lovinglive

We were facing the same issue that you raised - if you are overseas and applying for expeditious naturalization, do you still need to abide by the 6 month rule? For us, my wife had already been overseas for about 5 months when we applied for expeditious naturalization. I tried to ask this question in this thread to people like @Qian but I don't think anyone has a clear answer. We decided to play it on the safe side, and when my wife was close to 6 months, she returned to the US. Fortunately it was not long before she had her naturalization interview. So my thoughts to you would be to apply as soon as possible and if you're lucky your naturalization interview will come up well before 6 months.

Well, my wife has been naturalized and received her naturalization certificate, it seems that it is all over except for getting a passport. I'd like to write back to inform the group what happened. My wife and I had been in a long relationship and had one child, and then were married in the US in 2022. My wife received her green card in record time in October, 2022. Then in late 2022, I was offered a job overseas, but for different reasons had to wait in order to start until earlier this year. My contract was only for one year exactly, with the possibility of extensions. I believed that my wife was still eligible, as long as we applied before my contract actually started. So we applied one day beforehand, the key documents of course being my contract, and a letter from my employer. My employer wasn't willing even to mention my wife by name or refer to her identification documents, but in the end this made no difference since the employer's letter referred to me and we had a marriage certificate. We applied online one day before my contract started. We were already overseas at that time. We didn't submit fingerprints because they would only be able to be taken at the US Embassy, but they were never requested. Of course, however, we did pay the biometrics fee. We chose Washington, DC because others on here advised that they are used to these types of cases and we would face no hiccups. Within about two months my wife received an email asking her to set up an appointment with choices that were within about three months of our original application. By that time she had returned to the US to be in compliance with the unofficial, informal rule for green card holders not to be abroad for more than six months. Since I had been the one to figure most of this out, and my wife is taking care of our child, it was quite hard to get all the requirements communicated to her in preparation for the interview, get her to assemble all the documents, etc. I was stressed out before her interview because she went to Washington with out originals of our marriage certificate, her birth certificate or my birth certificate. It made no difference, though. It sounds like the interview was very easy. She arrived and had to tell them her name is on the military list. The interviewer complimented her on her dress and another IO even came over thinking it was her case. The IO asked a few questions like wanting to see her main documents like passport, green card, my "travel orders" (which my wife just gave her my employment letter). She asked to see my wife's travel itinerary, they asked where I am. Then they ask her a few questions from the civics test but it didn’t seem like it was even 10 questions. Then there was the English test, which involved writing on a tablet. It was quite easy. They also asked her some of the long list of questions from the end of the N-400 application. They did not ask whether she was planning to get a passport or not. Then they told her to come back the next day, and she had her naturalization swearing in ceremony the next day! It seems like it is all over for us. A few lessons learned as I already mentioned: -You can apply from overseas -You can apply online (in fact that may be better) -You may not even need the fingerprints but you have to pay the biometrics fee -You don't need to be married for one year to apply -If you're already overseas you can choose the location of your interview, and Washington DC is a good choice -Since it could not be guaranteed that my wife would succeed with this application, we opted for her to return to the US to avoid staying overseas too long and triggering the 6 month rule -We applied for the re-entry permit before we even went overseas in the first place but it never came back -The process was surprisingly fast -My wife's interview was easy and consistent with the descriptions of other people on this thread. Thanks to everyone who shared their experience here. We learned so much form it and ultimately, had success.

Right, we could do that. I'm guessing the ACA provisions will not apply if you apply directly to the insurers, correct? I.e. denial or pre-existing conditions, and of course you don't get a subsidy. It looks like my wife will be leaving the US in 6-8 weeks, though. So we are probably going to get one of those visitor policies again- it's an insurance policy that people who visit the US for a fairly long period of time (like a few months) use. I have to check the T&Cs and make sure we can use it.

Thanks for your reply, we probably won't have the change in name match up to the naturalization ceremony. So I guess it's just a matter of following the normal legal process to have her name changed. Honestly, I'm not even sure if it is possible to change my wife's name in her home country. I'm not sure they have a process for that.

Hi everyone, Good news that my wife has been scheduled for an appointment for an interview at the Washington DC office in a few weeks. We are busy preparing and trying to make sure everything goes smoothly. I just have a few questions: -Is the English test difficult? -The oath ceremony is on Tuesday at the Washington office, correct? (Trying to make travel plans) -How is it possible to get a passport? While the letter from USCIS says that you will be required to obtain a US passport, it sounds like this is quite impractical. Also you are expected to buy a plane ticket before the interview, which means before you even know if you will succeed in becoming a US citizen, or have even attempted to get a passport. I have heard that you can call two weeks before your departure and ask for an emergency passport. I also read a number of people that said they departed on their previous country's passport and then applied for a US passport while abroad, although this seems to contradict the letter from USCIS. Any advice on how to navigate the passport issue? Thanks for your advice.

My wife and I were married last year, conducted AOS and then applied for her green card. We never had her name changed as has been the custom on marriage in the US and most countries. It would have made an already difficult process even more difficult and we just couldn't deal with it at that time. We've been asked a few times by others in the our family about this. My guess is that it would be a fairly simple legal process to have name changed. Has anyone experienced this? Is it a fairly straightforward process? I'm more concerned with how difficult it may be to have her name changed on all of her documents in her home country, including passport, national ID, etc. Her original country has a problem with bureaucracy and making things difficult when it comes to paperwork.

Yes, unfortunately, I think we missed all the special enrollment period options. The obvious ones seem to be marriage and possibly moving. We were married about one year ago and she received her green card in October. Bottom line is that I think we will have to wait until this year's enrollment period starting in November.

@Boiler what did you mean above when you wrote "as a LPR, now that category is retrogressed,"?

Thanks I'll check that out. Unfortunately I think it may not be possible. Since my mother in law is the only really caregiver for this child, it would mean that she would be away from the child that she has been raising for a long time.

Thanks, I was looking into ACA coverage for a long time, had selected a plan and was about to apply. Then I found out that there is only an enrollment period towards the end of the year. I think it's November or December. It doesn't seem like any of the special enrollment periods apply to us. Do you have any idea what we should do between now and then?

So my wife's mother can come but she can't bring her adopted child, right? But if she has formally adopted the child then she can petition for her when she becomes an LPR? You seem to also be saying that the petition for the child will not become active until the mother becomes naturalized. So it means a very long wait for the adopted child to be able to come to the US.

Hi all, I found out that my wife can't petition to bring either of her parents to the US until she is a US citizen. Fair enough. When she does become a US citizen, she may want to petition for her mother to come. However, her mother is raising her grandchild who is the daughter of my wife's brother. She's been raising her for about four years already. If my wife petitions for her mother to come, can she also bring this adopted grandchild with her at the same time? Or does she have to come herself first and only then petition for her granddaughter later? TIA for your responses!

Thanks everyone, your answers were very helpful. We'll keep working on it.

Thanks, that's useful information. We'll keep trying.

Thanks, that's good to know to put it into perspective. I tried opening a shared account at an investment broker that also offers bank accounts and that seems to have sailed through without any issues. It seems adding her to a credit card as an authorized user is another good idea. Thanks for your help!