N-400 Expedited Naturalization via Section 319b

[mnbinth 2]

Hi,

Do you have any idea as to how soon someone can send their application in for the 319b?

Am currently putting my packet together .... but not flying until April/May.

Was thinking 6 months would be OK to allow them to get working on it.

BTW, Thank you so much for the helpful information you've put on VJ concerning this expedite

You can send the application the moment your spouse receives a green card because he/she is eligible to apply for naturalization immediately after approval of permanent residence (assuming they meet all the requirements for 319b of course). Keep in mind you'll be given a scheduled biometrics appointment before the interview. In my wife's case, we waited 3 months after the green card in an attempt to time the interview with our travel plans.

Edited October 15, 2009 by mnbinth

[Army_Wife 2]

Hi,

Do you have any idea as to how soon someone can send their application in for the 319b?

Am currently putting my packet together .... but not flying until April/May.

Was thinking 6 months would be OK to allow them to get working on it.

BTW, Thank you so much for the helpful information you've put on VJ concerning this expedite

You can send the application the moment your spouse receives a green card because he/she is eligible to apply for naturalization immediately after approval of permanent residence (assuming they meet all the requirements for 319b of course). Keep in mind you'll be given a scheduled biometrics appointment before the interview. In my wife's case, we waited 3 months after the green card in an attempt to time the interview with our travel plans.

Am sorry, I wasn't clear ... I'm the greencard holder ... my Husband is military and I was wondering how far out from our travel date can I apply?

Do you think 5-6 months is too far away?

Is there a specific timeline?

[mnbinth 2]

Am sorry, I wasn't clear ... I'm the greencard holder ... my Husband is military and I was wondering how far out from our travel date can I apply?

Do you think 5-6 months is too far away?

Is there a specific timeline?

When we went through the process, the average time was 3 months or less from application to interview. That looks like around what it still is. Your application will be processed at the same speed as everyone else at the office you apply to. Check the forums and see how long others are taking wherever you are planning to apply to. The only expedited thing about it is that you don't have to wait 3 years to apply.

You are supposed to have evidence at your interview that you plan to join your husband overseas within 45 days of the interview. That makes it pretty tough to plan and it's a very vague requirement as to what's required.

[RoyNawal 0]

Quick question about I-400 fee, being that my wife and I are both outside of the US when applying is the cost $595 without biometrics fee or $675 with biometrics?

[BarrettFB 0]

Thanks for the great thread. I'm also wondering about the time line.

I'm not planning to leave until August 2010. Should I start my paperwork now?

Also, I went to the Detroit field office to ask questions about 319b. I got a very strange answer regarding the time of my wife as a permanent resident.

She's been a PR with conditional status since July 19, 2007. In July, 2009 she was granted unconditional PR with a PR card that expires in 2019.

Under the regular naturalization process, she would become eligible to file on July 19, 2010. We are planning on departing the country just a few weeks later (which would make filing under the regular time line impractical, as she'd have to come back months later for the interview and swearing in ceremony). The immigration officer informed me that the 319b could only be filed if she was within the 3 year period (0-2.99 years) where one normally couldn't file for naturalization, and that since she'd be eligible under the regular filing rules after July 19th, before our departure date, that she'd be denied 319b expeditious naturalization.

I argued with him for 45 minutes saying there was nothing in the FAQ of the 319b from the USCIS website that said there regulations regarding PR time, neither minimum required time, nor penalty for having completed the 3 year minimum. I told him that it was my understanding that 319b was there in order to expedite naturalization, no matter what amount of time the person had as a PR. He said that is not the case.

Did any of you who filed and completed the process with the 319b exception have more than 3 years as a PR?

[mnbinth 2]

It's hard to get answers from field offices about 319b as you're already finding out. Ours initially denied my wife's application because they didn't understand it. It took a lawyer explaining to her how to do her job to get it right... not to mention a few thousand dollars. grrrr It's interesting that Detroit was willing to even discuss it. I had the FAQ from USCIS in hand and the Des Moines office refused to admit 319b even existed and said they'd have a lawyer call me. I'm still waiting for that call...

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe the person at the Detroit office is wrong. A 3 year marriage or residency requirement defeats the purpose of 319b, to allow U.S. citizens and their spouses to move abroad to work for entities and organizations based out of the U.S. IMMEDIATELY after permanent residency is established. Granted you aren't immediately applying, but it would still be expeditious for you to apply earlier than the 3 year period of 319a. Thanks to USCIS and their crappy web site, you can't read through the INA right now so my links at the top of this forum don't take you anywhere. However I'm reading through 319b, INS Interpretation letter 319.2, and the adjudicators field manual I have and can find nothing that supports the Detroit offices comments. The fact that your departure is after the 3 year period should be erroneous. NOWHERE in the law does it even mention 3 years. The whole 3 years thing deals with 319a. 319b is independent from 319a and completely separate part of the law. Naturalization under 319b, unlike under 319a, does NOT have a 3 year marriage or residency requirement of any kind. The plain statutory construction of INA doesn't impose ANY length of marriage requirement so you are able to apply. I'm quite certain the law is on your side. However, you may end up needing a lawyer to prove it if the adjudicator in Detroit is inexperienced or incompetent. And there could be something funky about the law I don't understand that makes you ineligible. Good luck!

Edited December 7, 2009 by mnbinth

[BarrettFB 0]

Thanks for your reply. I'm pretty sure at this point I'm only going to deal with the Fairfax, VA office. They seem to know what they're doing, and have jurisdiction over all 319b cases (as there is no jurisdiction guidelines when applying through 319b).

I'm trying to avoid getting an attorney involved. I just don't have the money for that right now. I hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the butt later on.

[mnbinth 2]

Thanks for your reply. I'm pretty sure at this point I'm only going to deal with the Fairfax, VA office. They seem to know what they're doing, and have jurisdiction over all 319b cases (as there is no jurisdiction guidelines when applying through 319b).

I'm trying to avoid getting an attorney involved. I just don't have the money for that right now. I hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the butt later on.

In the end, it's all worth the money and hassle.

[mnbinth 2]

Here are a few corrected and more specific links from the first post. USCIS has a new site design which messed up the previous links. Keep in mind when preparing documents and reading through this that Section 319b is completely separate from the other parts of Section 319. For example, the requirements for 319a are not necessarily required for 319b.

Section 319b in the Immigration and Nationality Act

Code of Regulations (8 CFR PART 319.2)

Code of Regulations (8 CFR Part 319.11)

Interpretation Letter for 319.2

Helpful Information can be found in the Adjudicator's Field Manual.

Adjudicator's Field Manual Chapter 73.4

This proves that someone applying under Section 319b is exempt from the 3 month residency requirement in a state.

Adjudicator's Field Manual Chapter 73.5

This proves that someone applying under Section 319b has no physical presence requirement.

If you hire a lawyer, make sure they have a copy of the U.S. Citizenship and Naturalization Handbook or maybe you can find it in a library.

It has a lot to say about Section 319b.

I attached some PDF's of some of the above if the links are broken later on.

__Sec._319.2.pdf

__Sec._319.11.pdf

Adjudicator__s_Handbook_73.4_Jurisdiction..pdf

Adjudicator__s_Handbook_73.5_Physical_Presence.pdf

Interpretation_Letter_of___Sec._319.2.pdf

Section_319b_of_INA.pdf

[mnbinth 2]

We received a letter in the mail reminding us that my wife needs to apply to remove her conditional residency status.

She's been a citizen for over a year. Glad to know USCIS is still incompetent and can't update simple computer records...

[Jack Zinberg 0]

Hello,

I live in Augusta, GA... If I'm sending my application through over night mail, what address should I send it to? And what office do you recommend for me to be naturalized at?

Please help... Thanks!

[milimelo 4,522]

Hello,

I live in Augusta, GA... If I'm sending my application through over night mail, what address should I send it to? And what office do you recommend for me to be naturalized at?

Please help... Thanks!

Fairfax, VA deals frequently with 319 (b) cases and they also have same day oath so your best bet would be this office.

[Army_Wife 2]

Have already written this information on another 319b thread, but I thought I'd post it here too in a hope to keep it all together:

I'm in Atlanta and am currently in the middle of my 319b application. I'm doing mine through Fairfax, VA and they've been absolutely AMAZING!

Firstly, Atlanta has a VERY bad reputation with the military, and so I avoided them like the plague. Have seen many a disaster go through Atlanta ... they don't even take any notice of the Senators here.

I sent my packet to the Vermont Service Center, requesting my process go through Fairfax. They infact forwarded it to the National Benefits Center. The NBC sent me for finger prints in Atlanta (really fast and easy), but called me 2 days later to let me know that my finger prints were back and they were packing my file for expedited processing ... did I want it to go to Faifax as requested or to Atlanta as it was closer? I requested Fairfax, obviously.

The lady said it would arrive within 2 days, but to give them 4 for unpacking time.

I'd called the military helpline previous to receiving this call as I was worried they were going to ignore my request for Fairfax, as I'd been sent for prints in Atlanta. They were fabulous (it truly is different when you're doing citizenship) and very knowledgable about the 319b ... the key is to only talk to the citizenship department, I always talk with the same lady, bar once. Both knew it all.

A few days later, I had an email from a supervisor at Fairfax, with his cell number at the bottom of the email, saying he was contacting about my interview date. I sent a request for a specific date ... a couple of hours later I had a typed up form with my date and time. Nothing like the other guys on here have had ... it's definately more personal. My letter isn't a NOA at all and even has the name of the person who will be interviewing me.

I haven't had my interview yet, it's next week ... but I already know when my oath is going to be. Yes, they called me to see if I wanted the oath on the same day, or if I'd like it on another day ... total cart before the horse, but then we're jumping all the normal processes everyone else goes through.

My greencard is conditional, I do know that you must take the oath before your condition removal paperwork is due to go in. If you miss the date, you'll need to send in both the N-400 and the condition removal paperwork ... my oath date is literally a week before my condition removal paperwork is due to go in, so I'm happy to save the cash on that.

Hope this helps.

[haitigirl 0]

Hi,

Thank you so much for this very helpful thread! I have been reading a ton of stuff on the 319b process, and wish I would have found this earlier, because it is very helpful and clarifies some confusing issues. I have a couple of questions about this process...

1. My husband has conditional permanent residency, but has already entered the 90-day period in which we are supposed to file for the removal of conditions. We are filing for 319b naturalization this week. Do we have to file for the removal of conditions as well, or can we wait and see if the expedited naturalization goes through before the end of our 90-day period?

2. We are currently residing in Haiti. I went to the US Embassy to find out how we should go about getting the required fingerprints, but they said they have to receive a request from USCIS before they will do the fingerprints. I stated this in our cover letter, but I am nervous about sending in the application without either the fee for biometrics or the fingerprint cards themselves. Has anyone else had this issue? Is it possible for USCIS to send us a fingerprinting appointment for the Embassy here in Haiti, just like they would do for the US if we were applying from there?

3. Is it ok to leave things blank on the N400 application if they don't apply? For example, my husband does not have a middle name. Should I leave that blank? I hesitate to put "N/A" because I don't want that to be incorrectly processed as his middle name.

Thank you to anyone who can help me out with (reliable) information!

[haitigirl 0]

Oh, and also-- we want the interview in Fairfax. I am confused about where to send the application. The USCIS website gives 2 lockbox addresses, depending on where you reside. Our US address is in Missouri, which would have us sending the app to the Arizona address. But we want the interview in Fairfax, so I was thinking we should send the app to the Texas address. But then on another website, it states that if your interview will be with the Fairfax office, you should file directly with the Vermont Service Center. It gives the following address:

Vermont Service Center

75 Lower Welden Street

St. Albans, VT 05479

Attn: Expedite Naturalization – 319(b)

Does anyone know which address I should send our application to?

Thank you!