OATH

“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.”

HOW LONG IT CAN TAKE

In general, a noncitizen must spend at least five years as a lawful permanent resident to be eligible for naturalization, while a spouse of a U.S. citizen must spend at least three years as a lawful permanent resident. The median length of lawful permanent residency by citizens naturalized in 2023 was seven years.

The median varied by the citizens’ country of birth. The countries with the largest number of new citizens in 2023 and their median length of lawful permanent residency are shown below. Applicants from Mexico and Canada had the longest median periods,10.4 years, and applicants from Nigeria the shortest, at 5.6 years.