After one year in the US the Somali Bantus can adjust from refugee status to permanentresidentstatus, and then after five years they are eligible for US citizenship.
Pertierra said a 1986 federal law supplies precedent to require completion of a civics component -- such as basic knowledge of English and U.S. history and government -- to grant permanentresidentstatus.
According to the reports, which couldn't be confirmed, Mr. Abu Ismail was excluded from the race because his mother adopted U.S. citizenship before she died, though he argued that she held only permanentresidentstatus.
In the annual State Department green-card lottery that awards permanent-resident status to prospective immigrants via random drawing, New York's government is very proactive in seeking out new immigrants and becomes home for 12% of lottery winners.
Still others have tried to split the difference by arguing for a permanent noncitizen legal-resident status for illegal immigrants and their offspring, on the German and French model.
Mr. Chen is a Singapore permanentresident, a legal status that confers certain advantages denied to other foreigners, such as the ability to buy single-family homes and receive higher priority in school admissions.