Naturalization: Is Your Record As Blemish-Free as India Cricket?
Credit Reuters Happy days to the Indian national cricket team, taking its first grand title of a T20 World Cup. A nearly blemish-free record by most accounts. By the way, this year was also America's first serious ICC Cricket tournament on home turf. The U.S. team actually won enough games to qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and India! This rather reminds me of U.S. immigration law. This is because, in addition to the many requirements for U.S. naturalization, applicants must have what is called Good Moral Character (GMC). This can be a highly discretionary standard used as a catch-all for a derogatory past that may not be technically disqualifying. Some people think it only matters for the previous five years. This is not true. For clients without a blemish on their record, I don’t submit proof of GMC. For those that do, I work hard to prove this up. So what is considered a blemish? This must be examined early in a client screeni...