How soon we should start the process for to apply for Citienship

[sagar2009 0]

We have have got our permanent resident cards in March 2005. As per USCIS website we have to apply N 400 form. I will appreciate if some could tell me how soon we can begin the process?

Thanks

Sagar

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Is it your 2 year green card or your 10 year green card that you received in March, 2005? Did you receive your green card through marriage to a US citizen?

If you received your green card through marriage to a US citizen and you received your 2 year card in March, 2005, did you apply for your 10 year card (I-751) by March, 2007? You cannot apply for citizenship unless you have successfully removed the conditions of the 2 year green card.

If you received your green card through marriage to a US citizen and you received your 10 year card in March, 2005, then you were eligible to apply for your US citizenship 90 days before the third anniversary of getting your green card (around Jan, 2008).

If you did not receive your green card through marriage to a US citizen and you received your green card in March 2005, then you are eligible to file for your US citizenship 90 days prior to the 5th anniversary of receiving your green card - around Jan, 2010.

You do not HAVE to apply for Naturalization - it is an optional step - so there is no deadline date by which you must apply. Read over the instructions on the N-400 application form and read 'The Guide to Naturalization" booklet available on the USCIS website. It will have all the answers you need.

[lucyrich 20]

Minor correction: It doesn't matter HOW you got your green card, what matters is whether or not you've been married to and living with a US Citizen spouse. Someone who got a green card through work, and has been married to and living with their US Citizen spouse for a full three years, and has held the green card for three years, would be eligible to file, even though they didn't get the green card through marriage. Of course, the vast majority of people who file via the three year provision got their green cards through marriage, but there's no requirement that it be so.

The short answer is to read the N-400

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/N-400.pdf

As soon as you're eligible to check one of the boxes for part 2, you can file. Note that conditional permanent residence is as good as unconditional permanent residence for the purpose of naturalization.

The longer answer is to consult the M-476:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

Read especially the box at the bottom of page 22 of the M-476.

[jsnearline 2]

There is no requirement that you file for naturalization. If you choose to do so, you are normally eligble to file five years minus ninety days after the Resident Since date on your green card. If you became a permanent resident because of marriage to a US Citizen and are still married to that person, you can file three years minus ninety days after the Resident Since date on your green card. You can choose to file anytime after your eligibility begins.

[miker32us 6]

Correction, you can file 3 years minus 90 days PLUS the number of days you have been out of the country since you received your green card!!!

There is no requirement that you file for naturalization. If you choose to do so, you are normally eligble to file five years minus ninety days after the Resident Since date on your green card. If you became a permanent resident because of marriage to a US Citizen and are still married to that person, you can file three years minus ninety days after the Resident Since date on your green card. You can choose to file anytime after your eligibility begins.

[jsnearline 2]

Correction, you can file 3 years minus 90 days PLUS the number of days you have been out of the country since you received your green card!!!

Not true. Time spent outside the US only starts to impact your eligibility date if your total days outside the country add up to 18 months or more if applying under the 3 years based on marriage, 30 months or more if applying based on five years residency, or if you spent a year or more outside the US at one time.

[miker32us 6]

My co-worker is from the UK, his wife is a US citizen, he has been here in the US and married to her 3 years but has been out of the country attending scientific conferences, etc, a total of 3 months. He was told he had to wait an additional 3 months to apply for citizenship by our local USCIS immigration office when he did an infopass. Perhaps it is up to each office or officer but they do ask the question right on the I-400 application.

What you are saying is that someone can be outside the country for 17/36 months and still apply for citizenship?

Also, it is not the 3 years you have been married but the 3 years since you arrived in the US, ie, the date on your green card for those IR-1 or CR-1 filers.

Correction, you can file 3 years minus 90 days PLUS the number of days you have been out of the country since you received your green card!!!

Not true. Time spent outside the US only starts to impact your eligibility date if your total days outside the country add up to 18 months or more if applying under the 3 years based on marriage, 30 months or more if applying based on five years residency, or if you spent a year or more outside the US at one time.

[lucyrich 20]

My co-worker is from the UK, his wife is a US citizen, he has been here in the US and married to her 3 years but has been out of the country attending scientific conferences, etc, a total of 3 months. He was told he had to wait an additional 3 months to apply for citizenship by our local USCIS immigration office when he did an infopass. Perhaps it is up to each office or officer but they do ask the question right on the I-400 application.

What you are saying is that someone can be outside the country for 17/36 months and still apply for citizenship?

Also, it is not the 3 years you have been married but the 3 years since you arrived in the US, ie, the date on your green card for those IR-1 or CR-1 filers.

Correction, you can file 3 years minus 90 days PLUS the number of days you have been out of the country since you received your green card!!!

Not true. Time spent outside the US only starts to impact your eligibility date if your total days outside the country add up to 18 months or more if applying under the 3 years based on marriage, 30 months or more if applying based on five years residency, or if you spent a year or more outside the US at one time.

Your co-worker was misinformed by the immigration officer. It happens. For the authoritative answer, see INA 316, 8 CFR 316, INA 319(a) and 8 CFR 319.1 (for the 90 day shortcut, see INA 334(a) and 8 CFR 334.2(b)).

If you want to see it in more plain English, see the M-476.

For perhaps the most straightforward explanation (but a bit simplified), see Part 2 of the N-400, boxes A and B.

jsnearline is right. Time spent outside the US doesn't affect naturalization eligibility unless it either breaks continuous residence, or totals more than half of the required continuous residence period.

Also, it is not the 3 years you have been married but the 3 years since you arrived in the US, ie, the date on your green card for those IR-1 or CR-1 filers.

There is a "three pronged" test for the three year filing under 319.1. It's explained in box 2B of part 2 of the N-400. The three prongs are

* Three years continuous residence in the US as a LPR (INA 334 gives a 90 day shortcut on this point ONLY)

* Three years married to and living in marital union with one US Citizen spouse

* The spouse must have been a US Citizen for three years.

All three of these conditions must be met in order to check box 2B. The order in which the three conditions will be met varies from one case to the next, so different people will have different conditions as their limiting factor that determines when they can file. Most people around here will probably have the "three years continuous residence with 90 day shortcut allowed" as the limiting factor, but people who only started to live together on the day they became permanent residents (due to entry as a CR-1), might have the second prong be the limiting factor, since no 90 day shortcut is allowed there. It's theoretically possible to have the third prong be the limiting factor, if you married someone who completed naturalization shortly after you were married.

Edited November 6, 2009 by lucyrich