Well, my hubby and I just came back from the local Immigration office, where we (finally!) filed all the necessary papers for me to become a permanent resident. We've been married for nearly 4 years; have been together for 15. I've been here on a renewable professional visa from Canada all that time. We just decided that it was stupid to keep paying the $190. per year to renew this visa, which is restrictive (I can't work at anything besides science, e.g.).
You can't get citizenship while outside the country. An immigrant can apply for permanent residence (green card) which now has a time limit before either renewal or passing the citizenship test. You have to be a legal permanent resident and must apply for citizenship from inside the country. The time allowed/required for that depends on the terms of the green card.
My husband was born here (NJ, no less, Tiana!) so we're going the married to an American route. [I'd looked into the special abilities route a few years ago but had bad feelings about the lawyer (the only one in town doing that work) so didn't pursue it. Turns out my intuition was correct; he was disbarred shortly after.]
I'm applying for the standard work permit, which is less restrictive than the TN and allows me, for instance, to accept prize money in photo competitions (I've had to turn it down a few times in the past) or even to open my own business if I wanted to do that. Under this married classification, I can apply for citizenship within, I think, two years of getting my green card. Other classifications require 4 or 5 years; I forget. Too bad I won't be able to vote in the next election; my fault, I let work interfere with the paperwork process before.
Anyway, wish me luck, although things should proceed pretty smoothly. The rules also require an employer's statement about my husband's employment and income, a copy of our latest tax return and his W2. He has to prove that he can support me.
I also had to undergo a physical exam by their appointed doctor, which included blood tests for STDs and a TB test, and I had to have shots for Hepatitis B and MMR (I had measles, mumps and rubella (the diseases, not the shots) as a child, but have no idea where those records might be!)
I've been paying taxes and SS, as well as the annual fees to INS (now something else) ever since I've been here, but I did it all legally. Unless they somehow have a bogus SS card, illegals don't pay into the system, and I think it was usc who posted recently that the money that illegals here send to Mexico is the second highest total income in Mexico's GNP.
Thank you Tiana for supporting those of us who jumped through all the hoops to come here legally.