easy question: When does the 3-year clock start?

[David and Anna 118]

My wife entered on a K-1 and we married and filed AoS within 1 month of her arrival.  That was 26 months ago.  We still have not had an interview.  (however, that is not the topic here please).

 

We do anticipate getting an interview soon and getting her GC (my understanding is it will be an unconditional one since we have been married for more than 2 years).

 

Our AoS took more than a year longer than pretty much all of the couples that were in our cohort of K-1's we stay in touch with. 

 

My question is does the citizenship clock only start when she gets here GC? 

 

(Or does it start when she started living in the USA back when she entered on her K-1 or when we married or when we filed for AoS?)

 

(my fear/understanding is that it only starts when you get the GC, so the past 2+ years of married living together in the USA don't count at all towards the 3 years rule for citizenship? So our long wait vs. our peers will also cause us to get her citizenship later than all of them too?)

[Mike E 11,739]

2 minutes ago, David and Anna said:

My question is does the citizenship clock only start when she gets here GC?

 

yes

2 minutes ago, David and Anna said:

So our long wait vs. our peers will also cause us to get her citizenship later than all of them too?)

 

that is the downside of K-1

Edited May 18, 2023 by Mike E

[OldUser 6,478]

18 minutes ago, David and Anna said:

(my fear/understanding is that it only starts when you get the GC, so the past 2+ years of married living together in the USA don't count at all towards the 3 years rule for citizenship?

Why is this a fear? Your wife will be a green card holder for some time. She will have most of the rights a US citizen has other than restriction on time spent outside of the US, ability to vote and take some jobs (DoD, political career etc).

 

The clock starts with Resident Since date on Green Card. It also resets if one breaks continuous residency (overseas trips of 180+ days). 

Edited May 19, 2023 by OldUser

[David and Anna 118]

2 hours ago, OldUser said:

Why is this a fear? Your wife will be a green card holder for some time. She will have most of the rights a US citizen has other than restriction on time spent outside of the US, ability to vote and take some jobs (DoD, political career etc).

 

The clock starts with Resident Since date on Green Card. It also resets if one breaks continuous residency (overseas trips of 180+ days). 

just a word/phrase as in its the worst of the options I could foresee.  And, it is of course.  Removing the restriction on time outside the USA is something valuable to us.

[Dashinka 24,375]

6 hours ago, David and Anna said:

just a word/phrase as in its the worst of the options I could foresee.  And, it is of course.  Removing the restriction on time outside the USA is something valuable to us.

There are ways around that for LPRs via Re-entry permits unless the long-term plan is to relocate outside the US.