Have you ever voted in any sort of elections as a Greencard Holder? If yes, then you may have sabotaged your chances of applying for US citizenship in the future by making a false claim to citizenship, because only a US citizen is entitled to register and vote. Green card holders (lawful permanent residents) have no such right. INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(ii) states “an alien who falsely represents, or has falsely represented, himself or herself to be a citizen of the United for a purpose or benefit under the Act is inadmissible.” INA § 237(a)(3)(D)(i) states “any alien who falsely represents, or has falsely represented, himself to be a citizen of the United States for any purpose or benefit under this Act (including section 274A) or any Federal or State law is deportable.” 

The dangerous thing about this subsection is that there is no waiver.  That means if USCIS finds that you did make a false claim to citizenship, you lose your green card, and there is no defense.  You have to prove that the false claim was either recanted, or not a false claim as a matter of law.

On the form N-400, Application for Naturalization (citizenship), Questions 1, 2, & 3 under part 11, all pertain to making a false claim to citizenship by way of registering to vote or actually voting. Many people assume that the answer to question number 1 under Part 11 of the N-400 form is “No”, when it should in fact be marked “Yes” if you have ever registered to vote or voted. 

Our firm has successfully won approvals and gotten citizenship for a series of our clients who made a “False claim to citizenship” by way of inadvertently registering or voting in elections. Many people have made the error of registering at the Department of Motor Vehicles by marking “Yes” to one of the questions on their application for a drivers license. Not knowing that one small oversight can create a huge problem in the future.

We can help.  First, we have a process that entails several steps to get you successfully de-registered as soon as possible. And then we put a case together for you and argue that even if a false claim to citizenship has been, it has been recanted in a timely manner. If you fear that you you may inadvertently registered or actually voted, contact our firm as soon as possible.  At the very least, you will want to check all voter rolls in all counties you have lived to make sure there is no record of you ever having registered to vote.  But the time to do it is now.  Every case is different, so if this c