Green cards and US citizenship for Brits

For most Brits in New York, a green card comes through marriage or an employer, and US citizenship is a five-year (sometimes three-year) step after that, with your British passport kept.

The short version

A green card (Permanent Resident Card) lets you live and work in the US permanently [1].
The main routes for Brits are family (above all marriage to a US citizen) and employment, often after an L-1 or H-1B.
People born in Great Britain are excluded from the diversity visa lottery. People born in Northern Ireland can enter it [2], though the programme has been disrupted since late 2025.
After five years as a permanent resident (three if married to and living with a US citizen) you can apply to naturalise. The N-400 fee is USD 760 by post or USD 710 online [3].
The US recognises dual citizenship, and naturalising doesn't take away your British citizenship [1].

The main routes to a green card

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = USD 1.35).

Route	Who it suits	How long it takes	Notes
Spouse of a US citizen	Brits married to Americans	Usually the quickest family route	No annual cap; two-year conditional card if married under two years
Spouse of a green card holder	Brits married to permanent residents	Longer: capped category	Waits shown in the monthly Visa Bulletin
Parent of an adult US citizen	Older parents of US-citizen children aged 21+	Relatively quick	No annual cap
Brother or sister of a US citizen	Siblings	Very long waits	Rarely a practical plan
Employer sponsorship (EB-2, EB-3)	Professionals already working here	Often a year or more	Usually needs the Department of Labor's PERM process first
Multinational manager (EB-1C)	L-1A managers and executives	Varies	No PERM process
Extraordinary ability (EB-1A) or national interest waiver (EB-2)	Top performers, researchers, founders	Varies	You can sponsor yourself
Investment (EB-5)	People investing a large sum in a job-creating US business	Years	Not the same as the E-2 visa

One quiet advantage: green card quotas are partly set by country of birth, and the UK isn't one of the heavily oversubscribed countries such as India or China. Brits are usually in the "all chargeability" queue, which in most employment categories moves much faster.

Family routes

If you're married to an American, they file Form I-130 for you. If you're already in the US lawfully (say on an L-1 or H-1B), you can usually apply to adjust status here with Form I-485, which has a base fee of USD 1,440 (about £1,069) [3]. If you're in the UK, the case goes through the National Visa Center and an interview at the US Embassy in London.

If you've been married for less than two years when the green card is approved, you get a two-year conditional card. Near the end of it, you both apply to remove the conditions and show the marriage is genuine. Keep joint leases, bank statements and the odd soppy photo.

Don't marry and file on a visit you entered as a tourist without advice. Our guide to ESTA vs living in the US explains why intent matters.

Employment routes

The most common British story goes: L-1 or H-1B first, then the employer sponsors you. The L-1 and H-1B both allow "dual intent", so applying for a green card doesn't endanger your current visa. The E-2 doesn't, so E-2 investors who want to stay for good usually need a separate route. Our guide to US work visas for Brits covers the starting points.

The diversity lottery, and why Brits usually can't enter

Every year the State Department's Diversity Visa Program offers up to 55,000 green cards by lottery to people from countries with low immigration to the US [2]. Countries that sent more than 50,000 immigrants in the previous five years are left out, and Great Britain is one of them.

The detail that matters:

Born in England, Scotland or Wales? You're not eligible on your own birth.
Born in Northern Ireland? You are. Northern Ireland is treated as a separate place of chargeability. When the State Department corrected some DV-2026 results for Great Britain entrants in October 2025, it said Northern Ireland wasn't affected [2].
Married to someone born in an eligible country? You can usually claim your spouse's country of birth, provided you're both named on the entry.
Parents born in an eligible country and not resident in your birth country when you were born? That can sometimes work too.

Two warnings. The programme has been in turmoil: the State Department paused issuing diversity visas in December 2025 pending a security review, and the timing of later registrations has been uncertain [4]. Check the official State Department site before relying on it. And entry is free. Websites charging to "enter you" are a waste of money at best.

Keeping your green card

Permanent residence is for people who live here. A trip home for Christmas is fine. Long absences aren't:

An absence of six months or more can lead to questions at the border about whether you've given up your US residence.
An absence of a year or more without a re-entry permit generally means the card can no longer be used to come back.
If you're going back to the UK for a long stretch, for example to care for a parent, apply for a re-entry permit before you leave.

A green card also makes you a US tax resident, taxed on your worldwide income, ISAs and UK pensions included. Our guide to ISAs, UK pensions and PFICs explains the traps. If you later give up a green card held in at least eight of the last fifteen years, the US exit tax rules can apply. A tax adviser who knows both countries can check your case before you hand it back.

Becoming a US citizen

Who can apply

You can usually apply to naturalise once you've been a permanent resident for five years, or three years if you've been married to and living with a US citizen for that time. You also need to have been physically present for at least half that period, to have lived in your state or USCIS district for three months, and to pass the English and civics tests.

The process

Apply on Form N-400, up to 90 days before you reach the five- or three-year mark. The fee is USD 710 (about £527) online or USD 760 (about £564) on paper, including biometrics [3].
Biometrics: fingerprints and a photo at a USCIS support centre.
The interview and tests: an English test (reading, writing and speaking) and a civics test on US history and government.
The oath ceremony, often at a federal court. You're a citizen once you've taken the oath.
Apply for a US passport. As a US citizen, you must use it to enter and leave the US.

DHS has proposed raising the N-400 fee to USD 1,280 online and USD 1,330 on paper (about £950 and £987); when we checked, that was still a proposal [3].

Your British passport

The FCDO's guide says it simply: the USA "recognises dual citizenship" [1]. The oath includes renouncing allegiance to any foreign state, but the UK doesn't treat the oath as a renunciation. You only stop being British if you formally renounce through the Home Office. So you keep your UK passport, your vote in UK elections under votes for life, and your right to live in the UK.

Practical points for dual nationals:

Use the right passport at each border: US passport into the US, British passport into the UK.
Your children: children under 18 who are permanent residents and live with you usually become US citizens automatically when you naturalise. Whether they're also British depends on how British citizenship by descent works in your family. Our guide to registering a child born abroad covers it.
US taxes stay with you for life. US citizens file US tax returns wherever they live, even back in Blighty.

If your partner is American, or you're about to become one yourself, our sister site ExpatStateside explains how dual citizenship and US law fit together.

Our community group for Brits in the US has plenty of people who've sat the civics test and lived to tell the tale. Join here.

Sources

GOV.UK (FCDO): Living in the USA (updated 11 December 2025)
Eig Law: DV-2026 programme update – entry corrections for Cuba and Great Britain entrants (3 October 2025, reporting the State Department notice)
Beyond Border Global: How much does it cost to become a US citizen in August 2026?
Truescho: US diversity visa issuance pause under updated guidance (guidance dated 23 December 2025)

Green cards and US citizenship for Brits: the routes, the lottery and your British passport