Citizenship based on 3-yrs marriage

[Indy&Benji 0]

Hi, I am still one year more to be eligible for naturalization based on 3-yrs marriage but I have a question about the checklist of documents that need to be submitted. My question is if this marriage is the first time for both me and my husband, all we need to submit is just the other three items (#1, #2, #4)right? cause I am kind of confused that the heading clearly said "send the following FOUR items" and it doesn't explain if the USC spouse have been married before or not.

1. Evidence that your spouse has been a U.S. citizen for the last three years:

Birth certificate (if your spouse never lost citizenship since birth), or

Naturalization certificate, or

Certificate of Citizenship, or

The inside of the front cover and signature page of your spouse’s current U.S. passport, or

Form FS-240, “Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America,†and

2. Your current marriage certificate; and

3. Proof of termination of all prior marriages of your spouse-divorce decree(s), annulment(s), or death certificate(s); and

4. Documents referring to you and your spouse:

Tax returns, bank accounts, leases, mortgages, or birth certificates of children, or

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-certified copies of the income tax forms that you both filed for the past three years, or

An IRS tax return transcript for the last three years.

I really appreciate if anyone can clear this up

[Penguin_ie 5,992]

You are correct; the checklist in fact says, at the top, "Only if required, send...".

[Indy&Benji 0]

You are correct; the checklist in fact says, at the top, "Only if required, send...".

yes, you're right, I only focused on the sentence where it said "If you are applying for naturalization on the basis of marriage to a U.S. citizen, send the following four items" I didn't relate it with the very TOP of it

Thank you for answering my question Penguin-ie

[David-and-Mae 15]

Since I applied based on my marriage to my USC husband, I sent as many supporting docs as I can think of. It's better to send more than the other way around. Besides ITR, I also sent titles to our cars showing both our names on it, insurance policies showing our names as beneficiaries, bank statements on our joint bank account, even a copy of our driver's licenses to show we live in the same address.

The proof of termination of previous marriages only applies to those who were previously married

Edited September 8, 2011 by David-and-Mae

[Indy&Benji 0]

David-and-Mae, thank you for responding. I see your timeline that you already a US Citizen now. Congrats So, you just sent documents which are almost the same as the one required in ROC stage? or just a little less?

[NickD 202]

David-and-Mae, thank you for responding. I see your timeline that you already a US Citizen now. Congrats So, you just sent documents which are almost the same as the one required in ROC stage? or just a little less?

What is different when my wife applied is that eligibility *.pfd check list that separates each form of evidence with an OR, still wonder if that applies. But the evidence we had to send in was a compilation of what we sent in for both our AOS and I-751 less my wife's birth certificate for some reason. But sure wanted mine again along with 50 pages of double sided print my divorce papers. The stack of copies we sent in was a good inch tall using 20# paper and she needed all of it.

Her IO didn't want to go through that stack so had my wife drag out all the originals so she could look at them. She wanted my wifes' original divorce papers, but my wife had enough sense to say no. Would have cost us a small fortune to to replace that. But my wife let her keep my original tax returns, that really pissed me off. Besides everything else, she wanted a joint utility bill, surprise we got that as worthless as it was. Friends ahead of us warned us about that utility bill causing major delays in their process. Had everything neatly organized in a folder type brief case, was a big mess when we got home and checked to see everything was there. All important documents. All was there except my tax returns.

Our strongest evidence was join ownership of our then German Shepherd puppy, even more so than joint ownership of our home and vehicles.

JustBob keeps on saying for marriage, all you need is three years of joint transcripts, would like to know if that is true or not from recent experiences. But you can read that new eligibility check list to verify that.

[David-and-Mae 15]

JustBob keeps on saying for marriage, all you need is three years of joint transcripts, would like to know if that is true or not from recent experiences. But you can read that new eligibility check list to verify that.

Not in my case... the IO went through all the docs I sent, even the car and boat titles, joint bank account statements, life insurance, etc... just checking if our names were on it. She never really asked me for any of the originals, she just relied on what I submitted in my N-400 packet. She asked if I am on our home's title since I didn't have it on file -- told her nope, will be, once we have paid it in full.

I think everything depends on the IO that you will get during the interview. Some of them are pretty darn hard to please while others will basically take your word for it. I still think having my husband with me during my interview helped a whole lot. While it's true that he was not allowed in the room, I think my IO looked for him (I had a copy of his photo IDs in my file) before she even called my name. Thankfully, we were seated together with his arm over my shoulder -- he was calming me down, I was too nervous.

[Indy&Benji 0]

NickD, wow, looks like your wife's experience in naturalization was almost the same as the ROC. I mean, I thought Naturalization, even though based on 3-yrs marriage, will be more simple and less documents to be submitted. I guess David-and-Mae is right, it really depends on the IO. Anyway, I see that your filing location is at Nebraska Service Center. Did you send it over there because of you're in the military? Anyway, thank you for sharing your experience and responding to my post

[Indy&Benji 0]

David-and-Mae, just curious how was the story that in the end you and your husband were allowed to be seated together while you had your interview? I mean I know when we got to the service center the security guard only allowed us to come inside (like in my ROC Biometrics experience, the security asked my husband to wait outside)

Thank you

[David-and-Mae 15]

My husband was with me at the waiting area, not inside the interview room

[erica_itz 5]

Hi, I have a question! From what I understood, I can apply for naturalization after 3 years of being a LPR AND being married for 3 years. My question is: When do they consider I'm a LPR? When I get my conditional green card or only after I remove conditions?

SO, after I remove conditions, do I have to wait 3 years or only one (since I already had my conditional GC for 2 years)?

Sorry if the question is confusing!

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

You are a resident since you became a resident. You became a resident when your AOS petition to become a resident was approved. You'll find that date on your Green Card, in front, where it reads: RESIDENT SINCE XX/XX/2XXX.

[erica_itz 5]

Thanks for answering! I was in doubt if after AOS they would consider me a permanent resident, since it's just a conditional GC, but u made things clear! Thanks a lot!

[beemer8 0]

Here is my question:

Got Married in 2008 and received conditional card the same year

Recently got the ROC approved 2011

Been out of the country for a total of 8 months on 3 different trips

AM I ELIGIBLE to apply for N-400?

Thanks Fellows!

Thanks for answering! I was in doubt if after AOS they would consider me a permanent resident, since it's just a conditional GC, but u made things clear! Thanks a lot!

[NickD 202]

NickD, wow, looks like your wife's experience in naturalization was almost the same as the ROC. I mean, I thought Naturalization, even though based on 3-yrs marriage, will be more simple and less documents to be submitted. I guess David-and-Mae is right, it really depends on the IO. Anyway, I see that your filing location is at Nebraska Service Center. Did you send it over there because of you're in the military? Anyway, thank you for sharing your experience and responding to my post

The woman IO we had for our AOS was so nice and considerate at the St. Paul office, wasn't even going to bother bringing our original evidence for the citizenship interview. Good thing I did. Wife was the executive assistant to the general manager at Johnson & Johnson in Venezuelan, and she knows how to dress wearing one of her finest business suits. Perhaps a detriment to her, having a vastly overweight women IO. Wife was very offended when asked three times if she was a prostitute. This is when it occurred to me, dealing with one IO for certification, unheard of in any other governmental certification board where a vote is taken. Always a hard head the votes no for everyone. That you can run into with the USCIS, but she did pass.

She did put on twenty pounds when she came here, Wisconsin women love their sweets, but leaned how to say no back down to her 120 pounds now. She started off in patient assistance at our hospital and had to learn how to deal with many government agents, that really helped her during her interview. And yes, she was asked for a worthless joint utility bill. But this was just about three years ago to the day, after reading these posts, not much has changed since then.

What has changed is where you send your application, was Nebraska back then, a Texas Lockbox today.

I always dropped my wife or stepdaughter at the door to find a place to park, never had problems in getting past the guards just by telling them, want to join my wife or stepdaughter. Ha, even teased about saying, I served in our military for six years and well accustomed to stripping down naked in mixed company, can do that for you. Ha, a woman guard responded by saying if I had to look at some men naked, would quit. But those armed guards scared the hell out of my wife and stepdaughter the first time, so another stupid comment came out, concerned about someone walking out with a folding chair? That just got a laugh.

Wifes' IO manage to misplace her application, was told should hear within two weeks about her oath ceremony, let seven weeks go by, then called Rebeca at Senator Feingolds' office, got an e-mail two hours later from the office manager with a special oath ceremony for her in three days. But we had to be their at 7:30AM before business hours. I did send a small donation to Feingold, much smaller than any attorney would charge, and to our surprised was sent an invitation for a dinner with him. My wife got to meet him in person, was told I had a very beautiful wife, but said I already know that.

Stepdaughter got a decision cannot be made due to proof of payment of small traffic violations. Since 9/11, our town is loaded with cops, as a new driver, didn't know how to look out for them. But a week letter, got a letter from the St. Paul office, no signature that stated she does not have to provide proof of those paid fines. But had to answer to battery charges when she was 17 months old. That was too much, Johnson is our new senator, promising to lower taxes, didn't even have am immigration department, not even an office in Oshkosh. Contacted Feingold, he contacted Senator Kohl to help us.

I spoke to his daughter, Lauren Kolh after getting my stepdaughters' permission to speak in her behalf, this also was cleared up instantly, but she had her oath ceremony two weeks later. We certainly had our share of problems, it was my immigration attorney that told me to contact my senators office, hope you have a good senator with uncalled for problems like we had. The many calls I made to that 1-800 number or ombudsman were useless. And always start off, this is my family!

With evidence, you want evidence, we have evidence, its like a game. But we pay the price in long delays as some of our friend have and mostly for uncalled reasons. Where do they think our immigrant spouses got their green cards and removal of conditions from? A Cracker Jack box? For us with marriage, the evidence was a combination for the AOS and the ROC stages. Wife said she saw a over 3 inch stack of evidence, all redundant.