Certificate of naturalization vs Marriage certificate

[kymcoco 0]

Hello, I have a question and need the advise.

I made a stupid mistake during the naturalization interview.

In the begining of this year, I went back to my country and registered for marriage with my girl friend(she is not an US citizen or PR).

When I came back and send the N-400 for USCIS in April, I filled my marital status as single because I thought I did the registration in my country, not in USA.

Today, I found what I thought was wrong because marriage is valid no matter where you registered for it.

Therefore, my certificate of naturalization shows that I am still single in the date I took the oath. However, the date of my Taiwanese marriage certificate is earlier than that date, which means I gave the wrong information during the interview.

I have several questions:

1. If my girl friend and I register for marriage again in the US, and then using this US marriage certificate for immigration purposes. Will this help?

2. Should I go to the immigration office and tell them the truth? Would they cancel or removal my citizenship if they found this? It's obvious just a mistake because no matter I filled my marital status as single or married, it wouldn't affected the decision of my application since my green card is NOT marital based. And since we registered in the beginning of this year, It won't afftect my previous tax return information.

3. If the worst case scenario happens, USCIS want to cancel or removal my citizenship after they find this, can I still hire a lawyer trying to get my citizenship back since I didn't use this incorrect information to gain any immigration benefits?

Thanks for the helps in advance.

Sincerely,

David

[Tini27 0]

Do you plan on bringing your wife to the US? or do you plan to move there? If you plan to bring her here, it'll be difficult to do so on a fiancee visa since you're already married there. If you want to brng her as your spouse, you'll have to provide a marriage certificate and that would be a problem since the date is anterior. Also, any official form ends with an official declaration that all statements are true, and in this case it would be an issue. I think you should seek the advice of an immigration lawyer. If you do so quickly and prove your good faith, there may be a way to remedy the situation. I would definitely not wait too long to take action. Mistakes happen but once you're aware of it, you should correct it. Good luck!

[NickD 203]

Not exactly sure what your problem is, with the IRS, you can file an amended return, the IRS doesn't care where your spouse is at. This is the thing, you don't assume anything, you call and ask first. I had the same question, picked up the phone and called the IRS for claiming my wife. You can also go to the IRS site, and plow through thousands of pages of tax laws.

To the best of my knowledge, neither the IRS or the USCIS cares whether you file married with either a separate or a joint return, but if you are married, have to chose one or the other, IRS has a publication on this, but I would have to find the number. In our case, we have to use the same filing status with our state income tax, and would lose some pretty good deductions if we filed separately. Too damn many laws, can drive a guy nuts, that is why they have both immigration attorneys and tax accountants, and it's all due to the simple fact, they can't write their damn laws in English so a person with reasonable intelligence can comprehend them. Yeah, I was so pissed off wrote my senator and congressman on these issues, but it seems they are too busy running for reelection.

I did screw up on my 2008 return, but they got me by specifying a publication that wasn't even referenced. I did have to pay extra taxes, but they kind of admitted making a mistake in not being clear, so did not charge me any penalties nor interest. Still conclude, we have a bunch of idiots running our government. Would recommend filing an amended return, your standard deduction would be much greater, but not sure if they will even give you a refund, they don't like doing that.

[kymcoco 0]

Hello Tini27,

I am not in hurry to apply for my wife, and probably won't do that for a couple of years since I will go back to my country in the end of this year. I just want to make sure in case if I am going to apply green card for her, there won't be any problems.

What I think right now is having her applying for B2 visa and come here, and then we will register marriage again in the US. In the future if we apply for any immigration benefits, we may just use the new marriage certificate.

There has the risk that she might not be able to get B2 visa, but she used to study in the US by using F1 visa with good records, and right now she has a stable job in Taiwan. So I think she should be fine to get B2.

I am not sure if this is a good idea, but this is the only idea I can have right now.

Hi NickD,

I mentioned tax return just trying to prove that I didn't lie about the marital status to gain any tax benefits. No big deal.