American Citizenship

Ways of becoming a citizen

Fourteenth Amendment

The Oath of Allegiance

I hereby declare, on oath,

that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all

allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince,

potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I

have heretofore been a subject or citizen;

that I will support and defend the Constitution and

laws of the United States of America against all

enemies, foreign and domestic;

that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;

that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States

when required by the law;

that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed

Forces of the United States when required by the

law;

that I will perform work of national importance under

civilian direction when required by the law;

and that I take this obligation freely without any

mental reservation or purpose of evasion;

so help me God.

• Note requirements for naturalization.
• New citizenship test.
• Craig Ferguson is a citizen. No kidding:

Click here to see a graph showing the foreign-born population of the US 1850-2000.

Data on foreign-born population 2007