huh? as far as I know, it would take no longer now than it did for my parents 35 years ago. I have a relative who got it taken care of last year in the same amount of time it took my parents.
I think this will be ok. It does make sense to me cause even if he picked the US, there's no guarantee that he'd get to play in a WC. Sadly, I think the African Cup is more competitive than our Gold Cup.
Is blame the word you really want to use here. Anything of value takes time and effort. If it could be accomplished in a day it would use its value.
college, sure, but what about being recruited to play indoor soccer in the US? I love this guy's story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preki was Preki a "foreign player when he was brought to MLS" or did he already have citizenship? http://soccer.teamusa.org/news/2010...ional-soccer-hall-of-fame-class-of-2010/30619 don't know if that was before MLS First Kick, but either way your statement seems true, although I'm hoping to catch you on this technicality. anyone know what month/date Preki became an American citizen in 1996? edit: (can't believe I found a source on this, and can show that Preki was a foreigner for his first season with the Wiz.) -- http://articles.latimes.com/1996-10-10/sports/sp-52411_1_kansas-city-wiz he got citizenship on Oct 25, 1996, apparently, and just 8 days before WCQs that year. either way, he had apparently started the process toward citizenship 7 years earlier, and certainly not every player can still be effective at 33 or 35.
He became a US citizen towards the end of the first MLS season. However, he'd been living in the US since the early-to-mid 80's. He didn't come to the US to play in MLS. He already had an American wife and a Green Card and had been living hear for years. So I don't count Preki has having come to the US to play in MLS. He was here long before MLS was an idea in Alan Rothenburg's subconscious. Similarly, Carlos Llamosa, who became a US citizen at the end of the 98 MLS season, had been living in the US for several years before MLS started.
absolutely. I suppose a technicality would be what one considers a "green card holder" or a "foreigner" to really be.
It's alot more competitive, noone can predict the winner, and it's alot of fun to watch. You should check it out in '12. One thing that's nice, he'll have an opportunity to play meaningful games against defenders like Toure and teams with players like Drogba or Essien. He can bring that back to Seattle with Nyassi.
Agreed. I don't like the idea of hustling someone through the citizenship process ahead of ordinary applicants, simply because they are good at sports (as Italy did with Amauri earlier this year). It's sleazy and unfair.
Does anyone know how Zakuani's status regarding citizenship would compare to Andy Najar's at the moment? Zakuani says he has a three-year wait for citizenship and he still doesn't even have his green card yet. So since Najar has already had his green card for a while (a year?) does that mean that he's, at most, only a couple years away? Or was Zakuani being overly optimistic on his estimation of how long he'd have to wait?
after you get your green card, you have to wait 5 years to just APPLY for citizenship and , on average, 18 months after they receive your COMPLETED application, you get invited for an interview and within a few weeks to months after that you get your citizenship. We are looking at a 7 year wait for this guy. I can see why he went the other way.
While I take your point in general, the idea that Movsisyan, Zakuani, or any of the others are terrorists is absurd. I seriously doubt that has the slightest bit to do with the speed of the citizenship process.
So then when Zakuani says he's three years away from citizenship does he basically have no idea what he's talking about?
If you think about it, by your logic, at the most, Najar will be 24 by the time he plays int' ball for the USMNT. As long as he makes all of his immigration appts and does his paperwork on time, he can play in France, Netherlands, or Germany while he waits for his US citizenship to go through and could still conceivably play 2 WCs by the time he gets it. All the while, he'll be fully committed to whatever professional team he is on and can fully integrate himself in the starting 11 of that team without risking injury or dealing with Club vs. Country problem (imagine this kid fully developing in the Netherlands or France!). And to top it off, he'll eventually play for the US when the WC is IN the US. Not bad. The choice is simple: the Yanks.
No, that's not correct. Official competition is the only thing that ties under any circumstances. Zakuani is still an international free agent if he plays a friendly with DR Congo, and this has been true for a long time. (It's how we got Jeff Cunningham and Martin Vasquez, both of whom had at least one appearance for another country in a friendly.)
looks like Zakuani has already been whispering into Danny's ear... and Congo are currently in 3rd place in their AFCONQ behind Cameroon and Senegal. they have 1 point.
After getting your green card, you need to spend a certain amount of time per year in the U.S. to be eligible for citizenship. You also cannot leave the country for more than 6 months at a time.
also, remember, najar already had ihis green card and is MUCH further along in the timeline. As far as we know he may be already at year 4 or 5 in the green card timeline.
His agent doesn't make it sound quite as optimistic as you do: Najar is still years away from American citizenship, rendering speculation that he could soon represent the U.S. largely baseless. Megaloudis confirmed that Najar obtained his green card before signing for D.C., which made him a permanent resident. Though the agent refused to give specific details about the timing, Megaloudis suggested that Najar is much closer to the beginning of the extended citizenship process than a culmination -- and therefore eligibility for selection by the U.S. While some countries have mechanisms for fast-tracking citizenship, the U.S. has only a single track to citizenship for resident foreigners. The standard process requires a green card-holder to wait approximately five years to apply for citizenship, which can then take several additional months, or more, to obtain. "He had to have a green card to sign with D.C. United," Megaloudis said. "So he's less than five years away."http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/ne...jar-wavering-soccer-future-international-play
Official competition ties; as in, you can never play for anyone else, ever. But even non-official competition can provisionally tie; as in, you are now officially registered as a player in the pool of Nation X, and you can only make a one-time switch of your registration to Nation Y if you were ALREADY eligible to play with Nation Y at the time you'd suited up for Nation X. Nation Z, which you might also gain citizenship with later, is permanently out of consideration as you were not eligible to play for them when you became provisionally tied to Nation X.
If he (Najar) spends considerable time playing and hence living overseas, his timetable for US citizenship application will be delayed. There is a US residency requirement, the detail of which I cannot remember.
Uh, no. I refer back to my previous post: friendlies do not in any way, shape, or form cap-tie a player. If they did, Jeff Cunningham would be tied to Jamaica: he played in a friendly for their senior team! Now, if a player is provisionally tied to one country, he'd have to execute his one-time change of association to even play a friendly for his other eligible country or countries, but that's not nearly the same thing. Chapter and verse from the FIFA statutes, VIII.15.2 (p. 66, or the 68th page in the PDF you can download from FIFA.com): "With the exception of the conditions specified in article 18 below, any Player who has already participated in a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition of any category or any type of football for one Association may not play an international match for a representative team of another Association." (emphasis mine) Article 18 is the regulation allowing the one-time switch for a player who had multiple nationalities at the time of being tied to a country and who has not had an "A" appearance for the tied country in official competition.
the requirements is that you can leave the country for over 6 months at a time otherwise the 5 year clock resets; hence, a lot of the guys have arrangements with their clubs to come back to the US at least once every 6 momnths, even for a weekend to circumvent this problem. bottom line, , I wildly speculate that najar will get his citizenship in early 2014.
Doesn't the 5 year requirement involve real time spent on US soil? So if you spend 9 months a year abroad, it would take you a long, long time to meet the US residency requirement.
dude, let me make it clearer. You cannot spend 6 consecutive months outside the country. you could be in the us for a total of 3 days the whole year. as long as you are not out of the country for 6 straight months, you are fine.