Can naturalize under the 3 year rule or 5 year rule - thoughts?

[pm5k 129]

Asking for a few friends who are in this situation.  In each of these cases, the LPR has been married (and still is married) to a US citizen, for over five years, so technically they would qualify to naturalize under the five year rule (five years as an LPR), or the three year rule (3 years as an LPR married to a USC who was a USC for those three years)

 

A few questions:

 

1. If one qualifies to naturalize under the five year rule and the three year rule, is there any requirement to choose one of the the other?

 

2. If a person frequently traveled outside the US during the first year or two of marriage, but then stayed mostly within the US for the final three years, can they apply under the three year rule? (i.e. - physical presence met for three year INA 319, but not five year INA 316)

 

3. If a person rarely traveled during the first three or four years, but traveled a lot during the last year or two, can they apply under the five year rule if their total time outside the US was less than half of the five years?  (i.e. - physical presence rule met for under five year INA 316, but not three year INA 319) 

 

4.  In a few cases, the LPR immigrated as a spouse of an LPR.  Since this person's USC spouse has been a USC for more than three years, can this person naturalize under the 3 years rule, or must they naturalize under the 5 year rule?

 

5.  Just to confirm - physical presence needs to be half of the time in the US right?  i.e. 1.5 years if applying under the 3 year rule, and 2.5 years if applying under the 5 year rule.

 

Thanks!

[xyz12345 260]

5 hours ago, pm5k said:

Asking for a few friends who are in this situation.  In each of these cases, the LPR has been married (and still is married) to a US citizen, for over five years, so technically they would qualify to naturalize under the five year rule (five years as an LPR), or the three year rule (3 years as an LPR married to a USC who was a USC for those three years)

 

A few questions:

 

1. If one qualifies to naturalize under the five year rule and the three year rule, is there any requirement to choose one of the the other?

 

2. If a person frequently traveled outside the US during the first year or two of marriage, but then stayed mostly within the US for the final three years, can they apply under the three year rule? (i.e. - physical presence met for three year INA 319, but not five year INA 316)

 

3. If a person rarely traveled during the first three or four years, but traveled a lot during the last year or two, can they apply under the five year rule if their total time outside the US was less than half of the five years?  (i.e. - physical presence rule met for under five year INA 316, but not three year INA 319) 

 

4.  In a few cases, the LPR immigrated as a spouse of an LPR.  Since this person's USC spouse has been a USC for more than three years, can this person naturalize under the 3 years rule, or must they naturalize under the 5 year rule?

 

5.  Just to confirm - physical presence needs to be half of the time in the US right?  i.e. 1.5 years if applying under the 3 year rule, and 2.5 years if applying under the 5 year rule.

 

Thanks!

There are more required documents for 3-yr marriage based than 5-yr residence based applications but I think you can choose either one when you meet the requirements shown below and even if you've been an lpr for 5 years. The physical presence and continuous residence requirements are just shorter for 3-yr marriaged based applications.

 

normally if more than 5 yrs as an lpr, a spouse of a USC uses the 5 yr residence based n-400 because of the minimal required documents.

 

 

 

https://citizenpath.com/citizenship-requirements-3-year-lpr/

An applicant for naturalization after three years of marriage to a U.S. citizen must meet the following citizenship requirements:

Be at least 18 years old

Be a permanent resident (green card holder) for at least 3 years

Have been living with your U.S. citizen spouse for at least 3 years

Has lived within the state for at least 3 months before filing the application

Has continuous residence in the U.S. as a permanent resident for 3 years before filing the application

Has been physically present in the U.S. for at least 18 months out of the 3 years before filing the application

Be able to pass the English test as well as U.S. history and government test

Be a person of good moral character

Edited September 9, 2020 by xyz12345