can they take my GC away if i aplay for citizenship if my wife divorce me before oth

[zabala 0]

CAN ANYONE tell me pls, can my USCIS take my GC away if file for citizenship, and before the outh my wife wants a divorce, she is been acting weird, but i qualify on everything, do you think that could be a problem along the way? thank you all for any intake

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Applying for marriage after 3 years means you have a valid relationship at that time. If not you can wait the extra 2 years and should have no problems. Lying about your marriage could be misrepresentation and result in loss of your rights to be here.

[Boiler 45,292]

Wife acting weird is no reason not to apply after 3 years, seperated would be.

[payxibka 10,045]

no they won't take your GC away for that reason

[zabala 0]

WHAT DO U MEAN, if we separate can they somehow find out or would have to tell them, is that goin g to stop my process, can u pls let me know

Wife acting weird is no reason not to apply after 3 years, seperated would be.

[payxibka 10,045]

WHAT DO U MEAN, if we separate can they somehow find out or would have to tell them, is that goin g to stop my process, can u pls let me know

Wife acting weird is no reason not to apply after 3 years, seperated would be.

Sure, they will likely ask about the condition of your marriage at the interview.... likely your wife's presence will be requested

[Italian_in_NYC 259]

WHAT DO U MEAN, if we separate can they somehow find out or would have to tell them, is that goin g to stop my process, can u pls let me know

Wife acting weird is no reason not to apply after 3 years, seperated would be.

Sure, they will likely ask about the condition of your marriage at the interview.... likely your wife's presence will be requested

No, her presence for sure will NOT be required.

Spouse are NOT required to attend theit husbands/wives naturalization interviews.

However, the I/O might ask you if you're still living together, and actually you check that box.

Should they find out later (and it is likely), you could easily be stripped of your citizenship and then deported.

If something happens, wait an extra 2 years and you're ok.

[Boiler 45,292]

Ditto above, if your marriage collapses befor the interview, wait for the 5 year window.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Assuming you have a 10 yr card your fate within the US is completely within your hands. If you do decide to apply now and get divorced during the process, if they ask about any divorce tell the truth as everyone else said...its not going to cause you to lose anything. At worst you will be told you are not eligible and must wait a year or 2 (and you'll lose the fees you to USCIS).

Edited September 28, 2009 by lancer1655

[lucyrich 20]

Note in the USCIS published interpretations 319.1 (available on the USCIS website, look for laws and regulations, then interpretations, then 319.1) it says:

Although section 319(a), as distinguished from sections 319(b) and (d), further requires that the petitioner shall live in marital union with the citizen spouse during the entire period of three years immediately preceding the date of his petition, no similar requirement exists for the period between the date of filing the petition for naturalization and the date of naturalization, during which period only the existence of a legally valid marriage is required.

So if you check box 2b on the N-400, you're effectively saying that, on the date you're filing the petition, you've been married to and living in valid marital union with your USC spouse for the preceeding three years. If you separate after filing the petition, even if one party files for divorce, you'd still be eligible for naturalization as long as the marriage was still legally valid (in other words, as long as no divorce was final) until you take the oath.

If you have a final divorce at any time before taking the oath, then you're not eligible to naturalize under 319(a). But they won't take your green card away for this, unless you've committed some other offense, such as lying or misrepresentation.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Actually, you need to be still married and living with your US spouse when you apply, when you are interviewed and when you go to take the oath. You are asked at each stage if anything has changed, including having to provide written responses at the time of the citizenship oath, that you are still married and living with your US spouse. If you write that you are still married and together when you are not, then that would be considered misrepresentation and you could be stripped of your citizenship later. So, if the marriage falls apart between the time you apply and the time of the oath, you would have to wait the two more years until you could apply for citizenship on your own rights. They will not take the green card away from you, however, if you separate or divorce from your wife. Your green card status is permanent although you will need to renew the card every 10 years if you don't pursue citizenship.

[zabala 0]

HI YHANK YOU SO MUCH UR RESPONSE IS VERY HELPFULL TO ME, CAN U PLS GIVE THE LINK TO THAT QUOTE, I JUST NEED TO READ SOME MORE ABOUT IT, THANK YOU,

I JUST GOT MY GC LIKE A MONTH AGO AND I WANA FINISH WITH ALL AS SOON AS POSIBLE, THANK YOU AGAIN

Note in the USCIS published interpretations 319.1 (available on the USCIS website, look for laws and regulations, then interpretations, then 319.1) it says:

Although section 319(a), as distinguished from sections 319(B) and (d), further requires that the petitioner shall live in marital union with the citizen spouse during the entire period of three years immediately preceding the date of his petition, no similar requirement exists for the period between the date of filing the petition for naturalization and the date of naturalization, during which period only the existence of a legally valid marriage is required.

So if you check box 2b on the N-400, you're effectively saying that, on the date you're filing the petition, you've been married to and living in valid marital union with your USC spouse for the preceeding three years. If you separate after filing the petition, even if one party files for divorce, you'd still be eligible for naturalization as long as the marriage was still legally valid (in other words, as long as no divorce was final) until you take the oath.

If you have a final divorce at any time before taking the oath, then you're not eligible to naturalize under 319(a). But they won't take your green card away for this, unless you've committed some other offense, such as lying or misrepresentation.

[NickD 202]

It's all in the M-476 manual at www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf and the instructions with the N-400.

If it wasn't for all the frustrations we had with the I-751 and getting my wife's foreign passport renewed, we wouldn't have been in a hurry, but we applied precisely 89 days when she still had her expired green card and one year extension that was quickly running out. A marriage falling apart was not our problem.

In our legal history, what really kills even a politician is perjury, want to avoid that at all costs. If you have your ten year card and foreign passport, no need to worry. Since our daughter turned 18 right before we could apply, she also has to wait five years. She is doing fine, going to college and our wait is down to six months now, has her ten year card and renewed foreign passport so she can visit her grandma. No penalties for being a LPR in getting college loans or finding part time work.

[lucyrich 20]

HI YHANK YOU SO MUCH UR RESPONSE IS VERY HELPFULL TO ME, CAN U PLS GIVE THE LINK TO THAT QUOTE, I JUST NEED TO READ SOME MORE ABOUT IT, THANK YOU,

I really recommend you follow the instructions I gave in my post; go to http://www.uscis.gov , click on "laws and regulations", then click on "interpretations" twice, and click on "319.1". The problem is that the USCIS system changes their links, and their links are very long. I can't seem to create a link directly to that text, but here's a very long link to the interpretations page. Scroll down to 319.1 and click on it.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...RCRD&CH=itp

[NickD 202]

HI YHANK YOU SO MUCH UR RESPONSE IS VERY HELPFULL TO ME, CAN U PLS GIVE THE LINK TO THAT QUOTE, I JUST NEED TO READ SOME MORE ABOUT IT, THANK YOU,

I really recommend you follow the instructions I gave in my post; go to http://www.uscis.gov , click on "laws and regulations", then click on "interpretations" twice, and click on "319.1". The problem is that the USCIS system changes their links, and their links are very long. I can't seem to create a link directly to that text, but here's a very long link to the interpretations page. Scroll down to 319.1 and click on it.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...RCRD&CH=itp

Could just copy and paste it. Provided you don't get a headache by reading it.

"Interpretation 319.1 Naturalization based upon citizenship of spouse.

(a) Act of September 22, 1922.

(B) Act of May 24, 1934.

© Nationality Act of 1940.

(d) Immigration and Nationality Act.

(a) Act of September 22, 1922 . Until 1922, married women were ineligible to judicial naturalization during coverture. 1 / Since the Act of September 22, 1922, the statutes have not only permitted such naturalization, but have provided for eligibility after a diminished period of residence in the United States, provided the petition for naturalization was based upon marriage to a United States citizen. The Congressional committee which considered the 1922 legislation deemed it inexpedient and undesirable to require the wife of a United States citizen to wait five years before naturalization, since there was every reason to b elieve that she would qualify herself for citizenship more rapidly than other aliens because of the existing relationship. 2 /

Residence within the United State for only one year was required under the above 1922 statute, which related only to women who thereafter married citizens or whose husbands were subsequently naturalized. Such wives were also statutorily exempt from the normal declaration of intention requirement, as they continued to be under all subsequent legislation of a similar nature. 3 /

(B) Act of May 24, 1934 . The Act of May 24, 1934, which amended the above 1922 enactment, provided similar benefits for the spouse of a United States citizen, either man or woman, but the period of required residence in the United States was increased to three years.

The courts differed as to the meaning of the words "after the passage of this Act, as here amended" which appeared in the 1934 legislation. Some authority argued that the amendment referred back to the date of the original 1922 enactment, and conferred eligibility under the 1934 statute upon the man who married a citizen or whose wife was naturalized between the 1922 and 1934 acts. 4 / In addition, it was sometimes held that the 1922 statutory exemptions survived the enactment of the 1934 legislation, and that a woman who married a citizen or whose husband was naturalized between such dates need establish only one year's residence in the United States. 5 /

The above interpretations of the amended 1922 statute were both accepted and applied by the Service until the legislation was repealed by the Act of October 14, 1940.

© Nationality Act of 1940 . In framing the 1940 statute, Congress incorporated provisions 6 / substantially similar to those of the 1922 and 1934 enactment which, in effect, constituted an adoption of the interpretative rulings set forth above. In addition, naturalizations accomplished in accordance with such interpretations were specifically validated by the new act, 7 / since Congress considered them to be of doubtful legality. 8 /

Current section 319 is, in part, a reenactment in modified form of another provision of the 1940 statute 9 / which authorized the naturalization of a person who was then or thereafter became the spouse of a citizen, upon proof of two years' United States residence, provided the applicant had resided in marital union with the spouse for the year immediately preceding the date of the petition and the spouse had been a citizen during that entire period. Such provisos were not involved in the other provisions of the 1940 law, 10 / permitting naturalization based upon marriage, and divorce or separation did not affect eligibility thereunder, provided the citizen spouse was naturalized in one of the required periods and during the existence of the marital relationship. 11 /

(d) I mmigration and Nationality Act . (1) Termination of marriage or citizenship . Except to the extent otherwise provided in section 319(d), a person who petitions for naturalization as the spouse of a United States citizen under section 319(a) is ineligible if, before or after the filing of the petition, the marriage has terminated by death or divorce 11a / or the citizen spouse has expatriated. Furthermore, eligibility is not restored to a petitioner whose citizen spouse dies before admission to citizenship, 11b / even though petitioner thereafter marries another United States citizen and is still his spouse at the time of hearing. 12 /

The surviving spouse of a United States citizen who dies during a period of honorable service in an active-duty status in the Armed Forces of the United States, retains eligibility for naturalization under section 319(d), notwithstanding that the surviving spouse has remarried. 12a/

Although section 319(a), as distinguished from sections 319(B) and (d), further requires that the petitioner shall live in marital union with the citizen spouse during the entire period of three years immediately preceding the date of his petition, no similar requirement exists for the period between the date of filing the petition for naturalization and the date of naturalization, during which period only the existence of a legally valid marriage is required. 12b /

(2) Marital union for purposes of section 319(a) . The requirement that the petitioner live in marital union with the citizen spouse during the three-year period should be given a reasonably strict construction in order that it may lead to accomplishment of the objective of having the noncitizen spouse absorb basic concepts of citizenship through close association with the citizen spouse. <a class="Jump" href="http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-44702/0-0-0-47402/0-0-0-47436.html#0-0-0-24791"> 13 /

A two-week separation during the requisite period has been held not to affect eligibility when the separation was ordered by a court as a cooling-off period following the husband's arrest for assaulting the wife. 14 / A similar brief cooling-off period not court ordered, but which could not reasonably be regarded as adversely affecting the objective of the requirement as interpreted in Kostas , 13 / also does not affect eligibility.

Another petition, 14a / involving parties who had been reconciled after a few brief separations, was granted even though a subsequent separation of two-and-one-half months immediately prior to the petition-filing prompted the petitioner to file a divorce complaint, which remained pending at the time the petition was finally heard. In granting the petition, the court noted that reconciliations had invariably followed the earlier separations; that the divorce proceeding had remained inactive; that two-and-one-half months out of a five-and-one-half-year marriage was a relatively short period of separation; and that, during such period, the citizen husband continued to support the petitioner, and both claimed not to have intended a permanent separation. The court stated that these facts resembled those in the Omar case, 14b / the implication being that, as in Omar, the separation of the parties had been a temporary cooling-off period, rather than complete and permanent. While the Service has recognized and will continue to apply the rationale of Omar, the decision in Olan 14c / in not to be regarded as a norm for determining what facts will bring a case within the scope of the Omar ruling. Moreover, since the Olan case was decided upon the Omar principle early in the decision, the court's subsequent gratuitous interpretation of the phrase "in marital union," which equated such phrase with the mere existence of the marital status, is regarded as dicta and shall not be followed by the Service.

It is the further position of the Service that, where a petitioner and spouse do not live apart by choice, or because of a legal separation or marital difficulties, but solely as a result of circumstances beyond their control, such as service in the armed forces of the United States or essential business or occupational demands, such separation­even when prolonged­does not preclude naturalization under this section.

It has been held, however, that the residence in marital union, or at least a substantial portion thereof, must be in the United States, with the citizen spouse. Thus, where the citizen spouse has never been in the United States, eligibility under the current statute is not established even though petitioner resided abroad in marital union with the spouse during a part of the three-year period. 15 /

(3) Citizenship of wife under Act of June 25, 1936 . The husband of a women restored to citizenship by the Act of June 25, 1936, as amended, may petition for naturalization under section 319 even though such woman has not taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, since the wife is considered to have been naturalized by operation of the statutes rather than by taking the oath. 16 /

(4) Application of savings clause . The current statutory savings clause 17 / permitted an applicant who, on December 24, 1952, was eligible for naturalization under the marriage provisions of the 1940 Act, to be naturalized under that statute on petition filed on or after the 1952 date, even though the required period of residence which was begun before such date was not completed until thereafter, 18 / provided the petition was filed before September 26, 1961. 19 /

However, eligibility upon the above basis did not exist when the requisite marriage occurred on or after the 1952 date, even though the applicant had maintained a lawful permanent residence in the United States since prior thereto 20 / and, as a result of such residence had a preserved "status," "condition," or "right in process of acquisition" under the savings clause which could eventually render him eligible to proceed with naturalization under the general provisions of the 1940 legislation. 21 /

(5) Application of general naturalization requirements . The general qualifications currently required for naturalization must be established by one who seeks citizenship under this section. 22 / Because of the diminished residence requirement, however, good moral character, attachment and favorable disposition 23 / need only be established for the requisite three-year period of residence.

A construction of previous statutory provisions, similar to that above, to which the Service adhered, was questioned by several courts who considered 5 years to be the minimum requisite period. 24 /

Unlike previous legislation which did not require a specific period of county, state or territorial residence, the current section makes state residence for six months an absolute requirement.

(6) Location of serviceman's residence for purpose of filing petition under section 319 . INTERP 316.1(B)(2)(iv) applies equally to a person who is serving in the armed forces and seeks to file a petition under section 319."