If I Have a Green Card, Am I Automatically a Citizen?

Having a green card does not automatically make one a citizen. Becoming a US citizen is probably the highest privilege that anyone, any alien, can aspire to. Nothing out of that system is automatic. It’s a process that they have to go through. Unfortunately, there’s nothing automatic of becoming a US citizen. Once you are a green card holder, you are a legal permanent resident.

One does have to become a citizen after having a green card, but it’s usually the natural transition of wanting to become a naturalized US citizen; but yet it’s not anything that is required in the law. Of course, not being a citizen, there are certain things that you cannot do. You cannot apply for a job with the federal government or certain state jobs. You can not run for public office. You cannot vote. So becoming a naturalized US citizen obviously has a lot of benefits to it.