If you have a happy life living on a green card in the state of Iowa, it can be difficult to convince yourself that a citizenship application is in your best interest. After all, if you feel your life is fine the way it is and you do not have any problems right now with regard to your residency, you may just want to sit back and enjoy your life while. Getting a green card in the first place is not exactly easy, so now that you have it, why not just stick with it? The truth is, in states across the union, citizenship law gets more and more complex everyday, and the chances of citizenship application ever becoming easier are slim. In other words, there is really no time like the present if you want to stay in the United States permanently and there is nothing preventing you from applying for citizenship right now.Citizenship application in the United States is perhaps not as intimidating as you might have thought, and especially not if you have the proper legal representation. Getting a lawyer for something as simple as a citizenship application may seem like overkill, but of course citizenship laws are complex, especially when you take into account that you have Iowa state laws to think about as well as federal laws. A rejected citizenship application, even if it's rejected on a technicality, is not fun. For most people, it is worth the slight expense of hiring an attorney to handle the case, considering how much more likely the outcome is to be positive.When you first start down the road to your citizenship application, your lawyer will go through the process of collecting all the necessary documents from you, and discovering where you are in terms of fulfilling all the requirements. The first requirement, of course, is that you be a full-time legal United States resident for a minimum of five years. This part of the citizenship process is not negotiable, and although Hollywood might have you believe otherwise, it is not possible simply to marry a United States citizen and expect to obtain automatic citizenship. Even the spouses of United States citizens are required to go through the naturalization process, and the only benefit of being married in terms of legal status is that the residency requirement is reduced from five years to three years.The rest of the citizenship application process involves a lot of waiting, and then an interview to determine whether or not you meet the other requirements. These include being able to demonstrate moderate skills in the English language, and a basic knowledge of United States history and government. While most applicants find interview process intimidating, it is important to remember that the goal is not to keep people out of the country, but rather to give applicants an opportunity to show that they are serious about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Successful applicants will attend a naturalization ceremony to celebrate their new status as United States citizens.