Bankruptcy and its effects on citizenship

[sjplein 0]

Hi, I don't post on here much. I'm from Australia originally, and I've been in the US for just over three years now - firstly on a K3, then had my status adjusted to permanent residency in February this year . In three years we'll start the citizenship process for me (hopefully dual citizenship, US and Australian), but we've had an issue come up.

We have a meeting with a bankruptcy lawyer tomorrow, because our finances are getting ridiculous - with student loans, car loans, credit cards... you get the idea. We are generally not extravagant people, but somehow it's getting the better of us, and so we're going to chat with this guy tomorrow and see what our options are.

My husband chatted with him a bit on the phone today, and it sounds like we'll be eligible to apply for a Chapter 7 (I think) bankruptcy. But my first thought about this is, does this affect my chances of citizenship? They do background checks, etc, and I'm wondering whether they'll see this and be all "well you can't be here anymore". Please tell me I'm just being paranoid.

On that same note also, would it affect my husband's chances of moving to Australia if we end up doing so (we are hoping it will happen in the next ten years or so)?

Any advice you can give me on this would be greatly appreciated.

(Also I don't know if I've posted this in the correct section, so mods, you can move this if necessary. )

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I don't recall seeing anything anywhere that would indicate bankruptcy being a problem with citizenship application. If you have a debt to the IRS, then you need to provide USCIS with documentation to show you have worked out a repayment schedule but that appears to be the extent of their interest.

I have no idea how it would affect immigration to Australia, but again bankruptcy doesn't seem to be an issue for immigration to the US nor to Canada, the two systems with which I am familiar, so it may not be an issue. The best thing to do would be to check with the Immigration department in Australia - read their website, etc. - to get more information.