No matter how you got to America, it is time for you to become a citizen. The American dream is what brings so many here and becoming a complete citizen under the law will help propel you in that direction. While the process of citizenship can be a long and complicated one, there are things you can do now that will aid your progress. Also, until you start getting money coming in, working poor charities could help you keep things together until the process is finalized.

To get started, you have to have a physical residence here. To be able to pay for a home here in the US, you must have a job that not only pays you well enough to live on your own but also accepts non-citizens. Here we will go over some good-paying positions to help finance your path to citizenship.

Janitorial Services

Being a janitor has several professional perks, like not needing professional training or a specific level of education. This is also a field that is usually in demand and can often come with a flexible schedule, depending on which janitor companies you go for. The skills needed here are often ones that can come from domestic work.
Median Pay – $24,000/year
Position Duties:

• Vacuuming carpets
• Mopping floors
• Emptying trash
• Cleaning messes
• Restroom clearing
• Dusting

Roofing Services

As a roofer, you will deal with things such as roof replacement, assessment, and repairing major roof damage. This means you will need to have a keen eye for what a customer does and does not need for their roof. You will also need to be comfortable with heights and have good balance.
Median Pay – $37,000/year
Position Duties:

• Building roofs
• Getting the proper materials from building supply stores
• Give damage assessment
• Provide an estimate of time and price for repairs
• Removing debris from the roof and surrounding area
• Give the client a walk-through of the project

Lawn Care Services

If you like the outdoors and working with your hands, this could be a great position. The whole idea here is to maintain the lawn and all that comes with it. This is done during the day and usually with a team of other lawn care specialists doing everything from lawn hydroseeding service to trimming bushes and everything in between. It can also help to stay up to date with updated lawn care technology.
Median Pay – $34,000/year
Position Duties:

• Lawn mowing
• Managing potted plants
• Tree and bush trim and watering
• Flower watering
• Planting flowers and bushes
• Weeding
• Debris removal

Concrete Services

There are many types of projects that are concrete-related. Commercial concrete repairs, residential lawn and garden, and construction to start with. This type of job can be started at an entry or apprentice level and grow knowledge over time that can move you up in the ranks. Working closely with experienced concrete experts will provide you with great transferrable skills.
Median Pay – $63,000/year
Position Duties:

• Create and set up building forms
• Pouring concrete
• Reinforce pour with mesh
• Spread and smooth concrete
• Finish work with stain
• Molding joints and edges

Construction Worker

This might be one of the more popular choices of career before getting citizenship. According to the American Community Survey, a quarter of all construction jobs are done by immigrants. So, it’s safe to say there is probably always a position to grab in this industry if you’re interested. This is for the more able-bodied person as it can be very physically demanding and can wear you out quickly. However, the pay can start fast and can help you save.
Median Pay: $31,000/year
Position Duties:

• Be familiar with the materials on site
• Keep the site clear of any unwanted debris or garbage
• Sweep the site for any hazardous material
• Follow instructions closely
• Have the ability to build and take apart any necessary temporary structures needed for the project
• Stay available to all the departments for assistance
• Use and take extra caution with heavy machinery

Software Engineer

While this one does require education and skill, it can be quite profitable with solid job security. The demand for tech-savvy individuals is always high and can get you connected to a wide range of companies and networks.
Median Pay: $107,000/year
Position Duties:

• Research programs
• Put together designs
• Writing software programs
• Look for areas to improve
• Analyze software movement
• Run tests on multiple systems
• Fix issues within the software
• Work well with a team of coders
• Provide technical support
• Be available for one on one time with clients

Transportation

Another field always looking to hire is the transportation industry, with truck driver positions available. Many of these require a drivers’ license but no degree. Whether you’re looking to do long hauls in an eighteen-wheeler or need something to get started on sooner, there are driving jobs everywhere. Need cash right now? Drive for rideshare apps like Lyft. There are opportunities in every state and basically every city. Working with Lyft, you can get started as long as you’re insured and you can start collecting payment on your first day picking up people.
Median Pay: $40,000/year
Position Duties:

• Be comfortable with and driving trucks
• Have map reading skills as well as ease with GPS devices
• Know what to check for in a truck inspection
• Punctual pickup and delivery
• Ability to properly verify loads
• Have knowledge of the vehicle for emergency purposes
• Stick to a schedule

Midwife

There are babies needing to be born everywhere across America. This might be a really great line of work to get into for immigrants, considering midwives are more common outside of the US. In the past several years, there has been a resurgence of mothers having babies in their homes or in birthing centers as opposed to hospitals. This has begun to reopen the field for qualified midwives to get back to pregnancy involvement.
Median Pay: $50,000/year
Position Duties:

• Meet with parents-to-be monthly, then weekly
• Continuously monitor the health of unborn baby and mother
• Put together a birthing plan
• Educate parents in advance of birth and parenthood
• Teach techniques to overcome pain during labor
• Offer dietary and exercise suggestions
• Provide support to new mothers
• Keep a record of vital signs before, during, and after pregnancy

Translator

Becoming a translator is something you can get into independently as well as for a company. Spanish is probably the most common language needed. There is also a critical need language list where you might be able to make premium pay for your ability to properly translate into English. There are many options, including government positions, that this experience can lead you towards in the future.
Median Pay: $51,000/year
Position Duties:

• Read or listen to materials in a foreign language
• Have a high comprehension of both foreign languages and English
• Be able to translate a language as closely as possible to English
• Keep the intended meaning as close as possible to English translation
• Provide extra insight when necessary
• Have comfort with a variety of subjects
• Use resources when necessary to pin down exact matches during the translation process
• Give quotes for projects

Agricultural Worker

There are many farms in need of manual labor and could use a helping hand. There is a large portion of immigrants who come to the states with some form of agricultural background and can find positions like these very useful to skills previously acquired.
Median Pay: $25,000/year
Position Duties:

• Get to know the crop you’ll be working with
• Plant crops according to established guidelines
• Know the appropriate time to harvest crops
• Have a keen eye when inspecting each individual plant
• Put down fertilizer
• Apply safe pesticides to get ahead of anything that could harm the crop
• Operate tools and/or machinery

Immigration Law Firms
You have a job and a place to live. At what point do you need to contact an immigration lawyer? There is no exact set moment that you need to get a lawyer involved, but there are plenty of times when it can be helpful for several reasons. Here are a few ways you benefit from speaking with immigration law firms:

So many options to understand. There is more than one way to be in America legally as a foreigner. Are you engaged to an American? That’s a K-1 fiance visa. Are you already married to an American and trying to immigrate? That’s an immigrant visa. Both of these visa options can be dealt with through family attorneys. Are you a professional with a job you want to come to the US for? You might qualify for an EB-1 visa for priority workers. Even an unskilled worker has a visa type, EB-3. There are many categories you may fall under in your attempt to move permanently to America. Having someone go through each option to decide which situation fits you best could make the process a lot less painstaking.

Immigration court. If you or someone you care about is going through immigration court and up for deportation, you (or they) will need all the help possible. Sometimes these hearings can be grouped together with many immigrants and can be rushed through. The main thing here is you really need someone on your side who can speak up for you and be sure that you are treated fairly. There is nothing quite as unsettling as not knowing if you have a home. An immigration lawyer can update you on your case and help file appeals to keep you here.

Inadmissible. You got word, you are unable to become a citizen or even come into the country. In order to get anywhere with the courts after being deemed inadmissible, you will need someone who knows the legal system and how much wiggle room you have depending on your specific set of circumstances. A few of the reasons for not being granted admission into the country are having committed a crime in your home country, giving false information to the US government, a suspicion that you might end up coming to America for government assistance, that you have been classified as a threat, or even if you do not have the proper vaccinations.

Paperwork. If English is not your first language, it is safe to assume paperwork could very easily get overwhelming. There can be so much of it and it might be more mentally taxing to try and decide each word and page carefully than it would be to just have someone explain it to you. This needs to be someone you can trust and not someone you know who might not take this as seriously as you do. Even for natural-born Americans, paperwork of this magnitude could soon exhaust the most patient people.

Unsettling delays. You believe you have done everything correctly. You have a job, you have a place to live, you filed out the correct form. You wait. You wait for what feels like a long time. You wait some more. You put a call into the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS, office closest to you but they say they do not have what you’re talking about. Did the application get lost? Are they just slow? Can you get a status update? Immigration law firms have the extra arms to wade through the chaos to sort out what’s going on. At least, they can use their connections to make inquiries about your case. If anyone is more likely to get a good answer, it’s a professional.

So remember, before starting the official process of getting citizenship, you may want to reach out to immigration law firms to learn more about your options. There, they can have someone work with you one on one to complete the application and walk you through the steps you will need to go through in order to become a full citizen.