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Comment by ececconi | Hacker News Reader

I just became a US citizen after living in the country for 23 years. For me, the notion isn't archaic at all. I was a permanent resident for some time. The US could revoke my residency if I spent more than six months consecutively outside the USA.

I do think many people think the term is becoming archaic. For people who live and call a country which they are not citizen in their home, it's definitely not archaic. Becoming a US citizen was one of the most important days of my life.

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Doesn't your experience prove the parent's point? For 23 years you've been a productive law-abiding member of society but were stripped of rights just because you are an "alien". Now that you have joined the club you can support similar treatment of others.

I still think it's archaic to discriminate that way against citizens of other countries. (the best part being Americans calling them "non-citizen", exposing either some prejudice or some ignorance or both)

You haven't been around much I take it? Calling people without citizenship "non-citizens" is not a purely American thing.

I have not been to many english speaking countries. I travel a bit, but mostly around Europe, and I have mostly seen signs about the nationality of the passport you're using more than the citizenship of the people (because there can be more than one).

Nationality versus citizenship are not really understood by Anglophones, in my experience. Ethnicity versus citizenship would be closer to the way we speak.

Well said. Very similar situation to my own.

> I just became a US citizen after living in the country for 23 years.

Why? For what benefit? I haven't seen a reason yet to even consider doing that.

Read the fine print. You don't have any real rights to your permanent residency. The USA can decide not to renew it for any reason they deem fit.

Also, laws may change in the future that further restrict the entitlements permanent residents have. Permanent residents can be deported. I've been subject to extra screening in customs.

There's a lot of reasons to be a US citizen if you're planning on staying in this country for life.

So it boils down to they treat a foreigner like a foreigner which was clearly spelled out from the beginning.

I've changed countries once, at this point it wouldn't really be assumed I'm planning on staying anywhere for life.

It can be as simple as freedom to travel without visas (depending on the country of origin).

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