If a person has lived for more than 10 years without deportation in US are they elegible for citizenship?

I have a friend that has beeh her for almost 10 years. Someone told me that there is a law from the early 1980, that is still functional, which states that if a person has lived in US for more than 10 years without deportation - eventhough they might have came into the country illegally - the prson is elegible for neutralization.
Before i ask a lawyer, has anyone heard anyhting about it.
I appriciate everyones input.

Answer:
No, that is no longer true - this was true in the 80's when the government granted a general amnesty.

However, now the only chance for your friend to be legalized is through marriage to a U.S. citizen - although even that is tenous at best. If she tries any other way, she'll probably be deported and banned for life from returning to the US.
Don't listen to "someone" .Your Friend has to deal with the trouble not the one whom just think and give your friend the wrong advise.It doesn"t matter how long you stay in U.S.A,it still illegally until they find the legal way,like marry to U.S citizen..
That person is eligible for deportation and nuterization.
Not true.
Why doesn't your friend get in line behind all the millions of people that are immigrating here legally? People hate people that cut in line and think they have special privileges and rights!! I have many friends and relatives that are attempting to immigrate here legally!!I guess someone thinks since they are able to break the law for 10 years and not get caught they should make me a legal citizen now cause I'm so good at hiding from la migra!!!!
hi, there is something about that..I heard that too, I know it worked like that in the 80's but Im not sure if it is still law....best you can do is ask lawyer
I'm all about neutralizing illegals. ha ha ha hah!, sorry, your typo is so funny!
No, deportation is the right answer.
I have personally seen illegals who were here for over 10 years get deported so it is apparently not true.
people should just stay in there own countries................
Absolutely not. Your friend is just as illegal today as he/she was 10 years ago. There was in fact an amnesty period declared for some persons that were here illegally by President Reagan. Some were give the opportunity to apply for Residency/ Citizenship with in a certain amount of time. They still had to undergo background investigations and citizenship eligibility. So if your friend is still in the U.S. but was never granted amnesty under that program, then they are still subject to deportation/criminal charges. You could also go online with Customs and Border Protection, DHS and check this out. Bottom line, there is no minimum/maximum amount of time/years for being here illegally. They are always subject to arrest and deportation.
In 1980's the congress gave amnesty to illegals. It was one time thing and illegals had to applied for amnesty within the time-table. I think your friend got confused with that.
It's not true in reality. The congress is working on some kind of amnesty at this point. I hope your friend can get that amnesty and become a productive member of this country.
1980's were the good old days when everything was possible. That law does not exist anymore. Unfortunately, your friend will have to wait for a new law.
Don't waste the money talking to a lawyer. He's illegal and should go back home.
NO
NADA
ZILTCH
BYE-BYE
nope they have no rights and still have to face the music unless he has been here since 1986..........oh_hell
Its better you approach a Well qualified Immigration lawyer and take advise. They have many ways to make thing legal. They might have contact with many paid USA woman, who will marry on paper and make your friend the legal citizen. For that they are charging money. Lawyer is the one who knows the loopholes of Law and for finding thiose loopholes we are paying money.
well this is part truth and in part not .... first at all i had also heard about this before , however this law does has a lot of reservations making almost impossible for anyone to acquire their legal status through it .

its is not for anyone and the person applying for it has to have a very clean record and be approved by a judge of immigration and then by the board of immigration appeals which overturns the judge's decision almost every single time .

it is also limited to 4000 cases and has never reach that number so far , in fact from an article ( written in 2004 by Senator Feinstein ) it is stated than only 2,345 people benefited from it in 2003 being the highest number until then :

http://feinstein.senate.gov/04releases/r...

it is also very important to mention than this is ussually the last resource which undocumneted immigrants which are about to be deported use and that it is not recomended to anyone else because of the limitation mentioned above which are not the only ones . i personaly would NOT recomende it and would recomend her/him to wait until everyone is being legalized or she/he gets married to a citizen is she/he doesn't want to run this high risk of being deported which is what i believe would happen if she/he intended to legalize his/her status this way .

well here is another link which may be helpful for u with the tittle Central American Deportation Relief Act which i believe is may be what the senator is talking about :
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c1...

i also would like to make clear that i found all this information through the internet and that i a not a lawyer so my advice should not be taken as if i was but from what i found i find highly unlikely for him/her to be able to get legal this way ... i hope this is helpful to both of u .
Right...You are awarded citizenship because you were sneaky enough to avoid deportation for 10 years??.
There should be NO law that gives someone who has been illegally in this country automatic citizenship!!

You mean to tell me in the 10 years that your "friend" has been in the US that he never tried ONCE to become a US Citizen??????
That is just WRONG!!!!!!!!!!! I don't care if you've been illegally in the US for 10 years, 10 months or 10 days - ILLEGAL IS ILLEGAL!!

It is not fair for the MILLIONS of other immigrants, who came to the US also to get a better life, that they have to go through the process to become US Citizens while illegals don't care about American laws and just abuse the system!!

The immigration information post by website user , MyTend.com not guarantee correctness

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