Any way to apply for N-400 before Conditional Green Card runs out?

[Demise 1,277]

19 hours ago, Redro said:

It would be great if there was an exception to the 3 year residency rule! I would be able to apply for citizenship as soon as I arrived to the US. 
Unfortunately it is 3 years of marriage AND 3 years of LPR status (not just residency in the US) 

Additionally, you have to apply for the 10 year green card before you can file for citizenship. 
ETA: there is actually an exception but it generally involves being married to someone in the military. 

There is, the issue is that it's via military service, though it also bypasses removal of conditions (or even the need to be an LPR, though enlistment like that is only possible via MAVNI).

Edited August 25, 2023 by Demise

[Mike E 11,739]

According to USCIS, spouses of U.S. citizens who are employed abroad by a 319(b) compliant employer can proceed directly to N-400 if they file N-400 before the roughly 21 month anniversary of  the “resident since” date: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-g-chapter-5#S-C

 

A year ago, when N-400s were not a priority for USCIS, this was a useless provision. Now with 3 month adjudications being unremarkable, there is a strong incentive, for CR-1 couples to make a U turn.
 

Note U.S. military is just one possible 319(b) employer. See https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/792869-naturalization-under-section-319b-american-firm-or-corporation/ for a non-military, non-U.S. government employer whose employee’s LPR wife got tired of reseting her 180 day clock 2-3 times a year with a trip to the U.S.  

 

 

2. Conditional Residents Filing as the Spouse of a U.S. Citizen Employed Abroad

A spouse of a U.S. citizen employed abroad based on authorized employment is not required to have any specific period of residence or physical presence in order to naturalize.^[9] Consequently, a CPR spouse is not required to file the petition to remove conditions if the spouse files his or her naturalization application before he or she reaches the 90-day filing period to remove the conditions on residence.^[10]

A CPR spouse of a U.S. citizen employed abroad may naturalize without filing a petition to remove conditions if:

• The CPR spouse has been a CPR for less than 1 year and 9 months; and

• The CPR spouse does not reach the 90-day filing period for the petition to remove conditions prior to the final adjudication of his or her naturalization application or the time of the Oath of Allegiance.^[11]