Citizenship and naturalization

Before you file

Naturalization looks like the simplest thing on this site and it carries the most risk, because filing Form N-400 invites the government to review your entire immigration history. For most people that review finds nothing and the case is straightforward. For a few it surfaces something that puts their permanent residence in question, which is why the eligibility review comes before the form rather than after.

The residence and presence math

Two different counts, often confused, and you have to satisfy both.

• Continuous residence. Five years as a permanent resident, or three if you are married to and living with the same U.S. citizen, who has held citizenship for those three years.
• Physical presence. Physically inside the United States for at least half that period. Thirty months out of sixty, or eighteen out of thirty-six.

You also need to have lived in the state or USCIS district where you are filing for the three months before you apply.

Travel is where this goes wrong. A single absence of more than six months but less than a year raises a presumption that you broke continuous residence, which you can rebut with evidence that you kept your home, job, and ties here. An absence of a year or more breaks it outright in most cases, and the clock restarts. Add up your trips before you file rather than discovering the problem at the interview.

Good moral character

You must show good moral character during the statutory period, and USCIS can look further back where something in the earlier record bears on it. Arrests, charges, and convictions all need disclosing, including matters that were dismissed, expunged, or resolved without a conviction.

Other things that come up and surprise people: unpaid taxes or unfiled returns, failure to pay court-ordered child support, and, for men who lived in the United States between 18 and 26, failure to register for Selective Service.

Disclose everything to us at the start. Most of these have answers. The ones that become serious are the ones nobody mentioned until the officer raised them.

The tests, and who does not have to take them

There are two: English, covering reading, writing and speaking, and civics, covering U.S. history and government. The civics test format has been changed more than once in recent years, so we confirm which version applies to your filing date before you start studying rather than working from whatever is circulating online.

Several exemptions exist and they are not obscure.

• 50 and 20: age 50 or older with 20 years as a permanent resident, exempt from English and tested on civics in your own language
• 55 and 15: age 55 or older with 15 years as a permanent resident, the same exemption
• 65 and 20: age 65 or older with 20 years as a permanent resident, with a shorter civics list to study
• Medical disability: Form N-648, completed by a medical professional, can exempt you from English, civics, or both

Travel while the N-400 is pending

You can travel. You remain a permanent resident until you naturalize, and your green card is what you travel on. Two cautions. Long absences while the application is pending can still affect the continuous residence finding, and you will be asked about every trip at the interview, so keep the dates. Being outside the country can also mean missing an interview or oath notice, which delays the case.

What the process looks like

File the N-400, attend biometrics, then the interview, where the tests are administered and an officer reviews the application with you. If approved, you take the Oath of Allegiance at a ceremony, and that is the moment you become a citizen, not the approval itself.

Once you naturalize, you can petition for relatives you could not petition for as a permanent resident, including parents and siblings, and existing petitions you filed may move to a faster category.

What it costs

There is a government filing fee for the N-400, set by USCIS and subject to change. Fee reductions and fee waivers exist for applicants below certain income thresholds, and they are worth checking rather than assuming you do not qualify. Legal fees are a flat fee quoted after your strategy session. Payment plans are available.

Two situations we see often

The traveller who spent too long abroad

A permanent resident caring for a parent overseas, back and forth for years, with one trip over six months. The case is about rebutting the presumption with evidence of ties kept here, or waiting until the count works. Which of the two is honest advice depends on the dates, and the dates are checkable before anything is filed.

The applicant with an old arrest

Something from years ago, dismissed, and never mentioned since. It still needs disclosing with the court disposition attached. Almost always the record resolves it. The damage comes from the omission rather than the event.

These are patterns, not case results. Every application turns on its own facts and its own history.

Questions people ask first