Should I file for citizenship while I-751 is pending?

[Ptl4511 4]

I filed form i751 in Dec 2017 in Minnesota. I will be eligible to apply for citizenship this December based on 3 year rule. Should I go ahead and file N400? The waiting time for N400 in Minnesota is now 15.5-24.5 months. It is way too long. Anyone has experience on this? Would n400 delay my i751 process? Thank you

Edited October 17, 2018 by Ptl4511

[Dashinka 24,507]

My belief is that you should go ahead an file.  The N400 is a separate processing clock, so why wait for the I751 to complete before starting the N400 clock.  As to will it speed up or slow down anything, that is hard to answer as the N400 is processed at the various local offices.  In out case it knocked a few weeks off the I751 processing time, and for some reason we hit the Detroit office at a lull and my wife's N400 was faster than we ever expected.  When the N400 is filed, the I751 will be transferred to the local office to be combined with the N400, and many folks (my wife and I included) have a joint I751 interview prior to an N400 interview (again, not always the case, but becoming more common).  To me the only real drawback is that you have to deal with explaining the extension letter, or an I551 stamp and how that proves you are an LPR.

 

Good Luck!

[TheKingmaker 153]

27 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

My belief is that you should go ahead an file.  The N400 is a separate processing clock, so why wait for the I751 to complete before starting the N400 clock.  As to will it speed up or slow down anything, that is hard to answer as the N400 is processed at the various local offices.  In out case it knocked a few weeks off the I751 processing time, and for some reason we hit the Detroit office at a lull and my wife's N400 was faster than we ever expected.  When the N400 is filed, the I751 will be transferred to the local office to be combined with the N400, and many folks (my wife and I included) have a joint I751 interview prior to an N400 interview (again, not always the case, but becoming more common).  To me the only real drawback is that you have to deal with explaining the extension letter, or an I551 stamp and how that proves you are an LPR.

 

Good Luck!

Could you please explain that further?

[Russ&Caro 1,549]

While your i751 and n400 are pending, if you need to travel you will be doing so on an expired green card. That's why the USCIS issues an 18 month extension letter. So you will need to travel with both the expired green card and the extension letter. If your i751 and n400 are pending beyond the 18 month green card extension then you will need to go into a USCIS office and receive an i551 stamp in your passport. That's what the poster above meant.

 

If you are traveling abroad extensively, then your priority is probably to get your 10 year green card to avoid the hassles above in traveling with the extension letter or i551 stamp. In this case, you wouldn't want to risk further delay in i751 processing.

 

If you don't travel abroad extensively, then your priority is probably to receive citizenship as soon as possible so that you can finally put an end to all of this.

 

Note, even though the local offices quote a range of dates for N400 processing times, there are many VJ stories that indicate that N400 processing times at local offices are a little quicker with both an i751 and n400 pending. This was the case for my wife. Albuquerque processing times for N400's was 9 to 15 months when she filed, but in reality it only took 5 months with both i751 and n400 pending. Note: some VJ'ers have conjectured that having both applications pending at a local office is sort of a forcing action for them to process both applications sooner than later. Your mileage may vary. Good luck!

[Ptl4511 4]

Thank you very much. Since I was advised by many other immigration attorney that I should wait unil the i751 is done adjudicating, I would want to go ahead and apply for N400. Does anyone know if N400 has priority date as well or it is just case by case basis?

[visajourney# 5]

I am in the same boat as you here. Filed I-751 in September 2017 and case transferred to local office in March 2018. I reached my 3 year to apply for N-400 last month but I have been hesitant to do it. I have only spoken to 1 attorney regarding this and she did not recommend to apply for N-400 until ROC is approved. However, based on some of the discussions here, a lot people submitted N-400 while ROC is pending. 

[Russ&Caro 1,549]

Strange. I wonder why attorneys are advising that you do them one at a time. You are correct that many on VJ are doing both at the same time successfully, including my wife. Good luck with your decision.

[TheKingmaker 153]

This thread tells me most Immigration Attorneys are useless. I guess if you went to a good law school and are a good lawyer, you would choose a different legal field than practicing Immigration Law. Most Immigration Lawyers probably graduated from very low ranked law schools. 

 

VJ provides much better service than most Immigration Lawyers IMHO.

[visajourney# 5]

I can't agree with you more on immigration attorneys. That's why I decided not to use an attorney after consulting with 2 of them when I first applied for GC. 

 

Anyway, I am leaning toward applying for N-400  to wait for both at the same time instead of being in this wait game for the next two or three years even. I am at CSC so the wait time for ROC will be another 6 months approximately. 

[Daisy.Chain 317]

File n400.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Daisy.Chain

[visaqueries 111]

We filed for the n400 while the I 751 was processing. My husband was told by the USCIS officer that it would be better for us to have waited. However, we applied in March 2018 for the n400 and had an interview by July 2018. My husband became a citizen on September 26, 2018.  I would say apply for the n400, but do it online if you can.

[visajourney# 5]

1 hour ago, visaqueries said:

We filed for the n400 while the I 751 was processing. My husband was told by the USCIS officer that it would be better for us to have waited. However, we applied in March 2018 for the n400 and had an interview by July 2018. My husband became a citizen on September 26, 2018.  I would say apply for the n400, but do it online if you can.

Congrats to you and your husband and thanks for sharing your journey! Now i feel a lot more comfortable moving forward with the N-400 application. I have already filled out the form online and all i need is to press the button  

[jskibo 588]

We filed in March while pending ROC and wife became citizen in August. 

 

No reason to wait. 

[MichaelnJanice 21]

I agree with everyone file, we filed online last June, with ROC still pending my wife has interview Nov 20th

[TheKingmaker 153]

10 hours ago, visaqueries said:

We filed for the n400 while the I 751 was processing. My husband was told by the USCIS officer that it would be better for us to have waited. However, we applied in March 2018 for the n400 and had an interview by July 2018. My husband became a citizen on September 26, 2018.  I would say apply for the n400, but do it online if you can.

What the USCIS Officer really means it would have been better for them. Less work for them. 😁