Applying for another country's residency between interview and oath

[Camelot13 63]

Hello everybody, 

 

My husband is currently waiting for his N-400 application to conclude and to become a US citizen. We're planning to move to the UK after this all wraps up here. There are still many reasons we want him to have US citizenship, including a desire to move back to the states eventually and the future possibility we'll need to be here to care for my aging parents. We've been scheduled for a June interview. Assuming he gets approval and is assigned an oath ceremony for about a month after the interview, would there be any problem with me filing my UK spouse visa application after the interview but before the oath ceremony happens (once the date for the oath has been assigned)? We're on a fairly tight timeline to get over to the UK which is why I was thinking it'd be helpful to overlap them slightly by a couple weeks, as the UK visa will take about 5-6 weeks to process and be approved. So we wouldn't actually be moving until after the US oath is finished...just hoping to get the application process started. 

 

Basically I'm wondering if there's anything concrete in the rules about the US citizen spouse applying for a foreign visa before the full citizenship process concludes here that would mess up his US citizenship or cause it to be revoked after the interview? We wouldn't physically move until after he's fully a citizen. 

 

Thank you! 

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

17 minutes ago, Camelot13 said:

Hello everybody, 

 

My husband is currently waiting for his N-400 application to conclude and to become a US citizen. We're planning to move to the UK after this all wraps up here. There are still many reasons we want him to have US citizenship, including a desire to move back to the states eventually and the future possibility we'll need to be here to care for my aging parents. We've been scheduled for a June interview. Assuming he gets approval and is assigned an oath ceremony for about a month after the interview, would there be any problem with me filing my UK spouse visa application after the interview but before the oath ceremony happens (once the date for the oath has been assigned)? We're on a fairly tight timeline to get over to the UK which is why I was thinking it'd be helpful to overlap them slightly by a couple weeks, as the UK visa will take about 5-6 weeks to process and be approved. So we wouldn't actually be moving until after the US oath is finished...just hoping to get the application process started. 

 

Basically I'm wondering if there's anything concrete in the rules about the US citizen spouse applying for a foreign visa before the full citizenship process concludes here that would mess up his US citizenship or cause it to be revoked after the interview? We wouldn't physically move until after he's fully a citizen. 

 

Thank you! 

 

I wouldn't think it would matter at all honestly. It's you who's applying for the UK stuff. Minus being married to your spouse, he has no involvement, same as for him and US citizenship. Minus being married to you, he's the one processing for it. Doubt on any form anywhere, or even interview questions would pertain to anything about dual citizenships or "is your spouse trying to gain residency/citizenship of another country".

[Boiler 45,525]

You are applying for the visa, not your UKC.

 

Not that it matters anyway.

[Camelot13 63]

Thank you so much! That's also how I thought it would be, since I've never seen anything to contradict it, but of course I can get a bit paranoid when it comes to immigration processes. We've spent 4 years getting to the point so I'd hate for any technicality to get in the way of him finally becoming a US citizen. It's a good point that it's separate from him because I'm the one applying for the UK visa. 

[CarlHamilton 252]

I don't think it's such a slam dunk as the commenters above seem to believe.  Another way to look at this is that his intent is apparently to abandon his US residency, which would be relevant to his US permanent resident status, on which his N400 is based.  Your application would provide written evidence of that intent, since you most likely need him to live in the UK with you for that visa to be issued.  The fact that it's not him, but you, filing the application obviously reduces its visibility, but, as a thought experiment,  ask yourself if he would be comfortable discussing it with the interviewer under oath.

[JoannaV 174]

The thought experiment entirely depends on what your existing presuppositions are, so it's hard to glean any new facts from it. I mean, I think you can apply for UK citizenship and then take the British oath AFTER moving to the US. (That was definitely possible a few years ago.) (But that is not how the American process works.)

 

When you go to the oath ceremony you have to report any changes since the interview in certain areas: any arrests, address change, travel outside the US, marital status change. But nothing about future intentions.

 

They should be impressed that he wishes to ensure he has a perpetual responsibility to file US taxes regardless of his country of residence.

 

 

[Camelot13 63]

That's where I was getting confused because the oath is worded in a certain way, but in legal terms dual citizenships are accepted and people are free to move around after they have citizenship, so I wasn't sure how much future intent could pose a problem in the process. 

 

His intent is not to abandon his US physical residency prior to getting citizenship, so would it have an impact on N400 residency qualifications? I wouldn't have thought so. He's been a resident this whole time and intends to be one through the process of finalizing citizenship. Only after that would we be moving. 

 

Yeah, the taxes, eek! We weighed that up heavily, but ultimately our desire to be able to move back quickly in the event of a sudden family illness or emergency without having to file another green card application for him outweighed the annoyance of the tax returns. 

 

 

[Boiler 45,525]

There are various reasons for getting Citizenship, one of the better ones is to be able to leave and come back with no issues.

 

Somebody I know who had a grilling after being out for 5 months naturalised because of this.

 

You will have to ffile anyway so probably not much more of an issue.