N-400 question

[mikkopel 0]

Hello! I've been married to my wife, a USC, for ten years now. We've been living in the US continuously for the whole time, except the first few months before I moved in.

So I've been eligible for citizenship for a while now. I've just pushed it back for silly reasons. But now I am gathering together all the necessary paperwork, and filling out the forms. But I do have a question.

We got married in Finland, and I submitted a certified translated copy of the marriage certificate to the US Consulate in Helsinki to get my immigrant visa. Now, I can't find a copy of it. And in Finland, all records are electronic anyway, so I can get an official copy of my records, in English, showing the date of marriage and my spouse's name. But technically, this is not a marriage certificate. But then again, they might still have the original copy on file at the USCIS.

To complicate things a bit more, my wife was having trouble changing her name back then. So for that, and for our family in the US, we actually had another ceremony in the US exactly a year after the one in Finland. For that, I can get a copy. So even based on just off of that, I've been eligible for citizenship for a long time. But is it really valid, since we were already married to each other before?

I'm still married to the same person, and nothing has changed, and I have tax records showing we've filed jointly ever since. So all that is pretty straightforward.

Any suggestions on how to file this? Just file all the papers, and explain if they ask? Or file either one of the papers, which one?

Thanks!

[girimurthy 5]

Since you have been in US for more than 10 years you can file for N400 with the 5 year rule and not by marriage. That will reduce the amount of paperwork you need to submit. Under the 5 year rule all you need apart from the N400 are two pictures and a copy of GC. You will need the tax papers during interview.

Make sure you select you are filing under 5 year rule in part 2.

[mikkopel 0]

Since you have been in US for more than 10 years you can file for N400 with the 5 year rule and not by marriage. That will reduce the amount of paperwork you need to submit. Under the 5 year rule all you need apart from the N400 are two pictures and a copy of GC. You will need the tax papers during interview.

Make sure you select you are filing under 5 year rule in part 2.

Oh I didn't realize I could do that. It does make sense though.

[Birdo 16]

It makes it way simpler. You'll probably still have to take a copy of the marriage certificate to your eventual interview (but I understand that not all of the interviewers even ask to see it). So just bring both copies. Nice to see another Finn over here.

[mikkopel 0]

It makes it way simpler. You'll probably still have to take a copy of the marriage certificate to your eventual interview (but I understand that not all of the interviewers even ask to see it). So just bring both copies. Nice to see another Finn over here.

Yeah, I'm planning on taking every single document I can think of to the interview "just in case". There's a guy who works under me at work, and he just got his citizenship this past year so he's been telling me what to expect at different stages. It helps a lot when you know what to expect.

Nice to meet you too! Good luck with your interview soon!