内容来源：分享美国 地址链接：http://go.usa.gov/3uvpH 

美国大约有900万人持有“绿卡”，可以永久居住美国。他们中的每一个人都可以成为美国公民。而且，欧巴马总统鼓励他们这样做。

所有美国公民，无论是来自什么种族或民族，无论多么富有，也无论在美国定居历史有多久远，都享有与其他公民同胞一样的所有权利和自由、待遇和责任。这意味着享有投票权、言论自由权以及最根本的、美国《独立宣言》（Declaration of Independence）所阐明的“生命、自由和对幸福的追求”的权利。

新公民对于美国保持社会活力和经济发展具有关键作用。在2014年9月30日结束的财政年度中，共有超过65万人入籍成为美国公民。也许他们当中的某一位将会像亨利·基辛格(Henry Kissinger)（来自德国）或马德琳·奥尔布赖特(Madeleine Albright)（来自前捷克斯洛伐克）那样成为国务卿。

日益扩大的多元化令美国人引以为豪。曾经有一段时间，大多数新公民是来自北欧或西欧国家。如今，这里有400多万拉美裔有资格获得美国公民身份，还有140万亚洲或太平洋岛屿国家后裔有资格加入美国国籍。

美国欢迎来自全球四面八方的新公民，因为美国的公民身份与种族、宗教信仰或财富无关。早在1790年，当国会为归化公民确定第一个国家标准时，就没有设置族裔、宗教或文化考试，也没有制定财产要求。

这一点至今没有改变。

9月17日，为一组新移民主持宣誓仪式的官员只是简单地说，“今天早上你走进这个房间时，你是中国、墨西哥、伊拉克和埃塞俄比亚的公民……。但现在你们全都是一个新国家的公民，那就是美利坚合众国。欢迎来到我们的大家庭。”

U.S. citizenship: Once you’re in, you’re inNearly 9 million people hold a “green card” that lets them reside permanently in the U.S. Each and every one of them can become an American citizen. And President Obama isencouraging them to do so. 

All new citizens, no matter their racial or ethnic roots, how wealthy they are, or how far back their families have been in the U.S., enjoy all the rights and freedoms, privileges and responsibilities of their fellow citizens. That means the right to vote, the right to free speech, and the right, most fundamentally, to enjoy what the U.S. Declaration of Independence calls “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

New citizens are crucial to America’s continued social vitality and economic growth. The year ending September 30, 2014, saw more than 650,000 newly naturalized American citizens. Perhaps one of them will become secretary of state, like Henry Kissinger (originally from Germany) or Madeleine Albright (formerly of Czechoslovakia).

America’s growing diversity is a point of pride. At one time, most new citizens arrived from northern or western Europe. Today more than 4 million Hispanics are eligible for citizenship, as are 1.4 million potential citizens of Asian or Pacific Islander descent.

Americans welcome new citizens from every corner of the globe because U.S. citizenship is not a matter of race or creed or wealth. When Congress, back in 1790, set the first national standard for naturalized citizenship, it required no ethnic or religious test, no literacy test, no property requirement.

And so it remains.

On September 17, the official presiding over the swearing-in ceremony for a group of the newest Americans said simply, “This morning, when you came into this room, you were citizens of China, Mexico, Iraq, and Ethiopia … but now you are all citizens of a new country, the USA. Welcome to our family.”