Moving during N-400

[Britizilian 14]

Hi Everyone, 

 

Would love your insight into my situation.
I am currently married, and have been for the last 7 years, living in NYC. I applied in July for my N-400 under the 5 years rule online. I did have to show my marriage certificate and give my spouse’s information despite that, but I believe it’s normal procedure regardless of 3 or 5 years.

I’m moving to NJ likely November this year, as I bought a home. My spouse will stay in NYC, as we lease an apartment and my name will remain in the lease/bills, so we’ll be living separately (but still married). NJ and NYC are super close anyway. With that, a few questions:

 

a) As NJ will be my primary residency, should I move my case there, as I believe it’s faster and they also do same day oaths or would you recommend I keep the existing case with NYC given I also have residency?
 

b) What kind of problems can I face (if any) by choosing one state vs the other? Like delays, or questions etc? 

C) How do I go about changing the application and requesting a transfer to a new field office? 

 

D) Do you believe I could face issues due to the fact we will be living separately? Or since it’s under the 5 years rule, that doesn’t apply to my case / the questions around marriage and living arrangement stay minimum? 
 

Thank you so much for all your help 

[millefleur 5,047]

The main issue with moving is, if you file the N-400 after moving to a new state, you need to wait 90 days before filing. If you file the N-400 now in NY, since you've lived there 90+ days, you would file first, then move to NJ. Once in NJ, you would file an AR-11 address change. As soon as you do that and it gets processed by USCIS, they will automatically move your case to the new local field office based on your new address.

 

TL;DR: You must wait 90 days if you file the N-400 after moving to a new state.

 

You are filing under the 5 year rule, so marriage should not be a factor at all in the decision. Thus, I don't think they will care about the living apart issue.

[Britizilian 14]

Thanks, @millefleur!

 

To clarify, I've already filed in NYC back in July. So, my natural next step seems like it would be to file an AR-11 address change, right? Given I already applied, do i still need to wait 90 days after moving to NJ? Does it take a long time to change address once requested? wondering how much time it'd add to my case (as it already seems like a forever timeline in Covid world)

 

The most attractive thing to me in terms of moving to NJ, is that they do same day oaths and seem to be faster than NYC, so I am seriously considering it.

 

Thank you for all your help!

 

 

Edited August 27, 2020 by Britizilian

[millefleur 5,047]

38 minutes ago, Britizilian said:

 

To clarify, I've already filed in NYC back in July. So, my natural next step seems like it would be to file an AR-11 address change, right? Given I already applied, do i still need to wait 90 days after moving to NJ? Does it take a long time to change address once requested? wondering how much time it'd add to my case (as it already seems like a forever timeline in Covid world)

Oh since you've already filed, you can go ahead and file the AR-11 now. No reason to wait.

 

The time it takes to update/change field offices goes case by case. We moved about 1 month after filing in our old state. A couple weeks later on myuscis, it said the case had been transferred to another office. The address change itself usually goes even faster, taking about 1 week. You can file it online here: https://www.uscis.gov/ar-11

 

I agree that it makes sense to change it if they do same day oaths there. There's no reason you shouldn't switch the address. Of course nobody can say for sure if it will be "faster" given the Covid situation, but the same day oath will be a big help.

[Britizilian 14]

2 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Oh since you've already filed, you can go ahead and file the AR-11 now. No reason to wait.

 

The time it takes to update/change field offices goes case by case. We moved about 1 month after filing in our old state. A couple weeks later on myuscis, it said the case had been transferred to another office. The address change itself usually goes even faster, taking about 1 week. You can file it online here: https://www.uscis.gov/ar-11

 

I agree that it makes sense to change it if they do same day oaths there. There's no reason you shouldn't switch the address. Of course nobody can say for sure if it will be "faster" given the Covid situation, but the same day oath will be a big help.

Extremely helpful! Thank you so much  

[millefleur 5,047]

40 minutes ago, Britizilian said:

Extremely helpful! Thank you so much  

Oh and if you haven't checked it already, you can get an idea of the processing times here:

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

[Britizilian 14]

Awesome! 14-26 months for NYC vs 13-20 for Newark + same day oath. No brainer, Newark wins! haha