Do you need ROC when you are married for 3 years already?

[Hakkenouw 19]

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but after 18 months of our AOS application approval, we will finally have our interview this coming May.
Which would mean that we will be married and be living in the States for three years by the time my conditional GC is about 18 months old.

At that point, do I still need to apply for ROC first and citizenship second, or can I immediately apply for citizenship and skip the roc track altogether?

[Georgia16 2,858]

Since you will have been married over 2 year you will get the 10 year GC so no rOC for you. 

You can however not file your citizenship because you also have to be a permanent resident for 3 years along with married to your spouse so you will have to want 3 years (minus the 90 days) from when your Permanent residents status.

[p-ana 933]

20 minutes ago, Hakkenouw said:

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but after 18 months of our AOS application approval, we will finally have our interview this coming May.
Which would mean that we will be married and be living in the States for three years by the time my conditional GC is about 18 months old.

At that point, do I still need to apply for ROC first and citizenship second, or can I immediately apply for citizenship and skip the roc track altogether?

If your green card approval comes after your 2 year wedding anniversary, you will get a 10 year green card and won’t need to do roc. If it’s not, you’ll get the 2 year green card and will do roc.

you won’t be able to apply for citizenship only having being married 3 years, you have to have been a permanent resident for at least three years as well

[Hakkenouw 19]

 

 

 

 

 

 

25 minutes ago, Georgia16 said:

Since you will have been married over 2 year you will get the 10 year GC so no rOC for you. 

You can however not file your citizenship because you also have to be a permanent resident for 3 years along with married to your spouse so you will have to want 3 years (minus the 90 days) from when your Permanent residents status.

We will be married for 21 months sadly, (we got married in August 2017) so I guess we will have to deal with USCIS again for the ROC..

 

8 minutes ago, p-ana said:

If your green card approval comes after your 2 year wedding anniversary, you will get a 10 year green card and won’t need to do roc. If it’s not, you’ll get the 2 year green card and will do roc.

you won’t be able to apply for citizenship only having being married 3 years, you have to have been a permanent resident for at least three years as well

You're right, I missed that you need to in possession of your green card for 3 years as well, these last 18+ months now really feel like time wasted by the USCIS.

[Georgia16 2,858]

Okay you said in your post you had been married for 3 years. But if only 21 months that will be under 2 years so you’ll get the 2 year GC and then do ROC after that. On the bright side you should have plenty of evidence for ROC then. 

[xillini 71]

5 hours ago, Hakkenouw said:

We will be married for 21 months sadly, (we got married in August 2017) so I guess we will have to deal with USCIS again for the ROC..

 

If you have a legitimate reasons (such as employment change), you may think about moving to a new location, by which USCIS is forced to re-schedule your interview, and if you are lucky, you may get the interview after Aug, 2019.

 

Just curious, why it took so long to have interview, and at the end of 18 months, USCIS schedules your interview? 

Is your case complicated or your local office has long processing time for I 485? 

I am curious to assess if USCIS intentionally delays I 485 based on marriage until 18 months hits, and all of sudden, USCIS prioritizes the interview so that the cases would be required for ROC. (I have seen some other cases that are located in CA local offices, and makes me wondering this)

[Hakkenouw 19]

12 hours ago, xillini said:

If you have a legitimate reasons (such as employment change), you may think about moving to a new location, by which USCIS is forced to re-schedule your interview, and if you are lucky, you may get the interview after Aug, 2019.

 

Just curious, why it took so long to have interview, and at the end of 18 months, USCIS schedules your interview? 

Is your case complicated or your local office has long processing time for I 485? 

I am curious to assess if USCIS intentionally delays I 485 based on marriage until 18 months hits, and all of sudden, USCIS prioritizes the interview so that the cases would be required for ROC. (I have seen some other cases that are located in CA local offices, and makes me wondering this)

Yeah, that would not be a bad idea, but my AED and AP are running out in May and even though I applied for new documents in January I have no updates on those and to be honest no hope that I will get those anytime soon. And because we like to do quite a bit of international travel I will probably end up taking the interview on May the 21st.

 

I don’t know where the delay comes from, we have such a straight forward application. No prior marriages, we are young and match in race, religion, age, economical status, western countries and what not and we have done everything by the book as far as K1 visa and such..

 

On top of that I personally know many couples that came in on an esta, overstayed and got their greencard before I did..

 

It does seem like the phoenix field office is overrun,  everytime I get in touch with them they point me at their max wait time of 32 months it is now I believe..

 

I wonder if they want to get it done before I need additional AED and AP paperwork of if it has to do with the ROC, I was suprised I needed an interview in the first place since I already went through all the hoops for a K1 visa.

[tennnis123 14]

I have heard that AOS are taking a long time even the USCIS timeline mentions that and I have a few friends that have waited 18 months as well. My friend just got recently approved her AOS and she postponed the appointment in order to avoid the ROC now she is a 10 year GC holder and I am still waiting for the ROC to process which is taking up to 2 years in some cases. if I had known about the 2 year rule we would have waited as I still had a legal status in the US. Just my point of view... 

[Fr8dog 312]

I would try to push it back 3 months if I was in your shoes. Not having to go through the whole ROC mess would be worth the 3 months extra wait even if I could not work. But that is just my opinion.

Also you could file for the N400 after about 1 year (your residence status starts on the day they receive the application, not on the date they issue the card.

 

Edited April 27, 2019 by Fr8dog

[Villanelle 4,122]

14 hours ago, Fr8dog said:

I would try to push it back 3 months if I was in your shoes. Not having to go through the whole ROC mess would be worth the 3 months extra wait even if I could not work. But that is just my opinion.

Also you could file for the N400 after about 1 year (your residence status starts on the day they receive the application, not on the date they issue the card.

 

This is incorrect.  

[Fr8dog 312]

On 4/27/2019 at 1:02 PM, username_taken said:

This is incorrect.  

All 3 statements or just one of them? That's what I get if I read the rules/instructions on the USCIS page.

- No conditional card if approval comes after your second anniversary.

- N400 can be filed after being a LPR for 3 years and still married.

- LPR starts on the date of your NOA for the AOS (I know that one for a fact as I checked my card).

[Mollie09 1,543]

10 hours ago, Fr8dog said:

 

- LPR starts on the date of your NOA for the AOS (I know that one for a fact as I checked my card).

 

This is wrong. Your card is wrong. Not unusual, and I'd get that fixed if I were you.

Date on card is 100% from approval of AOS, not before.

[arken 4,197]

On 4/24/2019 at 10:09 AM, Hakkenouw said:

Yeah, that would not be a bad idea, but my AED and AP are running out in May and even though I applied for new documents in January I have no updates on those and to be honest no hope that I will get those anytime soon. And because we like to do quite a bit of international travel I will probably end up taking the interview on May the 21st.

Honestly speaking, I’d try to reschedule the interview if I were you. I think another 3 months of wait is worth when you look at the complete picture. With almost 13-20 months of processing time for ROC and the hassle of providing so much qualitative evidences, you will be putting yourself in the similar position you are in now two years after getting the conditional GC when you have a chance to skip that completely. 

 

Your EAD is automatically extended for 180 days since you applied for its extension, so you don’t need to worry about not being able to work.

 

However it’s definitely your choice. Good luck.

[little immigrant 801]

I wouldn't risk a reschedule. Instead of a new invitation you might get a denial if unlucky. I've seen it here. If your marriage is legit you have no problem passing the ROC stage.

 

For citizenship you need to be married to the same spouse for 3 years plus be an LPR for 3 years. Whichever date is later is the one you go by. Green card approval date is usually after the interview. 

[Mollie09 1,543]

2 hours ago, little immigrant said:

I wouldn't risk a reschedule. Instead of a new invitation you might get a denial if unlucky. I've seen it here. If your marriage is legit you have no problem passing the ROC stage.

 

For citizenship you need to be married to the same spouse for 3 years plus be an LPR for 3 years. Whichever date is later is the one you go by. Green card approval date is usually after the interview. 

Not true, just married to a USC.

Sorry, misread your quote. Yes, you need to be married to the same USC spouse, but doesn't have to be the one who petitioned you. Doesn't even have to be a spouse petition for naturalization. You are right, my bad!

Edited April 29, 2019 by Mollie09