Question: What’s the difference between a “permanent resident” and “citizen” of the United States?
Would you be surprised that this question comes up frequently in an immigration attorney’s practice, even among people who have personal experience with the process of immigrating to the United States? It’s very common to misunderstand the differences. But if you or a family member are immigrating, it’s also important to understand the differences—if you don’t understand, it could be fatal to your chances of living permanently and feeling secure in America. (Keep reading to hear the sad story of how one client did not understand the difference, and did something so unfortunate that they will now never be able to become a citizen.)
First, a quick definition and clarification: When we talk about a “permanent resident,” or “Legal Permanent Resident,” or “green card holder,” these all mean the same thing. The official term is “Legal Permanent Resident.” This means a person who has been given permission to live permanently and work in the United States, despite not being born here. Although a permanent resident’s identification card is no longer green in color, it used to be! And it’s still called “the green card,” because old habits are hard to break.
Difference #1: Permanent residents have an official piece of documentation that they must legally carry with them at all times, and which expires.
The “green card” (which isn’t actually green!) is a card that’s about the same size as a driver’s license. A Legal Permanent Resident card is valid for a period of 10 years, and expires, so it has to be renewed every 10 years. A permanent resident is legally required to carry their green card with them at all times, because not carrying it is a felony!
In contrast, a United States citizen is not required to carry any kind of documentation of their status with them. A citizen may have a passport, or a birth certificate showing birth in the United States, or a Certificate of Naturalization, or a Certificate of Citizenship, and any of these documents is proof of citizenship. A passport does expire, but the other documents do not.
Difference #2: Permanent residents have a more limited group of family members that they can help with immigration.
Permanent residents can start an immigration process for their spouse, their minor child, or their unmarried adult child (three categories of family members).
Citizens can start an immigration process for their spouse, their minor child, their unmarried adult child, their married adult child, their parent, or their sibling (six categories of family members).
Difference #3: Permanent residents must live only in the United States, but citizens can live anywhere.
Permanent residents are required by law to reside in the United States. They can travel outside the U.S., but they can’t establish residence in the country of their birth or citizenship; they can only live in the U.S. If the permanent resident stays too long outside the United States, or appears to be living in another country, the government may decide that the permanent resident has left their residency to live outside the U.S. If the permanent resident has been judged to have “abandoned” their residency, then they no longer have the right to live or work permanently in the United States. At that point they are just like any other person with no legal status in the U.S., and if they want to come and live in the U.S. again, they have to re-start the entire immigration process.
However, a United States citizen can leave the country to live anywhere that they like for as long as they like, and will never lose their citizenship for that reason.
Difference #4: Permanent residents can be deported.
Although it doesn’t happen frequently, Legal Permanent Residents can be and are deported after having their residency taken from them. This most often happens when the green card holder has been convicted of a crime that makes them deportable.
On the other hand, United States citizens can’t be deported. If the citizen was born in the United States, there are some extremely rare circumstances under which they might have their citizenship taken away and become “stateless.” Or if the citizen acquired their citizenship through the immigration process, but they committed fraud in order to get their citizenship, they can have their citizenship taken away (and after that possibly be deported, because they are no longer a citizen or person with legal status). A citizen of the United States who commits a non-immigration crime will not have their citizenship taken away or be deported, however.
Difference #5: Permanent residents must not vote in federal elections, but citizens may vote (unless they aren’t allowed).
Only United States citizens may vote in federal elections. Sometimes a city or county or state may hold a non-federal, local election, and the laws of that place will determine whether a non-citizen can vote in the election. But in federal elections such as for United States President, or for your representative in Congress, only citizens may vote. In fact, it is illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. But normally, citizens may vote, unless they can’t vote for some reason like a felony conviction.
You’re probably thinking, “Well, that’s no problem, I would know better than to vote if I’m not allowed.”
But here’s a sad and true story (no names and no details, to protect my client): Some time ago I was in the middle of helping a Legal Permanent Resident apply for their citizenship. We were working on gathering documents and hadn’t filed the application yet, and an important federal election—for President!—was coming up. My client was told by family members and friends that they should go ahead and vote in this federal election, because “they were allowed,” but the client did not check with me to find out if this was true.
On election day, according to my client, they went to vote in person. They were given a voter registration form, because in California we allow same-day voter registration. On the registration form they filled out, they marked the box that asked whether they were a United States citizen, and answered “yes.” And then they voted.
A couple of days after the election my client called to ask me if this was a problem. And I was very sad to have to tell my client that not only did they commit a crime—because they voted illegally—but that now we could not apply for citizenship for them, because they had made a false claim to United States citizenship. And a false claim to United States citizenship both makes a person ineligible to become a citizen, and makes a person deportable. So if we filed their application for citizenship, they could get deported from the United States.
