A question for whom expert in citizenship matters .

[Remthawe10 0]

Hello dear folks ,,,

hereby by a short brief of my whole story , I thought it might be helpful for who thinks to help me .my story started June 2005 ,I met my current US wife via internet.we went through a very horrible and lengthy trip until we reached to be together .I will explain shortly as below ...

* June 2005 met via internet

*August 2006 got married in my back home country Jordan

Sep 1 we applied ....)NOA Dec 12 case approved ! ---case file received in Amman Jordan at Jan 17 2007 .Interview scheduled April 10 -2007

* the decision made was to return the case file to USA for more administrative reviewing .

* April 2001 we become given up and advised by An attorney to re-apply .

May 2011 we started a new journey of CR1 process .

20 Jan 2012 NOA case approved , Feb 18 case received in US embassy Amman-Jordan .

Interview scheduled at March 18 2012 . Case suspended one more time for mandatory procedures .

May 20 Goot a phone call by the embassy asking for another interview and that the consular asked to see me again . Was really easy and brief .

Mar 24 file with immigrant visa received .

June 15 2012 Arrived to JFK .

* received the green card 10 years few weeks after ,Lawful Permanent Residence since June 15 2012 .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now these are all information needed to understand the whole situation .I heard that I may apply for citizenship 3 months before I complete the 3 years as a Permanent Resident based on Alien petition (Married to An American citizen .which it suppose to be next week or March 15 2015 if I'm not mistaken ....Therefore I been told to prepare myself and to prepare all documents needed with N 400 .

the problem started when a friend told me there is a problem gonna show up during the process which I applied for Tax return as single based on a request of my wife ,,, she preferred to apply alone because this way she gains more money Esp she has got 2 minor kids.

My friend thinks I need to wait 2 more years to be eligible to apply for citizenship .Since the early morning I don't know what to do then I remembered this great site and I decided to ask for help here . Hopefully I will find an answer before I must make a decision very soon .

All attempts to help would be absolutely appreciated in advanced .

Mohammad

(F) (F) (F) (F) (F) (F) (F) (F)

Edited March 13, 2015 by Penguin_ie

[DC85 113]

How you filed as a single while you were married ! What you need to do is very simple; Go to an accountant , let him amend your taxes since 2012. you can file Married Filing Separately. Ask your wife to do the same. IF both of you filed as a single it may trigger a big red flag with the immigration. Once you amend your taxes with IRS, file for citizenship, you shouldn't have a problem , but expect to have a lot of question about the tax issue. For USCIS, they may suspect your marriage , and they may not event ask you a question about that. Finally, Back yourself up with a lot of evidences which prove that you guys live together as a married couple.

For you information, since you get your GC through marriage, they can question your relationship even if applied after 10 years.

[BigDaddy28 228]

Assalam Alaikom:

First Im not an expert but I can give you an advice.

You can apply 90 days before your 3 year anniversary meaning that you open date is not March 15th,2015 it starts on March 18th, 2015. DO NOT SEND your file until you get a little closer to that date. If your file is received by USCIS even one day before eligibility they have the option to send it back (Not fun, trust me).

Your taxes as said before you can amend them and file married filing separately. Expect questions about that and why did you do it that way? You will have to prove that you entered the marriage in good faith otherwise you could be denied. .

Do not file for citizenship until you fix your taxes.

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hi,

You have a bigger problem than US citizenship.

Instead of filing as married filing jointly or separately, you and your spouse filed fraudulent returns with yourselves as single to get a bigger refund. That's tax fraud. You may ant to fix this.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

**** Full name, Facebook and email removed. Please do not post identifying info such as that, addresses, case numbers etc for your own safety and privacy. ******

[JimmyHou 611]

Hello dear folks ,,,

hereby by a short brief of my whole story , I thought it might be helpful for who thinks to help me .my story started June 2005 ,I met my current US wife via internet.we went through a very horrible and lengthy trip until we reached to be together .I will explain shortly as below ...

* June 2005 met via internet

*August 2006 got married in my back home country Jordan

Sep 1 we applied ....)NOA Dec 12 case approved ! ---case file received in Amman Jordan at Jan 17 2007 .Interview scheduled April 10 -2007

* the decision made was to return the case file to USA for more administrative reviewing .

* April 2001 we become given up and advised by An attorney to re-apply .

May 2011 we started a new journey of CR1 process .

20 Jan 2012 NOA case approved , Feb 18 case received in US embassy Amman-Jordan .

Interview scheduled at March 18 2012 . Case suspended one more time for mandatory procedures .

May 20 Goot a phone call by the embassy asking for another interview and that the consular asked to see me again . Was really easy and brief .

Mar 24 file with immigrant visa received .

June 15 2012 Arrived to JFK .

* received the green card 10 years few weeks after ,Lawful Permanent Residence since June 15 2012 .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now these are all information needed to understand the whole situation .I heard that I may apply for citizenship 3 months before I complete the 3 years as a Permanent Resident based on Alien petition (Married to An American citizen .which it suppose to be next week or March 15 2015 if I'm not mistaken ....Therefore I been told to prepare myself and to prepare all documents needed with N 400 .

the problem started when a friend told me there is a problem gonna show up during the process which I applied for Tax return as single based on a request of my wife ,,, she preferred to apply alone because this way she gains more money Esp she has got 2 minor kids.

My friend thinks I need to wait 2 more years to be eligible to apply for citizenship .Since the early morning I don't know what to do then I remembered this great site and I decided to ask for help here . Hopefully I will find an answer before I must make a decision very soon .

All attempts to help would be absolutely appreciated in advanced .

Mohammad

(F) (F) (F) (F) (F) (F) (F) (F)

As others above have said, it is not legal to file as single when you are married... you need to fix this before you apply for citizenship. Actually, you need to fix this even if you don't apply for citizenship, because you can get in trouble with the IRS. What you did was you provided false information on a tax form in order to pay less money. You need to file amended tax returns for each year that you filed as single and refile as either "married filing jointly" or "married filing separately". Those are the only legal choices. When you correct your returns, you may owe money, which you will need to pay (or set up a payment agreement with the IRS). When you've corrected this issue, you can apply for citizenship after you've been a permanent resident for 3 years minus 90 days, and you've been married for 3 full years, and your spouse has been a US citizen for 3 full years.

[Boiler 45,517]

There is the good morale character issue.

[Remthawe10 0]

Thank you guy's .though I think I need to explain to you something important which I see that you directly jumped to your negative conclusions as I tried to fraud The IRS and tried to obtain more money !!

When came to this country I didn't know that much about such issues like the tax return or something else ... all helped by my wife and I did all what she told me and I remember that when I was about to apply for the first time I talked her and I asked her for SSN# and she said no and that I might apply as single and that is no a big deal . As soon as I pay my tax they don't care !!! .

After a while I started to find out that she applied for her benefit to gain more money ! moreover we had a big fight to the point I had to leave to TN and I applied my second year Tax there !! I tried one more time to make it up ....no use !!

After this I went back to NYC and I got rehired again .

What I want to say either way I had to apply !! and its what I did . I offered the divorce and every time she escape away when it comes to a critical and serious issue .

Guys I'm seeking help because every single day I find out A new trouble in my path which I never seek and didn't work for . i'm legal in this country and I want to keep it up .No matter what it gonna cost me .

I thought I had to put this explanation for more information .

Any other opinions please ???I have to make a decision either to go forward or to fix it all .

[aaron2020 11,651]

No one questioned your intentions. You were given good advice.

It's illegal to file a tax return as single when you are married. If you don't appreciate that a big problem has been pointed out to you, then ignore it.

Best of luck.

[JimmyHou 611]

Thank you guy's .though I think I need to explain to you something important which I see that you directly jumped to your negative conclusions as I tried to fraud The IRS and tried to obtain more money !!

When came to this country I didn't know that much about such issues like the tax return or something else ... all helped by my wife and I did all what she told me and I remember that when I was about to apply for the first time I talked her and I asked her for SSN# and she said no and that I might apply as single and that is no a big deal . As soon as I pay my tax they don't care !!! .

After a while I started to find out that she applied for her benefit to gain more money ! moreover we had a big fight to the point I had to leave to TN and I applied my second year Tax there !! I tried one more time to make it up ....no use !!

After this I went back to NYC and I got rehired again .

What I want to say either way I had to apply !! and its what I did . I offered the divorce and every time she escape away when it comes to a critical and serious issue .

Guys I'm seeking help because every single day I find out A new trouble in my path which I never seek and didn't work for . i'm legal in this country and I want to keep it up .No matter what it gonna cost me .

I thought I had to put this explanation for more information .

Any other opinions please ???I have to make a decision either to go forward or to fix it all .

This site is for advice, not judgement. You did something illegal... that's a fact, not a negative conclusion. You explained why it happened, but that doesn't change the fact that you need to correct your mistake.

You should file amended returns and fix this issue.

Edited March 19, 2015 by JimmyHou

[novedsac 355]

As others have noted, you need to fix the tax issue. If your wife is unwilling to assist, then amend you returns to MFS. You may need to pay additional tax and/or penalties, but the IRS will work on a payment plan to meet your obligation; coming forward on your own accord will help with this.

If your wife is unwilling to correct her tax returns as well, then you need to be vigilant that you do not get caught up in her tax fraud scheme. Repeated intentional misrepresentation on tax returns for the purpose of financial gain could very well result in a criminal conviction and jail time. Based on the information I gather from your post, I don't believe you are eligible for Innocent Spouse Relief, but you may want to go through the following link just in case:

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Tax-Information-for-Innocent-Spouses

If I were you, I'd get a third-party expert opinion on anything your wife asks you to sign.

Again, you really need to address that tax situation first. Running afoul of the IRS will make your experience with USCIS seem like a cake walk.

[olna83 20]

Hello,

Guys please help. I sent my n400 last week, they cashed the check already but now I'm freaking out as I'm reading through some USC application experiences.

There were people who - when applying for a driver's license - mistakenly indicated they want to register to vote, and the USCIS initiated removal proceedings against them. I am really stressed now because I applied for my drivers license long time ago (7-8 years ago), I was knew to this country, I was a student and I do not remember if I knew that a non-citizen cannot vote. In fact I followed what other people did in the line with me (stupid head, if I just knew..). Again, I do not remember for sure but there is a possibility that I could have checked off that box for registering to vote. Now I'm completely shocked and I don't know what to do. I never voted though.

I would appreciate any advice on it.

Thank you!

[JimmyHou 611]

Hello,

Guys please help. I sent my n400 last week, they cashed the check already but now I'm freaking out as I'm reading through some USC application experiences.

There were people who - when applying for a driver's license - mistakenly indicated they want to register to vote, and the USCIS initiated removal proceedings against them. I am really stressed now because I applied for my drivers license long time ago (7-8 years ago), I was knew to this country, I was a student and I do not remember if I knew that a non-citizen cannot vote. In fact I followed what other people did in the line with me (stupid head, if I just knew..). Again, I do not remember for sure but there is a possibility that I could have checked off that box for registering to vote. Now I'm completely shocked and I don't know what to do. I never voted though.

I would appreciate any advice on it.

Thank you!

Please start your own thread by clicking here. It's not fair to the original poster for us to start discussing a new topic here.

Go to the main naturalization page and click the Start New Topic box at the top right hand side of the page.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/114-us-citizenship-general-discussion/

[MaverickN400 2]

As no one mentioned here I would advise you something. Don't be in a hurry to apply for N-400. There are so many red flags in your application. For now try to correct things like amending your taxes and working with your wife. If you and your wife are not on the same page then don't apply using the 3 year rule instead wait and apply for 5 year rule. You have 10 year GC anyways. Please don't claim innocence as your excuse what good is it for this country if they make you (innocent or don't know anything) citizen of this country. So act smart and get your stuff together. You are trying to become the citizen of one of the greatest country. Act like it. Make yourself worthy not a free loader.

Edited March 19, 2015 by MaverickN400

[JimmyHou 611]

As no one mentioned here I would advise you something. Don't be in a hurry to apply for N-400. There are so many red flags in your application. For now try to correct things like amending your taxes and working with your wife. If you and your wife are not on the same page then don't apply using the 3 year rule instead wait and apply for 5 year rule. You have 10 year GC anyways. Please don't claim innocence as your excuse what good is it for this country if they make you (innocent or don't know anything) citizen of this country. So act smart and get your stuff together. You are trying to become the citizen of one of the greatest country. Act like it. Make yourself worthy not a free loader.

You started with some very good advice and then you totally lost me... I'm not sure you understand what free-loader means, because nothing the OP mentioned said indicates that he's trying to get something for free or to cheat the system. He's trying to make his way through some confusing rules and a tough situation.

That being said, the OP is probably better off applying under the 5 year rule.