Can Noncitizens and Immigrants Work for the Government?
Key takeaways
- Naturalized citizens can hold any federal job and any elected office except President and Vice President, which require natural-born citizenship.
- Most federal civilian jobs require U.S. citizenship under a 1976 executive order and annual appropriations laws, with exceptions when no qualified citizen is available.
- Green card holders can enlist in the military and naturalize faster, but officers must be citizens. Security clearances generally require citizenship.
- States cannot bar lawful immigrants from most public jobs, but they can require citizenship for police, teachers, and other positions involving core government authority.
- Some states, including California and Illinois, now allow noncitizens with work authorization to become police officers.
- Temporary visa holders and DACA recipients generally cannot hold federal civil service jobs but may work for public universities and some state and local agencies.
The United States has more than 50 million immigrants, about half of them naturalized citizens, and many want to serve in government. The rules depend on whether a person is a citizen, a permanent resident, or on a temporary status, and on whether the job is federal, state, or local.
This guide answers the most common questions about who may work for the government and hold public office, and sets out the arguments over those rules.
Yes, with one exception. Naturalized citizens may hold any federal, state, or local job open to citizens and may serve in Congress after being citizens for seven years for the House or nine for the Senate. Only the President and Vice President must be natural-born citizens, so foreign-born Cabinet members, such as some past secretaries of state, are skipped in the line of succession. Dozens of members of Congress, governors, judges, and Cabinet officers have been born abroad.
Mostly yes. The Supreme Court held in 1973 that states cannot bar lawful immigrants from their civil service as a class, but it allows citizenship requirements for jobs that carry out core government functions, upholding them for state troopers, public school teachers, and probation officers. States can choose to go further: California in 2022 and Illinois in 2024 allowed noncitizens with work authorization to become police officers. Public universities and hospitals employ many noncitizens, often on work visas.
Usually not in civilian jobs. Executive Order 11935, signed in 1976, limits most competitive service jobs to citizens and nationals, and a provision in annual appropriations laws bars paying most noncitizens in the continental United States, with exceptions for some permanent residents. Agencies may hire noncitizens when no qualified citizen is available, and some, such as the Veterans Health Administration and the National Institutes of Health, hire noncitizen doctors and scientists. Embassies abroad employ many local staff.
Green card holders may enlist in the armed forces, and service members can naturalize on an expedited basis, sometimes during basic training. Officers must be citizens. A program that let certain temporary visa holders with critical language or medical skills enlist ended in 2016. Security clearances are generally limited to citizens, which closes most intelligence, defense, and diplomatic jobs to noncitizens even when the job itself would allow them.
People on temporary work visas, such as H-1B, generally cannot hold federal civil service jobs, though they can work for federal contractors in jobs that need no clearance and for public universities, which are exempt from the annual H-1B cap. Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals have work permits but are not permanent residents, so they are barred from most federal jobs while many work for state and local governments and school districts.
Noncitizens may not vote in federal elections, and federal law makes it a crime. A few municipalities, including several towns in Maryland, allow noncitizen residents to vote in local elections, while a New York City law to do so was struck down by the state's highest court in 2025, and several states have amended their constitutions to limit voting to citizens. States generally require citizenship for elected office. Supporters of broader rules say residents who pay taxes should have a voice, while opponents say voting and public authority should belong to citizens.
See how to apply in how to get a federal job, how people become citizens in U.S. citizenship: how it is gained and lost, or who can run for office in who can serve.