N-400 Questions

[Ready to do it 101]

My wife came to the US on a fiance Visa in November 2011.  In her passport it shows the Visa good thru May 2012.  We married in the required 90 day period. Sometime over the next few years we went thru the process to get her green card.  I see we have a green card that says Resdient since 7/1/14  (which confuses me b/c I know we had another card between 2012 nd 2014, regardless....

 

1) Legal Name... do we use my last name, which is on her Permanent Residence card and which she uses for everything or do we use the name on her birth certificate

2) On what date did you become a lawful permanenet resident.  The card says 7/11/2014, but I'm pretty sure it was prior to that. Perhaps she was called a "Conditional Permanent Resident" prior to 2014?

3) Name exactly as it appears on the Permanant resident card.  Hmmm front of card uses a middle initial. Back of card uses a middle name. I.e. Jane E Doe on front.  Jane Ethel Doe on back.  Which one do we use?

4) USCIS Online Acct#?  It says to go to Profile page. I do not see a profile page. I've logged out and logged back in and it there is an area to "edit" profile, but there is no profile page nor a USCIS Online Acct#. 

5) Eye color... black/dark brown, ot really sure which... what if we put soemthing different in 2011, will it matter?

6) Employment.. I own a company...  (fictional name)... The Doe Group, LLC. My wife is 1% owner and does Admin work for the company.  I assume the best choice is put... self employed Admin/Clerk. It does not provide a blank to put company name if self employed. The alternative is to put... "employed" and then as company name put The Doe Group, LLC and Admin/Clerk, but that is technically incorrect since we own the company we are considered self-employed. I.e. The correct terminology is we own an LLC, she is 1% owner and does clerical work. No salary. We just take distributions.... so???  Self employed and Admin/Clerk?

7) Trips outside the US in the last 5 years. On one trip we went to Colombia for 2 months and then spent 10 days in Puerto Rico. So if it was Jan 10, 2017 to March 10, 2017 in Colombia and March 10, 2017  to March 20, 2017 in Puerto Rico, do we put it all as 1 trip since it says "what countries did you visit on this trip?  So we'd put Jan 10, 2017 to March 27, 2017 Colombia and Puerto Rico, correct?  Puerto Rico is considered "outside the US" for this question, correct?

8)  Where is your current spouse currently employed... Do I put a) The Doe Group, LLC, b) Self-employed, or c) self employed at The Doe Group, LLC?

9) "My" divorce decree from my previous spouse... upload the entire document?

 

Thanks for the responses in advance!

[Ready to do it 101]

Another question.  What is your current legal name? 

Based on marriage certificate my wife changed her name from (fictional)... Jane Ethel Garcia Beltran to Jane Ethel Doe b/c my last name is 'Doe."

Permanent resident card says Jane E Doe on the front and Jane Ethel Doe on the back.

We put Jane E Doe on both her Texas ID card and SS card.

 

So... on the question of "What is your current legal name?"  what do we put?  Jane E Doe or Jane Ethel Doe?  I would think Jane Ethel Doe, but I also uploaded her Texas ID card and SS card and they both say Jane E Doe. 

 

Finally, there is a question... have you used other names?  If we go with Jane Ethel Doe as her current legal name, shall we put Jane E Doe as another name she uses?

 

Finally, my divorce decree from my previous spouse 20 years ago is about 100 pages.  I will need to go to Kinkos to scan etc.  Is this needed when filing or can we simply add it later in a few days?

[Ready to do it 101]

Uggghhh... one more doozy.  I was previously married to a woman from Bolivia.  We went thru the immigration process about 25 years ago. She got her Perm residency about 25 years ago.  We divorced over 15 years ago and she got her US Citizenship about 5 years ago.  There is a question on my wife's N400 that says, what is the citizenship and nationality of your spouse's previous spouse?  Would that be US or Bolivia?  She is a US Citizen and has lived in the US for about 40 years, but she also still has her Bolivian citizenship.  She was born in Bolivia and moved to the US in her early 20's. She's in her 60's now.  Technically for the citizenship question she would be US and Bolivian citizen. Nationality? Would that be Boivian?

[Ready to do it 101]

Last one... "Have you EVER not filed a federal, state, or local tax return since becoming a Lawful Permanent resident? 

We live in Texas so no state taxes to file. As for Federal, there have been numerous years where we apply for extensions until Oct 15, legal. There have also been a few years out of the 9 years my wife has been a lawful permanent resident where we filed very late... as in about 2 years and 1 year late. I.e. We filed our 2017 and 2018 taxes in like May of 2020.  Why?  Because I had some serious health issues.  We are all caught up and do not owe the IRS any money. I.e. We paid all the late fees and penalties owed in May 2020. I asked an attorney on a random site where you pay $20 to ask a question and his answer was we would say "No," because they are looking for people who haven't filed a certain year or currently are past due for this year or a previous year.  That seemed odd to me, but that is what he said.  Thoughts?  

[Ready to do it 101]

I have a 25 year old daughter with my previous spouse.  My daughter was born in the US, has graduated university, has a full time job, supports herself, bought her own house, etc.  My question... on my wife's N400 application would my wife need to put this as "Do you have any children?"  Would this be considered a step-child?  I think I've asked an attorney this question a few years ago as well, and I think the answer was "No, to the do you have any children question."  Please advise.

 

Thanks!

[Ready to do it 101]

Bump... can someone help answer some of my questions?

 

Thanks!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

On 10/1/2021 at 12:34 AM, Ready to do it said:

My wife came to the US on a fiance Visa in November 2011.  In her passport it shows the Visa good thru May 2012.  We married in the required 90 day period. Sometime over the next few years we went thru the process to get her green card.  I see we have a green card that says Resdient since 7/1/14  (which confuses me b/c I know we had another card between 2012 nd 2014, regardless....

 

1) Legal Name... do we use my last name, which is on her Permanent Residence card and which she uses for everything or do we use the name on her birth certificate

>>Her current legal name. If she changed her name when she married you, then that is her current legal name.

 

2) On what date did you become a lawful permanenet resident.  The card says 7/11/2014, but I'm pretty sure it was prior to that. Perhaps she was called a "Conditional Permanent Resident" prior to 2014?

>>The date she became a permanent legal resident should be the same on her conditional 2 year card as it is on her 10 year card.

 

3) Name exactly as it appears on the Permanant resident card.  Hmmm front of card uses a middle initial. Back of card uses a middle name. I.e. Jane E Doe on front.  Jane Ethel Doe on back.  Which one do we use?

>>Last name Doe, First name Jane, Middle name E. That's how it appears on the front of the card and how we listed my husband's.

 

5) Eye color... black/dark brown, ot really sure which... what if we put soemthing different in 2011, will it matter?

>>Does she have a drivers license or state ID? What color is listed? True black is not a natural human eye color, so I am pretty sure they are dark brown.

 

6) Employment.. I own a company...  (fictional name)... The Doe Group, LLC. My wife is 1% owner and does Admin work for the company.  I assume the best choice is put... self employed Admin/Clerk. It does not provide a blank to put company name if self employed. The alternative is to put... "employed" and then as company name put The Doe Group, LLC and Admin/Clerk, but that is technically incorrect since we own the company we are considered self-employed. I.e. The correct terminology is we own an LLC, she is 1% owner and does clerical work. No salary. We just take distributions.... so???  Self employed and Admin/Clerk?<<Yes.

 

7) Trips outside the US in the last 5 years. On one trip we went to Colombia for 2 months and then spent 10 days in Puerto Rico. So if it was Jan 10, 2017 to March 10, 2017 in Colombia and March 10, 2017  to March 20, 2017 in Puerto Rico, do we put it all as 1 trip since it says "what countries did you visit on this trip?  So we'd put Jan 10, 2017 to March 27, 2017 Colombia and Puerto Rico, correct?  Puerto Rico is considered "outside the US" for this question, correct?

>>Puerto Rico is a US territory, so not sure it is considered as being "outside the US".

 

8)  Where is your current spouse currently employed... Do I put a) The Doe Group, LLC, b) Self-employed, or c) self employed at The Doe Group, LLC?

>>Self-employed

 

9) "My" divorce decree from my previous spouse... upload the entire document?

>>Yes

 

On 10/1/2021 at 1:29 AM, Ready to do it said:

So... on the question of "What is your current legal name?"  what do we put?  Jane E Doe or Jane Ethel Doe?  I would think Jane Ethel Doe <<That

 

Finally, there is a question... have you used other names?  If we go with Jane Ethel Doe as her current legal name, shall we put Jane E Doe as another name she uses?

>>Other names used is not her current legal name, it is OTHER names she has gone by including aliases, nicknames and maiden name.

 

On 10/1/2021 at 1:48 AM, Ready to do it said:

Technically for the citizenship question she would be US and Bolivian citizen. Nationality? Would that be Boivian?

On 10/1/2021 at 1:56 AM, Ready to do it said:

I asked an attorney on a random site where you pay $20 to ask a question and his answer was we would say "No," because they are looking for people who haven't filed a certain year or currently are past due for this year or a previous year.  That seemed odd to me, but that is what he said.  Thoughts?  

>>Go with the $20 you spent. It doesn't ask about late filing, it asks if you have not filed at all, ever. 

 

On 10/1/2021 at 2:22 AM, Ready to do it said:

Would this be considered a step-child? 

>>Yes

You would benefit greatly from reading the actual N-400 form instructions.  Almost every single one of these questions is answered there.

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/n-400instr.pdf

[Ready to do it 101]

Thanks KayDeeCee.... We just finally submitted it yestterday as no one had responded.  1) As for the tax question, we put, "Not sure if this should be yes or no, so I'll explain.... then we wrote out a longgggg explanation.  2) As for travel outside the US... hmmmm for one of the dates we put like an 80 day trip to Colombia and Puerto Rico.  (Note... 74 days was Colombia and 6 days was PR. We did not specify that so perhaps this will be a problem?)  Is there a way to go back in and change answers?  Should we change those 2 answers?

 

[Ready to do it 101]

Darn it... we put black for eye color and her ID does say Brown.   How do we change the answer to these 3 questions.  As a side note. We hit enter on Friday night.  On Saturday it said, Estimated timeframe 13 months.  We logged in just now and it says estimated time until case decision = 7 months!!! Wooohooo!