amount of time
but whether or not U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) or the State
Department believes it was a residence—in
other words, that the person truly made a
home here—and not a visit. If the period
of stay has the character of a residence, the
length of time doesn’t matter.
1. Birth Prior to May 24, 1934
If you were born before 1934, the law
provided that only your U.S. citizen father
(not mother) could pass citizenship on to
you. The rules were very simple. In order
to pass on U.S. citizenship, the father must
have resided in the U.S. at some time before
the child’s birth. The law didn’t require
any particular length of time or dates when
the residence took place. Technically, a day
or a week would be enough if it could be
regarded as a residence and not just a visit.
Once a child obtained U.S. citizenship at
birth through a U.S. citizen father, there
were no conditions to retaining it. These
rules also applied to so-called illegitimate
children (children born to unmarried
parents), provided the U.S. citizen father
had at some time legally legitimated the
child (acknowledged paternal responsi­
bility). U.S. citizenship was then acquired at
the time of legitimation, without regard to
the child’s age.
This law has been challenged several
times as discriminatory, with some courts
holding that citizenship could also be
passed by the mother to the children.
Congress finally addressed this issue in
1994 and amended the law, retroactively,
to provide that either parent could pass
U.S. citizenship to children.
If someone was born before May 24,
1934, and either of that person’s parents
was a U.S. citizen, citizenship might have
been passed on to the child. And if either
of your parents was born before May 24,
1934, they might have acquired U.S.
citizenship from either of their parents,
which they then passed on to you under
laws in existence at a later date. A check of
the family tree could well be worth your
while.
2. Birth Between May 25, 1934,
and January 12, 1941
If you were born between May 25, 1934,
and January 12, 1941, you acquired U.S.
citizenship at birth if both your parents
 CHAPTER 2  |  ARE YOU ALREADY A U.S. CITIZEN? |  23
were U.S. citizens and at least one had
resided in the U.S. prior to your birth.
The law at this time placed no additional
conditions on retaining U.S. citizenship
acquired in this way.
You could also get U.S. citizenship if
only one of your parents was a U.S. citizen,
as long as that parent had a prior U.S.
residence. If your U.S. citizenship came from
only one parent, you too would have been
required to reside in the U.S. for at least
two years between the ages of 14 and 28 in
order to keep the citizenship you got at birth.
Alternatively, you could retain citizenship
if your noncitizen parent naturalized before
you turned 18 and you began living in the
U.S. permanently before age 18. Otherwise,
your citizenship would be lost. If the one
U.S. citizen parent was your father and
your birth was illegitimate (took place while
your parents weren’t married), the same
rules applied provided your father legally
legitimated you (acknowledged paternal
responsibility). Citizenship was passed on
to you at the time of legitimation without
regard to your age, so long as you had met
the retention requirements.
3. Birth Between January 13, 1941,
and December 23, 1952
If you were born between January 13,
1941, and December 23, 1952, and both
your parents were U.S. citizens and at least
one had a prior residence in the U.S., you
automatically acquired U.S. citizenship at
birth, with no conditions to keeping it.
If only one parent was a U.S. citizen,
that parent must have resided in the U.S.
for at least ten years prior to your birth, and
at least five of those years must have been
after that parent reached the age of 16.
With a parent thus qualified, you then
acquired U.S. citizenship at birth, but with
conditions for retaining it. To keep your
citizenship, you must have resided in the
U.S. for at least two years between the
ages of 14 and 28. Alternately, you could
retain citizenship if your noncitizen parent
naturalized before you turned 18 and
you began living in the U.S. permanently
before age 18. As a result of a U.S.
Supreme Court decision, if you were born
after October 9, 1952, your parent still had
to fulfill the residence requirement in order
to confer citizenship on you, but your own
residence requirements for retaining U.S.
citizenship were abolished—you need not
have lived in the U.S. at all.
If your one U.S. citizen parent was your
father and your birth took place while
your parents weren’t married, the same
rules applied provided you were legally
legitimated (your father acknowledged
paternal responsibility) prior to your 21st
birthday and you were unmarried at the
time of legitimation.
24  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY

4. Birth Between December 24, 1952, your citizenship. If your one U.S. citizen
and November 13, 1986 parent is your father and your birth took
place when the parents weren’t married, the
If at the time of your birth, both your same rules apply provided you were legally
parents were U.S. citizens and at least legitimated (your father acknowledged
one had a prior residence in the U.S., you paternal responsibility) prior to your 18th
automatically acquired U.S. citizenship, birthday. Additionally, your father must
with no other conditions for keeping it. have established paternity prior to your
If only one parent was a U.S. citizen 18th birthday, either by acknowledgment
when you were born, that parent must have or by court order, and must have stated,
resided in the U.S. for at least ten years, and in writing, that he would support you
at least five of those years must have been financially until your 18th birthday.
after your parent reached the age of 14.
If your one U.S. citizen parent is your
father and your birth took place while your 6. Exception to Requirements
parents weren’t married, the same rules ap- for Retaining Citizenship
ply provided you were legally legitimated It is not unusual for a child born and raised
(your father acknowledged paternal respon- outside the U.S. to have acquired U.S.
sibility) prior to your 21st birthday and you citizenship at birth from parents (or grand-
were unmarried at the time of legitimation. parents, then through parents) without
knowing it. The child, ignorant of the laws
5. Birth Between November 14, 1986, and circumstances affecting birthright, then
and the Present proceeds to lose U.S. citizenship by failing
to fulfill U.S. residency requirements.
If at the time of your birth, both your Congress sought to address this by
parents were U.S. citizens and at least adding a law for people who once held
one had a prior residence in the U.S., you U.S. citizenship but lost it by failing to
automatically acquired U.S. citizenship, fulfill the residency requirements that were
with no conditions for keeping it. in effect before 1978. Such persons can
If only one parent was a U.S. citizen at regain their citizenship by simply taking
the time of your birth, that parent must the oath of allegiance to the United States.
have resided in the U.S. for at least five years It is not necessary that the person apply
and at least two of those years must have for naturalization. Contact a U.S. consulate
been after your parent reached the age of or USCIS office for more information.
14. Even with only one U.S. citizen parent, The relevant statute is 8 U.S.C. Section
there are still no conditions to retaining 1435(d)(1), I.N.A. Section 324(d)(1).
 CHAPTER 2  |  ARE YOU ALREADY A U.S. CITIZEN? |  25
B. Automatic Derivation of
U.S. Citizenship Through
Naturalized Parents
When one or both parents are or become
naturalized U.S. citizens (by applying
for citizenship and passing an exam), the
children may, under certain circumstances,
become U.S. citizens automatically. The
law calls this derivation of citizenship.
Becoming a U.S. citizen in this way has
a special benefit because the child does
not have to participate in a naturalization
ceremony and can thereby avoid taking an
oath renouncing allegiance to any country
but the United States.
There are a number of people whose
parents have been naturalized who do
not realize they are U.S. citizens because
they never went through a naturalization
ceremony themselves. The laws on automatic
naturalization of children have varied
over the years. Once again, whether you
achieved U.S. citizenship in this manner is
determined by the laws as they were when
your parents’ naturalization took place.
1. Parents Naturalized
Before May 24, 1934
If either parent naturalized prior to your
21st birthday and you held a green card
at the time, you automatically derived
U.S. citizenship. This applied to you if
you were either an illegitimate child of
your U.S. citizen father (your parents
weren’t married when you were born) and
had been legally legitimated (your father
acknowledged paternal responsibility); or
you were an illegitimate child of your U.S.
citizen mother, whether legitimated or not.
Adopted children and stepchildren did not
qualify.
2. Parents Naturalized
Between May 24, 1934,
and January 12, 1941
If both parents became naturalized prior
to your 21st birthday and you held a green
card at the time, you automatically derived
U.S. citizenship. This applied to you if you
were an illegitimate child of your father
(born when your parents weren’t married)
and had been legally legitimated. It also
applied if you were an illegitimate child of
your mother, whether legitimated or not.
Adopted children did not qualify.
If only one parent became naturalized
prior to your 21st birthday, you acquired
U.S. citizenship automatically if you had
held a green card for at least five years. The
five years could have taken place before or
after your parent was naturalized (as long
as the years started before you turned 21),
so if you hadn’t held a green card for that
long when the naturalization occurred,
you automatically became a U.S. citizen
whenever you finally accumulated the five-
year total.
26  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY
3. Parents Naturalized
Between January 13, 1941,
and December 23, 1952
You derived U.S. citizenship if you held a
green card and both parents were natural-
ized prior to your 18th birthday (or if, when
one parent naturalized, the other parent was
dead, or your parents were legally separated
and the parent with legal custody of you
naturalized). At this time, the law did not
permit either so-called illegitimate (born to
unmarried parents) or adopted children to
derive citizenship in this manner.
4. Parents Naturalized
Between December 24, 1952,
and October 4, 1978
You derived U.S. citizenship if you were
unmarried and both parents were natural-
ized prior to your 16th birthday. You must
also have received a green card before your
18th birthday.
If only one parent naturalized, you could
derive citizenship only if the other parent
was dead, or if your parents were legally
separated and the naturalized parent had
custody of you. This applied to you if you
were an illegitimate child of your U.S. citi-
zen father (born while your parents weren’t
married) and had been legally legitimated
(your father accepted paternal responsibility)
or an illegitimate child of your mother,
whether legitimated or not. Adopted
children and stepchildren did not qualify.
Naturalization for Certain Children
Living Outside the United States
Children under 18 who live outside of the
U.S. in the legal and physical custody of a
U.S. citizen parent can also gain citizenship
through that parent. The parent must have
lived in the U.S. for at least five years, at
least two of which were after the age of
14, or have a U.S. citizen parent (the child’s
U.S. citizen grandparent) who meets this
same residency requirement. In addition,
children in this situation must, in most
cases, enter the U.S. on a nonimmigrant
visa (a tourist visa, for example) and submit
an application to USCIS for a certificate
of citizenship (the child’s citizenship is not
automatic in this situation).
If, however, you have at least one
parent who is a member of the U.S. armed
forces or the government, you might
automatically derive U.S. citizenship from
abroad. You must be under 18 and a lawful
permanent resident, and in the legal and
physical custody of a U.S. citizen parent
who is stationed and residing outside of
the United States as a member of the U.S.
armed forces or an employee of the U.S.
government, or who is that person’s spouse.
If you plan to apply for recognition of
your derived citizenship, get started as soon
as possible—the entire process, including
interview and approval of the certificate,
must be completed before the child’s
18th birthday. This can be difficult, with
many USCIS offices backed up for years
with these applications. You can file the
application from abroad if you need to.
 CHAPTER 2  |  ARE YOU ALREADY A U.S. CITIZEN? |  27
5. Parents Naturalized
Between October 5, 1978,
and February 26, 2001
You derived U.S. citizenship if one of your
parents was a U.S. citizen when you were
born and never ceased to be a citizen and
your other parent was naturalized prior to
your 18th birthday, or the naturalization
of both parents occurred before your
18th birthday. In either case, you needed
to have been unmarried at the time, and
have been lawfully admitted to the U.S. as
a permanent resident (had a green card).
This applies to all children, including
those who are illegitimate (born while
their parents weren’t married) and those
who were adopted (so long as the adoption
took place before you turned 18, and the
naturalization(s) took place while you were
living in the U.S. in the legal custody of
your adoptive parent(s)). However, adopted
children born prior to December 29, 1981,
or after November 14, 1986, derived U.S.
citizenship only if the adoption occurred
prior to their 16th birthday.
6. Parent Born in U.S. or Naturalized
Between February 27, 2001,
and the Present
You derived U.S. citizenship if one of your
parents was born in the U.S. or if one of
your parents naturalized prior to your
18th birthday while you were living in
the U.S., in the legal and physical custody
of that parent. You must also have had a
green card (permanent residence). This
law applies to both natural and adopted
children.
Notice that, for the first time in the
history of this law, children may derive
citizenship through a parent who was born
in the U.S. rather than only through a
parent who later naturalizes. This has the
practical effect of turning many children
into citizens the instant that they obtain a
green card through one U.S. citizen parent.
In recognition of this instant citizenship,
USCIS does not require Affidavits of
Support (Form I-864) to be submitted with
such children’s green card applications.
C. Obtaining Proof of
U.S. Citizenship
If you have acquired U.S. citizenship,
at birth or derivatively after your birth
as described in this chapter, you are
automatically a U.S. citizen once the legal
conditions have been satisfied. You don’t
need to apply for any document to make
yourself a citizen. Nevertheless, you’ll
probably want a document proving your
U.S. citizenship. It can be especially handy
for situations such as getting a job. If your
birth took place outside the territorial U.S.,
and you acquired U.S. citizenship at birth
from your parents or derived it through
28  |  U.S. IMMIGRATION MADE EASY
your parents’ naturalization, the following
types of documents will be recognized as
proof of U.S. citizenship:
• U.S. passports
• certificates of citizenship, or
• certificates of consular registration
of birth.
1. U.S. Passports
If you were born abroad to U.S. citizen
parents, you can apply for a U.S. passport
in the same way as someone born in the
United States. However, you will have the
added requirement of establishing your
citizenship claim. Passports are available
from passport offices in the U.S. (run by
the U.S. Department of State) and at U.S.
consulates outside the U.S., but experience
Sample U.S. Passport
shows that you have a better chance at a
U.S. consulate. Wherever you apply, you
will be required to present proof of your
parents’ U.S. citizenship and evidence
that they, and you, complied with any
applicable U.S. residency requirements.
Review the sections on birth to a U.S.
citizen for what you must prove under these
circumstances. You will need to present
documents such as birth or citizenship
records of your parent or grandparent
and work or tax records establishing U.S.
residency for your parent or grandparent.
2. Certificates of Citizenship
Certificates of citizenship are issued only
inside the U.S. by USCIS offices. Anyone
with a claim to U.S. citizenship can apply
for a certificate of citizenship. In most cases
it is more difficult and takes much longer
to get a certificate of citizenship than a
U.S. passport. However, in situations
where your U.S. citizenship was obtained
automatically through the naturalization
of a parent, certificate of citizenship appli-
cations are the best choice. In fact, at the
time a parent is naturalized, the children
can, upon the parent’s request, be issued
certificates of citizenship simultaneously
with their naturalization certificates.
Certificates of citizenship not requested
simultaneously with a parent’s naturalization
can be applied for later, on Form N-600
(except that a slightly different form,
Another random document with
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for an old man, if I were to withdraw from Athens, and pass the rest of my
days in wandering from city to city, and continually being expelled.[10]

The alternatives were not accepted, as indeed Socrates knew they would
not be, and he was condemned to die. He accepted the sentence calmly,
"and with infinite gentleness and manliness. No one within the memory of
man, it is said, ever bowed his head to death more nobly."[11] But death
offered no terrors to Socrates.

If death [he said to his judges] is a journey to another place, and the
common belief be true, that there are all who have died, what good could
be greater than this? Would a journey not be worth taking, at the end of
which, in the other world, we should be released from the self-styled
judges who are here, and should find the true judges who are said to sit
in judgment below? Or what would you not give to converse with
Orpheus and Homer? I am willing to die many times if this be true. And
above all, I could spend my time in examining those who are there, as I
examine men here, and in finding out which of them thinks himself wise,
when he is not wise. What would we not give, my judges, to be able to
examine the great leader of the expedition against Troy, or Odysseus, or
countless other men and women whom we could name?. It would be an
infinite happiness to converse with them, and to live with them, and to
examine them. Assuredly there they do not put men to death for doing
that. For besides the other ways in which they are happier than we are,
they are immortal, at least if the common belief be true.

But now the time has come, and we must go hence; I to die, and you
to live. Whether life or death is better is known to God, and to God only.
[12]

Socrates was taken to prison where he spent a month before his sentence
was carried out. The delay was caused by the voyage of the sacred ship,
said to be that of Theseus, which had only just set out on its annual voyage
to Delos, and no Athenian could be put to death during its absence.[13] He
spent this month talking to his friends, especially to Crito, who was very
devoted to him, and who entreated him to escape from prison, an escape for
which he could very easily have arranged. But the brave old man, loyal to
his principles to the end, refused, and he reminded Crito how all his life he
had taught that the greatest misfortune that could befall a man was to do
wrong, and the greatest crime a man could commit against his state was to
break her laws.

The last day arrived. The story of that day has been told by one who was
present:

I will try to relate the whole story to you from the beginning. On the
previous days I and the others who had always met in the morning at the
court where the trial was held, which was close to the prison; and then
we had gone in to Socrates. We used to wait each morning until the
prison was opened, conversing: for it was not opened early. When it was
opened, we used to go in to Socrates, and we generally spent the whole
day with him. But on that morning we met earlier than usual; for the
evening before we had learnt, on leaving the prison, that the ship had
arrived from Delos. So we arranged to be at the usual place as early as
possible. When we reached the prison, the porter, who generally let us
in, came out to us and bade us wait a little, and not to go in until he
summoned us himself; "for the Eleven," he said, "are releasing Socrates
from his fetters, and giving directions for his death today." In no great
while he returned and bade us enter. So we went in and found Socrates
just released, and Xanthippe, you know her, sitting by him, holding his
child in her arms. When Xanthippe saw us, she wailed aloud, and cried,
in her woman's way, "This is the last time, Socrates, that you will talk
with your friends, or they with you." And Socrates glanced at Crito, and
said, "Crito, let her be taken home." So some of Crito's servants led her
away, weeping bitterly and beating her breast.[14]

Once more Socrates and his friends conversed, and once more he
expressed his joy at "going to the place where he hoped to gain the wisdom
that he had passionately longed for all his life." They talked together until
later in the day, and then he rose and went into another room to bathe
himself:
 Crito went with him and told us to wait. So we waited, talking of him
and dwelling on the greatness of the calamity which had fallen upon us:
it seemed as if we were going to lose a father, and to be orphans for the
rest of our life. When he had bathed, and his children had been brought
to him, he had two sons quite little, and one grown up, and the women of
his family were come, he spoke with them in Crito's presence and gave
them his last commands; then he sent the women and children away, and
returned to us. By that time it was near the hour of sunset, for he had
been a long while within. When he came back to us he sat down, but not
much was said after that.

Presently the gaoler came in and told him that the hour had come for him to
die:

I have found you, [he said], the noblest and best man that has ever
come here; and now I am sure that you will not be angry with me, but
with those who you know are to blame. And so, farewell, and try to bear
what must be as lightly as you can; you know why I have come.

With that he turned away weeping and went out.

Then Crito made a sign to his slave who was standing by, and the
slave went out, and after some delay returned with the man who was to
give the poison, carrying it prepared in a cup. When Socrates saw him,
he asked, "You understand these things, my good sir, what have I to do?"

"You have only to drink this," he replied, "and to walk about until
your legs feel heavy, and then lie down; and it will act of itself." With
that he handed the cup to Socrates, who took it quite cheerfully, without
trembling, and without any change of colour or of feature, and looked up
at the man with that fixed glance of his, and asked, "What say you to
making a libation of this draught? May I, or not?" "We only prepare so
much as we think sufficient, Socrates," he answered. "I understand," said
Socrates. "But I suppose that I may, and must, pray to the gods that my
journey hence may be prosperous: that is my prayer; be it so." With these
words he put the cup to his lips and drank the poison quite calmly and
cheerfully. Till then most of us had been able to control our grief fairly
well; but when we saw him drinking, and then the poison finished, we
 could do so no longer: my tears came fast in spite of myself: it was not
for him, but at my own misfortune in losing such a friend. Even before
that Crito had been unable to restrain his tears, and had gone away, and
Apollodorus, who had never once ceased weeping the whole time, burst
into a loud cry, and made us one and all break down by his sobbing and
grief, except only Socrates himself. "What are you doing, my friends?"
he exclaimed. "I sent away the women chiefly in order that they might
not offend in this way; for I have heard that a man should die in silence.
So calm yourselves and bear up." When we heard that we were ashamed,
and we ceased from weeping.[15]

Socrates then walked about a little, but soon lay down on the couch, and
slowly the numbness crept over him. He knew that when it reached his
heart, he would die. Once more he spoke. "Crito," he said, "I owe a cock to
Aesculapius; do not forget to pay it." These were his last words, for in a few
minutes he was dead.
Such was the end [said the friend who was with him to the last] of a
man who, I think, was the wisest and justest, and the best man that I have
ever known. But I did not pity him, for he seemed to me happy, both in
his bearing and in his words, so fearlessly and nobly did he die. I could
not help thinking that the gods would watch over him still on his journey
to the other world, and that when he arrived there it would be well with
him, if it was ever well with any man.[16]

III. GREEK LITERATURE: THE PHILOSOPHERS

The word philosophy means the love of wisdom, and to the Greeks this
wisdom was the serious effort made to understand both the world and man.
To us philosophy generally means a wise understanding of the right way of
living, but with the Greeks it included a great deal of what we to-day call
science. Greek philosophy was concerned with finding out the origins of
things, and from that knowledge to build up a right way of life. We do not
to-day go to the Greeks to learn science: their answers to the questions
asked were, some of them, wrong, and some of them inadequate. But
modern science has been made possible by the qualities of mind which the
Greeks brought to their enquiries: their passionate desire to know the truth
about things, their power of going behind old superstitions, and of seeing
things as they really are, their open-mindedness and willingness to accept
new truths, their powers of patient study and observation and of reaching
the unknown from the known.

The earliest Greek philosophers lived in Ionia in the sixth century B.C.,
and the greatest of them were Thales of Miletus and Pythagoras of Samos.
Something has already been said about Thales.[17] He went further than the
Egyptians and Babylonians had done, not so much because of the new
discoveries he made, but because he brought to those discoveries not only
the desire to know that they were facts, but the desire to go behind the facts
and find out the reason for their existence.

Thales lived to be an old man, but neither age nor infirmities lessened
his zeal for learning, and
it is said that once he was led out of his house by an old woman for the
purpose of observing the stars, and he fell into a ditch and bewailed
himself, on which the old woman said to him: "Do you, O Thales, who
cannot see what is under your feet, think that you shall understand what
is in heaven?"[18]

Pythagoras of Samos lived later in the sixth century than Thales. He was
a great traveller and seems to have visited not only the mainland of Greece,
but also Egypt and Crete, where he had many rare experiences going into
the innermost parts of temples where as a rule no strangers were admitted.
He also went to Italy where he founded a school, and gathered about three
hundred pupils round him.

Though it was not believed by the world at large until nearly two
thousand years later, Pythagoras taught that the world was round, and, as far
as is known, he was the first thinker who made this discovery. It was
Pythagoras who laid the foundations for later mathematical knowledge,
especially in geometry and arithmetic, and who taught that there was a
science of numbers apart from their use as a practical means of calculation.

In the fifth century B.C., Athens had become an Empire and the "school
of Hellas," and the centre of Greek learning was found there and no longer
in Ionia. The story of Socrates has already been told.[19] This great teacher
did not write anything himself because he believed that it was a greater
thing for a man to live well than to write well, and that his particular way of
teaching and constant intercourse with his fellow-men was the best way of
teaching those truths in which he believed. The account of his life and
teaching, however, was written down and given to the world by his pupil
Plato, who carried on his master's work. Plato was about twenty-eight years
old when Socrates was put to death, and for twelve years after that time he
travelled. Then he returned to Athens, bought a house and garden (unlike
Socrates he was well-off), and spent the next forty years of his life teaching
in the Academy. Plato was an idealist, and in addition to his writings about
Socrates, he has left us the Republic, the picture of what he thought an ideal
state should be, and some other works in which he discusses at great length
what things it is most worth while that men should pursue in life, and why
they should pursue them. He taught that goodness was worth being sought
after for its own sake and not for any material reward that comes from
pursuing it. In all his teaching he emphasizes the fact that the greatest things
in life and those which are eternal are not always the things that can be
seen, and that the soul of man does not live on material things but on
wisdom, beauty, truth and love. The importance of Plato in this teaching
was that he was the forerunner of the great Christian writers who believed
with St. Paul that "the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal."[20]

As a young man, Plato had seen in Athens under the rule of the Thirty,
the lawlessness and confusion that arose from a tyrannously ordered state,
and the Republic was an attempt to show what he thought life in an ideal
state might be. His vision is not a very practical one, but Plato was not a
practical statesman. The great value of the Republic to the world to-day is
that just because its ideals could never be wholly carried out, the questions
which all statesmen in all ages have had to settle, could be and were
fearlessly discussed, unhampered by the compromises and conventions
which beset modern politics.

Plato could write of other things besides politics and ideals. He had a gift
for poetry which comes out in many a fairy-tale that he introduces here and
there into his writings, knowing that sometimes a great truth can be more
easily driven home in such a form. Socrates and a friend were once walking
by the stream Ilissus. It was a hot summer's day, and as they were barefoot,
they cooled their feet in the water and then sat down under the shade of a
plane-tree to rest and talk. And as they rested, Socrates told his friend the
legend of the grasshoppers. They were said to have been

human beings in an age before the Muses. And when the Muses came
and song appeared they were ravished with delight; and singing always,
never thought of eating and drinking, until at last in their forgetfulness
they died. And now they live again in the grasshoppers; and this is the
return which the Muses make to them: they neither hunger nor thirst, but
from the hour of their birth they are always singing, and never eating or
drinking; and when they die they go and inform the Muses in heaven
who honours them on earth.[21]

When Philip of Macedon wanted the best Greek teacher known as a tutor
for his son Alexander, he sent for Aristotle. We know very little about the
life of Aristotle. He had been a pupil of Plato at the Academy for twenty
years and had learnt the best of all that great philosopher could teach him.
On his return from Macedonia, he founded a school of his own at Athens,
the Lyceum, where he spent the rest of his life teaching and studying. He
died in 322 B.C., one year after his pupil Alexander. But if little is known of
the details of his life, we know something of his character from things that
Alexander said about him, and the esteem in which he held him, and
something of the kindliness of his nature from his will which has been
preserved. He made provision for all who had faithfully served him and
gave many of his slaves their freedom. He had been twice married, and his
second wife "who behaved so well towards me," was so provided for that
she could marry again, and he made arrangements for the marriage of his
daughter. In reading of the life of the Athenian man and the Athenian
woman, their ways seem to lie far apart and the wife to have had very little
share in the interests of her husband. In his will Aristotle gives us a glimpse
of the place which the wife sometimes, at least, held. He left directions that
the bones of his first wife, the wife of his youth, were to be taken from their
resting-place and buried with his, and this was to be done "as she herself
charged."

The work of Aristotle is amazing, for he not only wrote on every

conceivable subject, but wrote as a master. For more than a thousand years
after his death, the books he wrote were studied in schools and universities,
and formed the foundation of all education. He wrote on astronomy,
mathematics, biology, botany and many other subjects, and he has not only
been called the Father of Natural Science, but his writings remained the
standard authority on many scientific subjects for centuries after his death.
Aristotle was more practical than Plato, though less inspiring as a writer. As
we have already seen, he, too, wrote about an ideal state in his Politics.[22]
Aristotle believed that the life of a state was like that of an individual; that
the aim of both should be noble living, and that peace and justice between
states was just as important as between individuals. But he did more than
describe an ideal state; he described the education which such a state should
give to its youth, the result of which should be not that a man should boast
that his state was great and glorious, but that, being the citizen of such a
state, in all that he did he should strive to be worthy of her.

Greek philosophy and science had begun in Ionia and then passed to
Athens. To the thinkers of the fourth century B.C. the fall of Athens must
have seemed a great disaster, but in reality it was of the utmost service to
the world. The Greek spirit was one of those imperishable things that
cannot die, and it was to go out from Athens and spread over a wider world
than it had hitherto known. It spread first to Alexandria where, in the
Hellenistic Age, the next great group of philosophers and men of science
were to be found.

IV. GREEK LITERATURE: THE HISTORIANS

 The word history is a Greek word and means an enquiry. The Greeks
were not the first people in the world who wrote history, but they wrote it as
it had never been written before, and some of the greatest history in the
world is that which was written by Greeks. These writers were not content
with merely narrating events that had taken place, they made what the word
history means, an enquiry. They possessed the imagination, not only to
describe events and scenes vividly, but to feel as the people about whom
they were writing felt, and to understand the passions that moved them at
great crises of their history. They were the first historians who took the
trouble to find out why nations and individuals acted as they did, and to sift
their evidence, finding out what was true and what was false.

The oldest of the Greek historians was Herodotus, the Father of History,
an Ionian born in Halicarnassus in 484 B.C. He spent a good part of his life
travelling, during which time he collected materials which he afterwards
used in his history. He was a man who was intensely interested in
everything he saw, a very credulous traveller, for he seems to have believed
almost everything that was told him: old traditions, all kinds of miraculous
occurrences, and many things that it is evident could never have happened.
Though he undoubtedly believed a great deal that was not true, he did not
swallow all that was told him, for after narrating some marvel he will say:
"I am bound to report all that is said, but I am not bound to believe it."

Herodotus was a deeply religious man, and he lived before the disturbing
days when men began to question the existence of the gods. To him history
was a great drama, the plot of which was the triumph of the Greek over the
Barbarian, which he saw as the will of the gods, and to him, as to all devout
Greeks of his day, all wrong-doing, all disobedience to the will of the gods
brought its own punishment, its retribution, what the Greeks called its
Nemesis.

As a story-teller, Herodotus is unrivalled. He wrote his history in order

that "the great and wonderful deeds done by the Greeks and Persians should
not lack renown," and the earlier books which give an account of all he had
learnt in his travels in the East, of Egypt and Babylonia, of Lydia and
Persia, lead up to the great climax, the invasion of Greece by the Persians.
[23] In the pages of Herodotus we live again, as we live nowhere else,
through all the excitement and thrill of the days when Greece fought the
Barbarian and drove him out of the land.

The greatest of the Greek historians was Thucydides, great not only
among the Greek writers, but among the historians of the world. He was
born about 471 B.C., and he wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War.
Thucydides was an Athenian, a man of wealth and good position, and was
one of the few who had the plague and recovered from it. As the war went
on, he was anxious to fight and help to bring it to a victorious close, but a
far greater career was in store for him. He was elected a general and sent at
the head of an army to relieve Amphipolis and prevent its surrender to the
Spartans. But he arrived too late, the city had been taken, and he was exiled
in consequence.[24] To this exile we owe his history.

Thucydides is one of the most accurate and impartial of historians. He

was filled with an abiding love for Athens, but, unlike some Athenians, he
felt no bitterness towards her for exiling him. The only remark he makes
about his banishment is that it gave him the opportunity to write his history.
He was scrupulously fair to both sides, and he tells us himself of the care he
took to be accurate and to accept nothing on the evidence of mere tradition.
Men do not discriminate, [he said], and are too ready to receive
ancient traditions about their own as well as about other countries; and
so little trouble do they take in the search after truth; so readily do they
accept whatever comes first to hand. Of the events of the war I have not
ventured to speak from any chance information, nor according to any
notion of my own; I have described nothing but what I either saw
myself, or learned from others of whom I made the most careful and
particular enquiry. The task was a laborious one, because eye-witnesses
of the same occurrences gave different accounts of them, as they
remembered or were interested in the actions of one side or the other. If
he who desires to have before his eyes a true picture of the events which
have happened, and of the like events which may be expected to happen
hereafter in the order of human things, shall pronounce what I have
written to be useful, then I shall be satisfied. My history is an everlasting
possession, not a prize composition which is heard and forgotten.[25]
 Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides did not trace events to the will of the
gods, but he held that the deeds of men and the use or misuse they made of
their opportunities were responsible for them. He never moralizes, but in
the clear and reasoned order in which he narrates events the story is carried
down from the beginning to its inevitable conclusion.

Thucydides has preserved for all time the memory of what Athens was
in her greatest days, and the ideals of one of her great statesmen.[26] But
the claim of his book to be an "everlasting possession" is justified not
because of the actual history he recorded, but because of the critical and
scientific way in which he made his enquiry which has become a model for
all later historians.

Thucydides left the story of the Peloponnesian War unfinished; he never

even finished the last sentence. The story was completed by Xenophon. He
was not a great historian like his predecessors, but he has left us valuable
information about the later events of the war in the Hellenica, the romantic
tale of adventure which tells how a band of Ten Thousand Greeks found
their way home from the heart of Mesopotamia,[27] and the Economist, a
delightful picture of a Greek household.[28]

There is one other Greek writer, who, though he did not write history,
has left us much valuable historical information. This was Plutarch (A.D.
46-120) who lived long after the great days of Greece had passed. He was a
Greek from Boeotia, a well-educated man who had many friends with
whom he was wont to discuss all kinds of subjects: Philosophy, history,
literature, or politics, and he was also a writer. The great work for which his
name is remembered is the Parallel Lives of the Greeks and Romans. These
are the biographies, arranged in pairs of a Greek and a Roman, each pair
followed by a comparison between the two. Plutarch never imagined that he
was writing history, and in these Lives there is no wide view over a whole
period, but in each life there is a vivid picture of a personality and a
character. Plutarch knew how to choose picturesque details and anecdotes,
and he was attracted by simple, upright, honourable, patriotic characters,
which makes his book a storehouse of stories about such men. Few
biographies in the world have been read so widely or have achieved such
immortality as have the Lives of Plutarch, and probably none have done
more to encourage manliness and the spirit of good sportsmanship.

V. GREEK LITERATURE: THE DRAMATISTS

A classic is a work of art or of literature that never dies, a book that will
be read forever, no matter when or by whom it was written. We have said
that when the history of a nation is recorded in language we call it literature,
but by such literature is meant not only historical writing, but whatever
takes the form of letters. The history of a nation is an enquiry into how that
nation thinks as well as into what it does, and its philosophers, historians
and dramatists are as much a part of its history as its statesmen and men of
action. The great Greek dramatists were men living the life of their time,
and it was a time when stirring things were happening. The dramas of
Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were written during the period which
began with the repulse of the Persians, which included the golden days of
Pericles, and which saw the tragic changes which came over Athens during
the long-drawn-out misery of the Peloponnesian War.

Now the great Greek dramas are among the classics of the world.[29]
There are various reasons for this, but one, and not the least, is that they are
the outward expression of that love of beauty and of self-control that is one
of the priceless gifts of Greece to the world. To the Greek, beauty meant
perfection in all that he did, the association of beautiful words and forms
with beautiful deeds and scenes. To him beauty was the same as goodness,
and ugliness was evil. And beauty meant self-control, the absence of all
excess and exaggeration. The Greek dramatists had no models to guide
them, yet they produced works that almost perfectly attained this Greek
ideal of Beauty.

The oldest of these dramatists was Aeschylus. He took an active part in

the Persian Wars, and he thought this of so much greater importance than
any literary success he had achieved, that his epitaph, said to have been
written by himself, saying nothing about his poetry, states only that he
fought the Persians. His name and birthplace were inscribed and then that
"the grove of Marathon can bear witness to his good soldierhood, and the
long-haired Mede who felt it." One of the few Greek plays of which the plot
was not taken from ancient Greek legend was the Persians of Aeschylus,
[30] interesting because it is the first historical play written by a poet who
took part himself in the events of which it tells.

The greatest work of Aeschylus was a Trilogy, (i.e., three consecutive

plays bearing on the same subject): the Agamemnon, the greatest of all his
plays; the Libation-Bearers, and the Furies. These tell the tale, so often told
in the Greek drama, of the murder by his wife of Agamemnon on his return
from Troy, of Orestes who avenged his father's death, of the Furies who
followed him as a result of his deed, and of how in the end he found release.
These plays are haunted throughout by the belief that over certain families
hangs a curse, that the sins of their fathers are visited on their children, and
that from this punishment there is no escape. Aeschylus was filled with the
realization of the power of the great unseen forces that move the world, but
he believed that if on one side there were the Furies demanding blood for
blood, on the other were Apollo and Athena, symbols of the self-control
that could overcome the heritage of anger and of passion.

Sophocles lived through the great years of Athens. Only sixteen years
old when the battle of Salamis was fought, he must have been filled with all
the enthusiasm of youth over the victory. It was said of Sophocles that he
had "such charm of character that he was loved by everybody wherever he
went." Life seems to have been happy and prosperous for him from the
beginning. He won the first prize at the festival with his first play, and when
he was only twenty-eight he won a prize over Aeschylus who was then
nearly sixty.

The greatest plays of Sophocles are those which tell of the ancient
legends of Thebes: of Oedipus as King, and then as Outcast, and of
Antigone, who in one play—Oedipus at Colonus—goes forth with her
exiled father, and in another, the great play that bears her name, was faced
with the terrible problem of having to break either the laws of God or those
of the state, and of deciding which she would do. By all who understand the
real greatness of the Greek drama, Sophocles is accounted the greatest of
the dramatists. He represents in literature the spirit that Athena Parthenos
represented on the Acropolis: a spirit of reverence, of the serenity that
comes when the conflict is over and the victory won, and of triumphant
belief in all that is good and beautiful and true.
 SOPHOCLES.
Lateran Museum, Rome

Very different from either Aeschylus or Sophocles was Euripides.

According to tradition, he was born in the island of Salamis on the very day
of the battle. As he grew up, he became a friend of Socrates, but for the
most part he lived a solitary life, not very much liked, and taking as little
part in public life as he could. He was essentially a student, and was one of
the first Athenians to collect a library. Euripides lived in Athens during the
Peloponnesian War, a period of restless questioning, of breaking away from
old traditions and beliefs, of lowering of the old ideals. The war had
brought a new spirit and Euripides represented it. He criticized customs and
beliefs which he thought were unworthy of the best spirit in Athens, he
questioned belief in the gods, and in one great play, the Trojan Women,[31]
he showed the misery brought by war. He was the first poet to strip war of
its glamour and to show it as it affected the conquered. In the Electra and in
Iphigenia in Tauris,[32] Euripides deals with the familiar tragedy of
Orestes, pursued by the Furies after the murder of his mother, and in the
Alcestis he tells the old tale of how a noble woman was willing to sacrifice
her life for that of a selfish husband, and of how she was brought back from
the gates of Hades by Heracles.

The strength of Euripides lies in his wonderful portrayal of character. He

judges his characters by the standards of the men and women of his own
day and not by those of the gods and heroes, and he is a merciless critic.
This makes his dramas most extraordinarily vivid and human, but it also
accounts for some of the criticism and dislike he met with in his own day.

Aristophanes wrote comedies.[33] His plays are based on the daily life
of his time, and, to understand them, one must know what were the political
questions of his day, who were the leaders, who were the writers, the gossip
of the Agora and the barber's shop, the likes and dislikes of the men
amongst whom he lived. But to those who know enough of these things to
follow his allusions, the plays of Aristophanes are full of interest, and we
learn a great deal about life in Athens from them.

Aristophanes was younger than Euripides, but, unlike the older man, he
was very conservative, and he disliked the new ways by which the Sophists
were teaching the youths, for he believed that the new methods would make
them irreverent, good at idle talk but at nothing else, shallow and
effeminate. He constantly compared the young men of his own day with
those of the generation that had fought at Marathon, and in comparing them
he found them wanting, for to him the heroes of the age of Marathon
represented all that was best in Athenian manhood.

VI. GREEK ART

The Greeks loved Beauty, especially the Athenians of the fifth century
B.C., but they did not spend all their time in a conscious search for it. They
were very busy about and interested in a great many other things: the
administration of the city, relations with other states, often fighting, trading
and travelling, building ships and sending out colonies. We have already
seen what the Greeks meant by Beauty,[34] and an appreciation of it
touched all these things.

Now a great mistake has been made in modern times in that art has too
often been looked upon as a luxury, as something that the rich can have but
not the poor, something that has not very much to do with a practical every-
day life. But to believe that is to misunderstand altogether what art is, for
art is something that is done, not something that is merely looked at. All
men have within them a vision of what kind of world they would make, if it
was left to them to order, and in its widest meaning art is the outward and
concrete expression of that vision. To confine art to architecture, sculpture
and painting, is to rob it of half its meaning. The forms of art are as many
and varied as are the interests of every-day life, and this belief is one of the
great gifts of Greece to the world. It was not given to every Greek to be a
great artist. Not every one could be an Aeschylus and write the
Agamemnon, a Sophocles and write the Antigone, a Pheidias and create the
Parthenon, or a Praxiteles and model the Hermes, but every one could work
in the spirit of which these great works are the supreme examples.

The history of a nation is an enquiry into how that nation expresses itself
in stone and marble, as well as into what it thinks and does; and its
architects, artists and sculptors stand beside its historians, philosophers,
dramatists and statesmen as the men who have made its history.

In its narrower, modern sense, art is the outward sign of the spirit of a
nation as it is expressed in painting and in stone and marble. Except for the
vase-paintings, Greek painting has almost entirely disappeared, but the
achievements of the Greeks in architecture and sculpture are amongst the
greatest that the world has ever seen. Something has already been said
about Greek architecture[35]; the same spirit expressed itself in Greek
sculpture. To know the Greeks and the real worth of what they have given
to the world, it is not enough to read about them; one must learn to know
them at first-hand. To do that one must read what they wrote (if not in
Greek, then in translations), and look at what they built and at their
sculpture (if not at the originals, then by means of casts and photographs),
and when one does that, one begins to know a little of what the spirit was
that produced such things. The Greeks considered that the human form was
the most fitting subject for representation in sculpture, yet they were not
great portrait makers; that was left for a later race to achieve. What they
aimed at doing was to give outward expression to those qualities of the
mind and spirit which they, as a people, prized so highly: Beauty, Self-
control, Harmony, Restraint. The greatest Greek sculpture was, as it were,
the answer, wrought in marble, to the prayer of Socrates to Pan: "Beloved
Pan, and all ye other gods who haunt this place, give me beauty in the
inward soul; and may the outward and the inward man be at one."[36]

The Greeks lived at a time when so much was being done for the first
time, and to all their art they brought a spirit of Youth and of Joy in
creation, yet also a spirit of Patience in achieving results, for they were
never in a hurry, and they knew that there were no short cuts to the
perfection which was to them so important a part of beauty. Their statues
are very idealistic, but their idealism was practical, and though, as we know,
they did not always fulfil their ideals, they knew that fulfilment was
possible. Though the sculpture of the Greeks represented man, not as he
always was, but as they believed he might be, did he but follow where his
best instincts led, it did sometimes result in something that to them was not
only an ideal, but something so real and life-like that they could say of a
sculptured figure of a Sleeping Ariadne:
Strangers, touch not the marble Ariadne, lest she even start up on the
quest of Theseus.[37]

[1] The Book of the Ancient World.

[2] Thucydides, VII.

[3] Plato: Symposium, translated by Jowett.

[4] Diogenes Laertius.

[5] Xenophon: Memorabilia.

[6] Plato: Symposium, translated by Jowett.

[7] Diogenes Laertius.

[8] Plato: Apology, translated by F. J. Church.

[9] Plato: Apology, translated by F. J. Church.

[10] Plato: Apology, translated by F. J. Church.

[11] Xenophon: Memorabilia.

[12] Plato: Apology, translated by F. J. Church.

[13] See p. 9.

[14] Plato: Phaedo, translated by F. J. Church.

[15] Plato: Phaedo, translated by F. J. Church.

[16] Plato: Phaedo, translated by F. J. Church.

[17] See p. 111.

[18] Diogenes Laertius.

[19] See p. 361 ff.

[20] II Corinthians IV, 18.

[21] Plato: Phaedrus, translated by Jowett.

[22] See p. 72.

[23] See Chapters viii and ix.

[24] See p. 302.

[25] Thucydides, I.

[26] See The Funeral Speech, p. 187.

[27] See Chapter XVI, v. The March of the Ten Thousand.

[28] See Chapter XII, ii. The Athenian Lady.

[29] For the construction of a Greek drama, see Chapter XIV.

[30]See p. 163.

[31] See p. 300.

[32] See Chapter XIV.

[33] See p. 300.

[34] See p. 390.

[35] See Chapter XV.

[36] See in this connection the reference to Praxiteles on p. 222.

[37] Author Unknown: From Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology,
translated by J. W. Mackail.
 CHAPTER XX

THE HELLENISTIC AGE

I. THE EXTENT OF GREEK INFLUENCE

Alexander was a great conqueror and he won for himself a mighty

empire. But that empire did not last, for his successors were unable to hold
it together. It would almost seem as if he had crowded into his short reign of
barely thirteen years, hero deeds and marvellous exploits, which however
much they may have done to enrich tradition and to appeal to the
imagination, were hardly of any great permanent value. Alexander,
however, did more than create a passing empire; he did more than any other
one man to spread the knowledge of Greek civilization over the world.
Wherever he passed with his conquering army he founded cities, where he
established colonies of Greeks: men who spoke the Greek tongue, who
worshipped the Greek gods, who read and loved Greek literature, and who
lived according to Greek ideals. Such cities were founded in Egypt, in Asia
Minor, in Syria, in Babylonia, in Persia and even in the distant lands till
then unknown, further to the mysterious East.

But Alexander did yet more to spread Greek civilization than by the
founding of cities. All the great ports of the Eastern Mediterranean were in
his hands, which meant that Greek merchants were established there, and
that the whole commerce of that region was in the hand of Greeks.

The history of Greek civilization may be divided into two periods. The
first lasted until the days of Alexander; it included the early experiments
made by Greek states in the art of governing themselves, the repulse of the
Barbarian, the great days of Athens, the disastrous Peloponnesian War.