When to file?

[kirts 0]

Hi all,

I've been reading that a U.S. spouse can file for citizenship 3 years from the date on the I-551. I was under the impression that it was 90 days before the 3 year anniversary, similar to the I-751 (lifting conditions) requirement. Am I wrong about that?

Thanks!

Matt

Edited August 8, 2007 by kirts

[raymaga 25]

You can submit your Naturalization application 90 days before the 3rd anniversary that you were granted Permanent Resident status (the date on your GC).

Edited August 8, 2007 by raymaga

[lucyrich 20]

You can submit your Naturalization application 90 days before the 3rd anniversary that you were granted Permanent Resident status (the date on your GC).

True, but only if you meet all the other naturalization requirements. Kirts timeline looks like a CR-1 visa. Note that, in order to be eligible to submit the N-400 90 days before the three year application, you must have been living together in valid marital union for three full years on the date you file the N-400.

For someone who got a green card via adjustment of status, there's normally no issue -- they were living together for well more than three months before LPR status was granted. But for a CR-1 case, they may not have been living together until the day the alien arrived in the US with LPR status.

The requirement is stated on page 22 of the M-476 as "You may send your application before you have met the requirement for continuous residence only. Therefore, you must still have been married to and living with your U.S. citizen spouse for 3 years before you may file your application." The law has slightly different language, and the regulation has still other different language, and the published interpretations put a different slant on things. I'm not sure how literally to interpret the "and living with" phrase in the M-476. I don't know the final answer, but the subject has been discussed in considerable depth on this VJ thread.

[VISAHLP 0]

Hello,

everything is quite simple. the answers to the question of citizenship are clearly represented here. follow this link. it'll give you more information than you could expect.

http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/immig...g_my_spouse.htm

Good luck

[lucyrich 20]

Hello,

everything is quite simple. the answers to the question of citizenship are clearly represented here. follow this link. it'll give you more information than you could expect.

http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/immig...g_my_spouse.htm

Good luck

Uhmm, No. That page covers the most rudimentary basics of how to get a green card based on marriage. It doesn't discuss how to become a citizen after one has a green card; or at least if it does, such discussion must be buried beneath many other links.

If, as you say, everything is quite simple, and the answers are clearly represented in the linked text, then please point me to where it gives the answer to this question: Can an alien who has been married to a USC for more than three years, but has only lived with his/her spouse for two years and ten months, and has had lawful permanent resident status since the day of entry to the US two years and ten months ago, file an N-400 for naturalization? Assume the alien is otherwise eligible. In other words, do the initial months of marriage while living apart in separate countries count as living in valid marital union with the USC spouse for the purposes of 8 CFR 319.1 and INA 319(a)? Please cite your authority, because whichever answer you give, I believe I can quote from a statute, regulation, publication, and/or published interpretation that would tend to suggest the opposite. I don't know the answer to this question, and it's very relevant to our situation. I don't believe that "everything is quite simple".