No question, filing for citizenship is expensive. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) charges hundreds of dollars just to file the N-400 application, and that's before you shell out for other related costs, such as transportation and hotel if you must travel far for your USCIS citizenship interview, and lawyer fees, if you hire one.
Although it's possible to ask the U.S. government to completely "waive" (overlook) this and other fees in some circumstances (by filling out Form I-912 and submitting it with the application), not everyone's income is low enough to qualify for a complete waiver. But there's another possibility that might help you: If your income is a certain percentage below the Federal Poverty Guidelines (but still higher than the amount qualifying you for a total fee waiver), you can request a fee reduction. If USCIS approves your request, it will accept a reduced naturalization fee, as follows:
In order to request a fee reduction, you must file a Form I-942 Request for Reduced Fee, within the same package as your N-400 Application for Naturalization, supporting evidence, and check, money order, or other form of payment of the reduced fee itself.
If you are applying with other family members, you may all use the same I-942 Form, as long as you list your entire household there.
Here are some pointers for filling out the form (referring to the version issued on 12/20/23):
Part 1. Information About You The first part of Form I-942 asks for your name, marital status, alien registration number (A#), and date of birth. As a permanent resident, you have an A-number, and can find it on your permanent resident card (“green card”).
Part 2. Information About Family Members Filing This Request With You. In Part 2, you must name all family members who will be requesting the reduced fee. You do not need to add family members unless they are also filing for naturalization and also requesting the fee reduction. If no other family members are applying with you, leave this part blank.
Part 3. Household Income Here, you explain whether or not you are working, how much income you earn, how much other people in your household earn, and why the U.S. government should grant you a reduced application fee.
First, you're asked about Employment Status. If you are both a student and employed, put “other” and explain in the box.
Next, the form asks for Information About Your Spouse. You will need to state whether you are married and whether your spouse provides income to your household.
You are then asked about Your Household Size. This requires listing the members of your household and describing their relationship to you. This includes you and anyone dependent upon your income. If you are not the head of your household (its main source of financial support), it includes the head of your household and anyone dependent upon that person’s income. It is useful to have your most recent IRS tax return handy, so that you know how much income you made and whom you have claimed as a dependent on your tax return.
Next, you must detail Your Annual Household Income. USCIS expects you to enter the adjusted gross income as claimed on your most recent U.S. tax return (IRS Form 1040). If you have not filed a tax return, estimate your annual income counting back 12 months. You are asked to list any additional income coming from family members, as well. If your spouse or another person in your household works, enter that person’s income here. But don’t include someone who just lives with you and doesn’t provide financial support.
You must also record how much you receive from any other source. Provide documentation for each form of income. For example, if you receive alimony, you'll need to submit a copy of the court order or divorce decree showing the amount.
Add up the dollar amounts and enter the total in Question 7.
In Question 8, you must explain whether anything has changed since your last tax return. This includes positive or negative changes. Often people will use this space to explain, for example, that they lost their job or other income source. Provide as much detail as possible in this space; and also provide supporting evidence to accompany the form.
Part 4. Requestor's Statement, Contact Information, Certification, and Signature The main requestor of the fee reduction must sign Form I-942 here, indicating that you understand what you're signing and are willing to attend a biometrics appointment. Any family members must also sign here, agreeing to the same things..
Part 5: Interpreter's Contact Information, Certification, and Signature. This needs to be completed only if you used an interpreter in filling out this form.
Part 6. Contact Information, Declaration, and Signature of Person Preparing This Request, If Other Than the Requestor You must complete this part if someone prepared the form for you. Usually the preparer would complete this for you and sign.
Part 7. Additional Information If you ran out of room while filling out the form, use Part 7 to provide additional information. List the Page Number, Part Number, and Item Number, so that the USCIS officer who reviews it can find the original question that you are continuing to answer.
File the I-942 Request for Reduced Fee along with your N-400 Application for Naturalization. This means preparing both applications and providing supporting evidence for both.
You will then mail the applications to the appropriate mailing address found on USCIS’s N-400 page along with the reduced filing fee and all supporting documents. You cannot file Form N-400 online if requesting a reduced fee.
You can find more about qualifying and applying for citizenship in Who Can Apply for U.S. Citizenship?
Once USCIS accepts your application, and if it approves the fee waiver request, you will receive by mail a receipt notice acknowledging your application and payment.
]]>Although those requirements might sound broad, you won’t really have to learn all there is to know about the United States and its primary language. Let’s look more closely at what you will, in fact, have to study and learn.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has prepared a list of potential questions for the history and government exam. These, with their answers, are published in advance for anyone to see. You will have to memorize the answers to these questions—ideally all of them—but you will really need to answer only a limited number of the questions correctly in order to pass.
The trouble is, you can’t know in advance which questions you’ll be asked—the USCIS official who interviews you gets to choose. (It's an oral exam, given during your naturalization interview.) The civics test has a total of 100 questions. In order to pass, you'll need to correctly answer six out of ten questions that the examiner asks you.
(Although USCIS had planned to change this in 2021, such that applicants would need to study 128 questions and correctly answer 12 out of 20 in order to pass, these plans were reversed under the Biden-Harris administration).
See the Study for the Test page of the USCIS website to find the applicable questions and various means of studying them. Also be aware that some of the answers change after every election, specifically those that ask for the names of certain local and national elected officials.
There are some people who, for reasons of age or disability, will find it nearly impossible to learn the answers to these questions. Some exceptions can be made in these cases, as described next.
If you are at least age 65 and have lived in the U.S. as a permanent resident for at least 20 years (these don’t need to be continuous years) when your file your citizenship application, you can take an easier version of the history and government exam. This is commonly referred to as the “65/20 exception.”
You will have to study only 20 questions (the ones with asterisks on the main list of questions). You’ll be asked ten of the questions and will need to answer six correctly in order to pass. Plus, you can take the test in your native language if you need to. You’ll have to bring your own interpreter though.
If you have a physical or mental disability that prevents you from learning the required concepts of U.S. history and government, and possibly also from understanding or taking the oath of allegiance, you might qualify for a waiver or waivers of these requirements. You’ll need to have your doctor fill out a Form (N-648) explaining exactly what your disability is and why it prevents you from learning concepts of U.S. civics and government and/or taking the citizenship oath.
You must show that you can speak and read in English. You will need to demonstrate your English skills at your citizenship interview. The USCIS officer who interviews you will, of course, talk to you in English, and then observe how well you respond to questions and instructions. The officer will also ask you to read a short passage and to write a sentence that the officer says aloud (dictates) to you.
To focus on the key vocabulary, see the Naturalization Test and Study Resources page of the USCIS website.
If you aren’t already comfortable with the English language, taking a class at a local adult school could help. Or, your local library might offer online training materials.
Two separate rules allow older people to avoid the English requirement. If you are at least age 50 and have lived in the U.S. as a green card holder for at least 20 years when you file your citizenship application, you can have the entire citizenship interview conducted in your native language. (This is commonly known as the “50/20” waiver.) Your 20 years of residence do not need to have been continuous. If you have been away for short periods (fewer than six months at a time, to be safe), that is acceptable, so long as your total time living in the United States reaches 20 years.
The second rule, known as the “55/15” waiver, applies as follows. If you are at least age 55 and have lived in the United States as a green card holder for at least 15 years when you file your N-400 citizenship application, you can have the citizenship interview and exam conducted in your native language. Your 15 years do not need to have been continuous.
If you qualify to have the interview done in your native language, you’ll have to bring your own foreign language interpreter—USCIS won’t provide one for you.
If you have a physical or mental disability that prevents you from learning English—for example, an illness that requires regular medication that makes you severely drowsy, a developmental disability, or deafness—you might qualify for a waiver of the English requirement. In such a case, you would be allowed to have the citizenship interview done in your native language.
You can’t just request this waiver; a doctor must fill out a form (N-648) explaining your disability and why it prevents you from learning the English language.
For more information on naturalizing in the U.S., see Becoming a U.S. Citizen; A Guide to the Law, Exam, and Interview, by Ilona Bray, J.D. And if this seems confusing or difficult, also see When Do You Need an Immigration Lawyer?.
I attended my naturalization interview over five months ago. The USCIS officer there told me that I passed and would get a swearing-in ceremony appointment by mail. But nothing has come. I am worried that it is taking too long. (Also, I want to petition my parents for a green card.) Is this normal? Can I do anything about it?
Delays of several weeks—and even months—between when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conducts the citizenship interview and when the applicant is scheduled for the swearing-in ceremony are frequently an issue. The agency is persistently underfunded and backlogged. Still, some delays are clearly outside the norm.
The most likely cause of a delay outside normal processing times would be that either:
As for what to do, here are the steps most likely to help:
A final note: As you alluded to, you cannot petition for your parents to receive U.S. lawful permanent residence until you yourself are sworn in as a U.S. citizen and have received a citizenship certificate as proof of your new status.
The hearing would give you an opportunity to have your application for U.S. citizenship reviewed at an administrative level. If you believe that your application was denied for the wrong reasons, a hearing could be your best chance to prove this. But it could also be a waste of time. Here, we'll discuss whether requesting such a hearing is a good idea, or whether it makes more sense to simply start over with a new application for naturalized U.S. citizenship.
The most important factor you will need to consider before requesting a hearing is the reason for denial of your application for naturalized U.S. citizenship. When you prepare Form N-336, you'll need to also submit evidence and/or a legal brief that supports your position. You will want to feel confident that the USCIS officer was wrong and that you have the documentation to prove it. If you're just not sure, or actually realize that USCIS's decision was correct, filing a hearing might not be a productive path to take.
Another factor to consider is the deadline for requesting a hearing. You must file Form N-336 within 30 days of receiving the Notice of Denial. Is that enough time to collect the evidence you need? You can request an extension to this deadline, but you would need to show good cause. Extensions are not granted often by USCIS, so try to avoid relying on that option.
Another important consideration is whether to obtain legal assistance. If you want to request a hearing, an attorney can be a valuable, if not critical, resource. An attorney will analyze the reasons for your denial and assess your chances of success. An attorney can also prepare a legal brief and aid you in securing the evidence needed to support your case, as well as accompany you to the hearing when it is scheduled. Of course, you'll need to pay the attorney's fees.
Finally, consider the government fees involved in requesting a hearing on your naturalization case. Most applicants will have to pay a filing fee with Form N-336. It is $700 through March 31, 2024. On April 1, 2024, it becomes $780 for online filings and $830 for paper filings.
USCIS must schedule a hearing within 180 days of receiving a timely filed Form N-336. Your application will be assigned to a new officer—that is, one who did not examine your original application.
The officer will have the authority to review any part of the administrative record that was created as part of your initial examination, as well as request new evidence or testimony. After reviewing your case, the officer has discretion to conduct a full hearing as though a decision had never been made on the application (this type of hearing is referred to as de novo) or to utilize a less formal review procedure.
If USCIS denies your N-400 Application for Naturalization for reasons that do not make you inadmissible to the United States, you have the option to file a completely new application. Filing a new application will make more sense than requesting a hearing if your application was not wrongfully denied, or if the reason for the denial can be cured with time.
Instances where filing a new N-400 application might make the most sense include:
If time is an issue, filing a new application could be quicker than waiting for a hearing to be scheduled.
In any type of case that involves proving good moral character, and some that don't, creating a convincing argument before U.S. immigration authorities can require much more than just filling out forms. An experienced immigration attorney can help evaluate your situation, prepare arguments in the form of a cover letter or legal brief, accompanied by supporting evidence, and prepare you for any future in-person court appearances or interviews before U.S. government officials.
]]>As with any application to USCIS, however, you must take great care to make sure you are eligible, fill out the form correctly, and prepare fully for the interview and exam. For eligibility rules, see Who Can Apply for U.S. Citizenship. Any piece of missing or untrue information on your application or during your interview for citizenship could easily lead to a denial—even if you didn’t realize you made a mistake or weren’t trying to lie, and even if the mistake isn’t about anything you think is important.
Recognize also that there are risks to submitting an application for naturalization. If information emerges that casts doubt on your eligibility for the green card, you could not only be denied citizenship but lose your U.S. lawful permanent residence.
The most important part of your citizenship application is Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, available for free download on the USCIS website. Along with the N-400 form, you will need to prepare and send:
Make a complete copy before mailing your application to USCIS, following the instructions on its website.
After accepting your application, USCIS will send you a notice telling you when and where to go to give “biometrics” (fingerprints). This will be the USCIS “application support center” or ASC closest to the address you gave on your application. If you need to change the date of your biometrics appointment, the notice tells you what to do.
Several months later, you will be notified when to appear for a personal interview at your local USCIS office. During that interview, a USCIS officer will review your application and approve or deny your citizenship.
You will need to show that you can speak and read in English. If you aren’t already comfortable with this, taking a class at a local adult school may help. To focus on the key vocabulary, see the Study Materials for the English Test page of the USCIS website.
You will also need to study a list of questions in preparation for the exam on U.S. history and government. Unless you qualify for a waiver (based on age or disability), you will need to answer 60% of these correctly in order to pass the exam. See the Study Materials for the Civics Test page of the USCIS website to find these questions and various means of studying them.
At your interview, a USCIS officer will review your application and ask you various questions from Form N-400. This serves a dual purpose: to confirm your eligibility and to test your knowledge of spoken English. The officer will also ask you to write a sentence in English, and ask you questions from the list that you studied.
You will also need to answer six out of ten questions correctly concerning U.S. history and government, so as to pass the civics test. There are 100 total questions, and the officer will choose which ones to ask you.
If approved by USCIS, you will be scheduled for a swearing-in ceremony. You are not a citizen until you are sworn in.
If you are denied because of failure to pass the English or the civics test, you will be automatically rescheduled for another interview, to take place within 90 days. If you are not approved for some other reason, you may be given time to overcome the problem. This would be a good time to get a lawyer’s help.
For detailed information on the citizenship application process, see Becoming a U.S. Citizen: A Guide to the Law, Exam & Interview, by Ilona Bray (Nolo).
]]>So, what happens if you are finally ready to naturalize, but cannot afford to pay the filing fee required to submit the N-400 citizenship application? The options depend on your household income level. You might be able to ask to pay:
We'll discuss both possibilities here. Realize, however, that if financial improprieties or irresponsibility led to the low income, you might be risking USCIS finding that your moral character doesn't merit U.S. citizenship, as also discussed below.
Some potential applicants' earnings are too high to qualify for a full fee waiver, but might nevertheless entitle them to pay a reduced fee to file the N-400.
If your family income is within a certain range of the U.S. federal Poverty Guidelines, you might qualify for a reduced fee. (See 8 C.F.R. § 103.7(b)(1)(i)(BBB).) Until April 1, 2024, that amount is above 150% but not more than 200% of the Poverty Guidelines. The situation will actually improve on April 1, 2024, when the cutoff goes up to 400% of the Poverty Guidelines.
Also, the Poverty Guidelines levels are adjusted every year for inflation, and usually go up. That means if you're on a fixed income that hasn't changed lately, your chances of being granted a fee reduction get better every year.
To ask for the reduced fee, you'll need to fill out Form I-942 and submit it with your N-400. You will still be required to pay the full biometric services (fingerprinting) fee, however; until April 1, 2024, when that fee will be folded into the application fee.
If your family income is below or equal to 150% of the U.S. federal Poverty Guidelines levels, you might qualify for a waiver of the entire N-400 fee, biometrics included. USCIS listed which of its application forms qualify for a fee waiver in its 2011 Policy Memorandum, and the Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, is on the list.
To apply for an N-400 fee waiver, the easiest method is to fill out Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, and submit any supporting documents (although the regulations require only a "written request." See 8 C.F.R. § 103.7(c)(2).). Read Filling Out Form I-912 for an Immigration Fee Waiver, for detailed instructions on how to fill out the form and when and how to file it.
Also carefully read the Instructions for Request for Fee Waiver on USCIS’s website for details on what documents you should submit as evidence of financial hardship.
When deciding whether to approve a Request for Fee Waiver, USCIS will determine whether you fall into one of the following three categories:
If you believe you fall into one of these categories, you will need to prove it to USCIS's satisfaction by submitting supporting documents along with your Form N-400 and I-912.
Although applicants for naturalization are eligible to apply for a fee waiver, submitting such a request could affect both the merits and the processing of the application for naturalization, as follows.
To apply for naturalization, applicants must meet multiple requirements, including that they are of good moral character. Obviously there is nothing inherently wrong with having a low income. Sometimes, however, requesting a fee waiver brings to light issues that go against a good moral character finding.
If, for example, an applicant took advantage of a public benefit without having been entitled to it, such as welfare or food stamps, USCIS could find that they committed fraud. Or, if the person is struggling financially because of credit judgments, or filed for bankruptcy, USCIS might find that they took advantage of the U.S. economic structure or was irresponsible and deprived others financially.
Additionally, if USCIS finds that the applicant is failing to pay child support, even if it's because of a significant financial strain, USCIS can, by law, find that the applicant lacks good moral character.
These are just examples of situations in which USCIS could use information submitted with the Request for Fee Waiver to determine that a person is not eligible for naturalization. If you plan to request a fee waiver along with your naturalization application, carefully review all of the information on Form I-912 and the evidence you submit in support of your request to make sure that you are not highlighting damaging information, or see a lawyer for a full analysis.
Aside from affecting the merits of your naturalization case, applying for a fee waiver can slow down your N-400's processing time. USCIS will first need to review the fee waiver request before it can review the Application for Naturalization.
What's more, if USCIS determines that you are not eligible for a fee waiver, it will send the entire naturalization package back to you to request that you pay the filing fee. USCIS will not review your Application for Naturalization and it will not issue a Receipt Notice until it gets your payment.
This whole back-and-forth process can slow down USCIS’s processing of a naturalization application by weeks or months. This is important to consider, especially if you are in a hurry to naturalize. Perhaps you want to travel for an extended period of time, but you do not want to violate the terms of your permanent residence. Or maybe an election is coming up in which you plan to vote.
When making the decision of whether or not to request a fee waiver, consider all of the possible effects.
Given the challenges of your situation, you could make your life easier by hiring an experienced immigration attorney to handle your naturalization case. Although it's an added expense, the attorney can analyze whether you qualify for a reduced fee or a waiver, prepare the paperwork, and monitor the progress toward approval. This can save you delays and setbacks.
]]>This article will examine the process by which one may obtain dual citizenship in the United States and Canada, as well as some issues that could arise by virtue of such dual citizenship.
Simply put, dual citizenship means that you can possess two different countries’ passports and owe your allegiance to both countries: the United States and, for purposes of this article, Canada. Neither United States nor Canadian law prohibits citizens of either country from becoming citizens of other countries simultaneously. Thus, dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship is permitted.
But this isn’t the case with every country in the world. Some countries prohibit dual citizenship; in other words, their prospective new citizens or departing citizens must “choose” whether to keep their original citizenship or to relinquish it in order to gain citizenship there or elsewhere. (If you are interested in obtaining dual citizenship in countries other than the U.S. and Canada, the U.S. State Department offers some guidance on its website, but it would be best to inquire about the details with an embassy or consulate of that country.)
There are generally three ways to obtain dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship:
Canada affords citizenship to all babies born there. Meanwhile, the U.S. currently affords citizenship to children born in other countries who have at least one U.S. citizen parent. Thus, people born in Canada to a U.S. citizen parent might automatically have dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship at the moment of their birth.
One has to look closer at the legal details, however. They depend partly on whether the child has one U.S. citizen parent or two. Also realize that the law on acquiring U.S. citizenship has changed over the years, so you’d need to check the law that applied on the date the child was born.
Under current law, a child born in Canada to two United States citizen parents, at least one of whom had a “residence” in the United States at some point, automatically acquires dual citizenship at the moment of birth. The term “residence,” under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, has special meaning. The simplest definition is that a residence is one's principal dwelling place. However, whether a parent had, legally speaking, the “residence” to transmit U.S. citizenship to a child born abroad should be discussed with an experienced immigration attorney.
Also under current U.S. law, if a child is born in Canada to one U.S. citizen parent and one foreign-born parent (that is, to a mother or father who is neither a U.S. citizen nor national) and if the U.S. citizen parent had at least one year of “physical presence” within the United States, the child would also automatically acquire dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship. Like residency, the term “physical presence” has special meaning under U.S. immigration laws. Broadly speaking, it refers to time actually spent in the United States, even if the U.S. citizen was only paying a visit to the country.
A child born out of wedlock in Canada (to unmarried parents) may also acquire dual citizenship at birth. Special rules apply, depending on whether the child’s mother or father is a United States citizen at the time.
Proof of Canadian citizenship can be demonstrated via the child’s birth certificate. There are various ways a child born abroad to at least one U.S. citizen parent may obtain proof of United States citizenship.
Similar to Canada’s birthright citizenship law, children born in the United States are automatically U.S. citizens. And, if a child is born in the United States to at least one Canadian parent, it is highly likely the child also automatically acquired Canadian citizenship at birth. The U.S. birth certificate may be used for proof of United States citizenship, and the person may apply for a Canadian certificate of citizenship.
There is one more way a child born in Canada can automatically become a dual citizen under current U.S. law, under a concept known as "derivation." If a Canadian-born child is born to two non-U.S. citizen parents, and if at least one of the child’s parents naturalizes to become a United States citizen while the child is under the age of 18 years, and if the child became a permanent relative of the United States (a green card holder) and lived in the U.S. with the naturalized parent while under the age of 18, then the child may automatically derive U.S. citizenship. Because of having been born in Canada (and thereby being born a Canadian citizen), the child becomes a dual citizen as of the date that that all of the conditions are met for U.S. citizenship.
In such a situation, the child’s Canadian birth certificate would serve as proof of Canadian citizenship, and the child or parent may apply for a Certificate of Citizenship with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by filing a Form N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship.
Keep in mind that if you were born prior to February 27, 1983, an earlier version of the above law (and different requirements) would apply to you. Indeed, because of difficulty navigating this area of U.S. law, it would be helpful to consult a U.S. immigration attorney.
By contrast to the above, Canada does not recognize citizenship for a child born in the United States to parents who—after the child’s birth—naturalize to become Canadian citizens. There are limited circumstances where someone born outside of Canada, prior to various dates in the 1940s, can receive Canadian citizenship through their parents’ receiving Canadian citizenship. An experienced Canadian immigration attorney could help you explore these possibilities.
If none of the above circumstances apply to you, you may still take steps to obtain citizenship in both the U.S. and Canada, and therefore dual citizenship. In the United States, the process of applying for citizenship is known as “naturalization.”
The rules to apply for Canadian citizen and to naturalize to become a United States citizen are similar. Both countries require, at a minimum, that the foreign-born person:
Needless to say this is a long process, particularly if you don’t have residency in the country where you weren’t born.
Upon obtaining dual citizenship, assuming you wish to travel internationally, you will want to ensure you have a valid entry document for return to the country where you live.
While you might have obtained a U.S. Certificate of Citizenship (by USCIS approval filing a Form N-600) or a Certificate of Naturalization (by approval after filing an N-400), neither of those are enough to allow you to enter the United States as a citizen. You will need to apply for a United States passport.
Likewise, a Canadian passport will ensure your admission into Canada as a citizen, as a passport is evidence of both your identity and your immigration status. Canada may also accept other documents of citizenship, such as a Certificate of Canadian Citizenship, Certificate of Naturalization, Registration of Birth Abroad Certificate, and others, but you will need to also travel with an approved government photo-ID document to confirm your identity.
A licensed, competent, and experienced immigration attorney attorney will be able to help you evaluate your rights and options in gaining and maintaining both U.S. and Canadian citizenship.
]]>If you have been scheduled for a naturalization interview following your submission of Form N-400, but you will be unable to make it to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office on that day, how can you reschedule? Although this should be a simple logistical matter, it's definitely one you want to handle properly, to avoid delays or even disaster in getting your U.S. citizenship approved. We'll provide details here.
If at all possible, you should attend your naturalization interview on the day it is scheduled. However, if you truly cannot make the scheduled appointment—for example, because of illness or a medical or family emergency—you can ask USCIS for a new date. In fact, USCIS strongly prefers that people who have any sort of contagious illness cancel their appointments, for the sake of others around them.
Whatever you do, do not simply skip the interview date. If you do, USCIS is likely to close your naturalization case. Then you will have to start all over again and reapply and pay the fee anew.
To request a reschedule of your citizenship interview, the two main methods include:
You might want to do both. Also check your interview notice, in case it gives you a new or different way to contact USCIS about the reschedule.
First, try calling USCIS's Contact Center to see if it can help. Getting to talk to a live person, however, can be nearly impossible. Your best bet is to start the process early in the day, since you might be asked to await a call-back. If all goes well, they will forward your request to the USCIS office handling your case (the one serving the geographical area where you live and where the interview was scheduled to be held).
Separately or in addition, it's worth writing to the USCIS office where the interview will happen, to explain the situation. Include a request that you be given a new interview date, and mention any pertinent scheduling information, such as (in a medical emergency) the length of time that you will be hospitalized or homebound. When you send in your request, be sure to enclose a copy of the interview notice that USCIS sent you.
Use the sample letter, below, as a guide. Do not send the letter to the same address that you first sent your application—that is a USCIS Service Center, and once it has transferred your file to your local USCIS office, it has no power over your case.
Here’s what to expect and how to make sure the interview goes well.
The USCIS notice will tell you what to bring to your interview, and advise you of any other important rules or considerations. Be sure to follow any measures USCIS has put into place for health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic, such as wearing a mask and standing six feet away from others.
You can have a lawyer accompany you to your USCIS interview, even if you only just hired the lawyer. It doesn't matter that you've never told USCIS that you'll be bringing an extra guest. On the day of the interview, the lawyer should simply hand the USCIS officer a form called a G-28 to show that they represent you.
Then the question is, do you want a lawyer with you? If it's just because you're not sure you're ready for your interview, you might do just as well studying up on your English language and American civics. The lawyer can't stop USCIS from asking any of these questions, and can't answer the questions for you. In fact, you'll find that the lawyer has to sit quietly through much of the interview.
It's a different matter if there's a legal issue in your case that you don't know how to deal with—such as if you've spent more than a year outside the United States, have had a run-in with the police, were quickly divorced from the spouse that got you your green card, or have a disability that prevents you from being able to learn English or study for the history and civics exam. Then hiring a lawyer could be essential.
The lawyer can analyze your situation in advance, advise whether you should go forward with your application at all (if the problem is too serious, you might be risking deportation), and possibly help explain the matter to the USCIS officer and protect your rights.
When you get to the USCIS office building, you will first go through a federal security checkpoint. You might need to ask for directions to the room where the citizenship interviews take place. Once there, you’ll need to check in with the person at the desk or window, or follow instructions for checking in with your interview notice.
Then, wait for your name to be called. You might have to wait for some time, since USCIS often schedules many people for the same block of time.
That doesn’t mean you should show up at the last minute. Get there early enough to make sure you don’t get lost and to find parking and make it through the security station well in time for your interview. If you fail to show up on time, USCIS could decide to close your case file and you'd have to start over.
When it’s your turn, a USCIS officer will call you in to a private office or cubicle where the interview will take place. The officer will probably be sitting at a work desk, and you will be given a chair on the other side of the desk. Your lawyer, if you have hired one, may be present in the office with you.
The USCIS officer begins the interview by asking you to raise your right hand and swear to tell the truth during the interview. Then the main part of the interview will take place.
A surprising amount of the naturalization interview involves the USCIS officer going over the written application and documents, particularly Form N-400. The officer will use the simple inquiries on your form, such as “Your current legal name” and “What is your current marital status?” to test your English and to confirm that the information you have given is correct.
Before the interview, read over your copy of your filled-in Form N-400 carefully. Then, simulate the interview at home, for example by having an English-speaking friend ask you each of the questions.
The USCIS officer might ask, near the beginning of your interview, “Are there any changes to your application?” Be prepared to provide corrections to any typos, and explanations of any larger changes to the information you provided. Most changes are not a problem.
If, for example, you have had another child, be ready with the child’s exact name and a copy of the birth certificate. Or, if you have taken a trip outside the United States, bring a list of the exact dates and other information that the N-400 asks for regarding trips (and, of course, make sure that none of those trips broke the continuity of your U.S. residence).
If you have changed jobs, bring a business card or employer letter showing your new employer’s name and address.
Two particular changes to your Form N-400 could, however, have a serious impact on your chances of receiving U.S. citizenship:
If either of the above are true, it might not only affect your eligibility for citizenship, but your right to remain in the United States. See an immigration attorney before going to the interview.
The job of the USCIS officer during the interview is to decide whether you are eligible for citizenship. The information and documents you gave when you applied could raise concerns, particularly if you have committed crimes or have done anything that might affect the officer’s opinion about your “moral character.”
Moreover, the officer might have information about you from sources other than what you provided in your application. Assume that USCIS knows almost everything about you! If the officer has any questions about whether you should get citizenship, based on information you gave or information obtained from other sources, you will need to provide truthful answers at the interview.
The worst thing you can do at a citizenship interview is to lie to the officer because you think the truth will hurt your chances at U.S. citizenship. Even if the question is not relevant to the officer’s decision, your citizenship can be denied on grounds that you were not truthful during the interview. If you truly do not know the answer to a question or cannot remember, tell the officer that. Do not make up an answer.
The test of your English speaking ability will begin the moment the USCIS officer meets you. The officer will be observing your ability to follow instructions (such as, “Please remain standing,” when you are sworn in), and to answer questions.
If you don’t understand a question, it’s okay to ask the officer to rephrase it. In fact, guessing at what the officer is saying could get you into deeper difficulties than simply saying, “I’m sorry, would you please repeat that using different words?”
USCIS has instructed its officers to repeat and rephrase questions until the officer is satisfied that you either fully understand the question or do not understand English.
The officer will also ask you to write a sentence in English, which the officer will dictate. The vocabulary will come from the list that you studied ahead of time (provided within the Study Materials on the USCIS website and in Becoming a U.S. Citizen, by Ilona Bray (Nolo)).
Lots of people who can pass the English test have their citizenship denied because of misunderstandings during questioning at the interview. Make sure your ability to speak and understand English is strong before you apply for U.S. citizenship.
In some USCIS offices, they split the interview up, by having one officer test you on civics as well as written English, and then another one doing the actual interview. If that’s not the case where you are, however, the interviewing officer will simply ask you several questions from the long list you studied, as was provided by USCIS.
The list contains 100 questions, and you will have to answer six out of ten correctly in order to pass. If you are unable to answer a sufficient number of questions correctly, the interview will stop. If this was your first interview, you will be rescheduled for another day (within the next 90 days).
If all goes well at your naturalization interview, the USCIS officer might tell you that you have been approved.
Sometimes, however, the officer cannot make a decision after the interview, maybe because they need you to send another document or evidence of eligibility. Or, the officer might need to get approval from a supervisor because of some uncertainty about whether or not you are entitled to citizenship.
Make sure you comply with any deadlines for responding to requests for more evidence. Another possible issue is that you are a conditional U.S. resident who submitted an I-751 but hasn't yet been approved for permanent residence, and USCIS wasn't able to consolidate your files to approve both applications at once, as described in Conditional Resident Awaiting I-751 Approval? Consider Filing N-400 for Naturalization.
Usually, at the end of a naturalization interview that goes well, the officer simply congratulates the applicant and says something like, "We'll send you a notice scheduling you for a swearing-in (oath) ceremony." Then you would have to wait until the postal carrier brings you that all-important letter, and hope the date will work for you. (Remember, you are not a citizen until you have taken the oath.)
But there are slight variations on this scenario.
In some parts of the United States, you have a choice between going to a court-run or a USCIS-run ceremony. If that's the case where you are, the officer might show you the schedule and ask you to choose a date. (Remember to choose a court ceremony if requesting a name change, as only a judge can approve this.)
USCIS has also told individual attorneys that it's okay for applicants to tell the interviewing officer if there's a particular oath ceremony date that won't work for them. The officer can, according to USCIS, then write the date on your file's cover sheet, and schedule the person for the next oath ceremony after that. But this might not be a nationwide policy, and you'll need to be careful about asking for too much. If you provide a long list of dates, USCIS could ignore your request or figure you're being difficult.
In any case, you should now be mere months away from attaining U.S. citizenship. And if the scheduled ceremony date turns out not to work, there is a way to reschedule. It involves submitting the Form N-445 that came with the notice, together with an explanation of why you cannot attend. However, this is a bother, and requires you to have a good reason, such as a scheduled surgery or trip out of town. What with all the back and forth, your request could significantly delay your swearing in.
If you are denied citizenship, you should receive a piece of paper from the USCIS officer explaining the reasons. You can choose to appeal or to simply reapply.
Don’t reapply, however, unless you understand why you got denied and your new application will be different and will likely cause USCIS to approve you this time. This might be a good time to consult with an experienced immigration attorney.
]]>People have actually been turned away from the oath ceremony because they’d done something to destroy their eligibility in the weeks or months leading up to it. For instance, if you have been arrested or if you have traveled extensively outside of the U.S., you will need to disclose these changes to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and you might not be eligible to naturalize.
As further detailed below, it is definitely in your best interest to stay out of trouble in the time between your naturalization interview and your U.S. citizenship oath ceremony!
Depending on where you live and the oath ceremony schedule in your district, you could be scheduled as soon as the same day you pass your interview or it could be several months before you are able to take the oath. The longer the wait, the higher the risk that changes in your situation might impact your continued eligibility for U.S. citizenship.
Form N-445, Notice of Naturalization Oath Ceremony, which you will either receive at the conclusion of your interview at USCIS or later by mail, is an important document. It will not only list things that you should bring to the oath ceremony, but it contains a questionnaire that you must fill out on the reverse side. Your answers to these questions will determine whether you are still eligible for naturalized citizenship.
The Form N-445 questionnaire contains questions similar to those you answered on your N-400, Application for Naturalization. If you answer “yes” to any of these, you will need to explain the reason to the USCIS official at the ceremony. The official will determine whether you are still eligible to take the oath that day or whether to send you home and ask you to mail in additional evidence or to await further action on your application.
Make sure you answer the questions truthfully, or speak to a lawyer if you are worried about your answer to one of them. Disclosing a minor criminal offense is typically preferable to making a false statement to an immigration official, as you could lose your U.S. citizenship later if it is discovered that you lied.
You will be asked: Have you married, or been widowed, separated or divorced. If “Yes,” please bring documented proof of marriage, death, separation, or divorce.
USCIS asks this question because if you are applying for citizenship after three years based on your marriage to a U.S. citizen, you must remain married until after you take the oath. If your spouse died or you separated or divorced before you could be naturalized, your application will be rejected (unless the normal wait time of five years has already passed), because you are not eligible to apply early based on your marriage. You can reapply once you have had your green card for five years.
If you have been married recently, USCIS will want your new spouse’s biographical information before allowing you to naturalize. And if your name has changed because of the new marriage, it will not match the preprinted naturalization certificate that you are given at the conclusion of the oath ceremony. You should provide evidence of your name change (such as a marriage certificate) and you will be scheduled to take the oath at a later date once USCIS processes this new information.
Form N-445 will also ask: Have you traveled outside of the United States?
If you have made only a short trip outside the U.S. since your naturalization interview, then you shouldn’t have a problem. USCIS is only concerned if you have abandoned your residency by making your home in another country. If you have spent several months abroad recently, you should bring evidence to the oath ceremony that you maintained your ties to the United States.
For more on maintaining U.S. residence when abroad, see How to Travel Outside the U.S. With a Green Card.
You will be asked: Have you been arrested, cited, charged, indicted, convicted, fined, or imprisoned for breaking or violating any law or ordinance, including traffic violations?
In any of these cases, USCIS will want to know what happened following your arrest and citation, known as the “official disposition” of the case. If you need to answer “yes” to this question, be sure to gather copies of all documentation regarding the incident and to talk to an attorney before submitting them. Certain types of crimes can not only hurt your eligibility for citizenship, but cause U.S. immigration authorities to place you into removal proceedings in immigration court. Minor traffic citations shouldn’t pose an issue, but you should still make sure to disclose them.
In some cases, where citizenship applicants have been arrested, the USCIS officer might postpone their oath ceremony until they receive the final outcome of their criminal case. For more on this topic, see FAQs About Taking Oath of U.S. Citizenship.
You will need to answer two questions about your moral character: 1) Have you knowingly committed any crime or offense, for which you have not been arrested? and 2) Have you practiced polygamy; received income from illegal gambling; been a prostitute, procured anyone for prostitution or been involved in any other unlawful commercialized vice; encouraged or helped any alien to enter the United States illegally; illicitly trafficked in drugs or marijuana; given any false testimony to obtain immigration benefits; or been a habitual drunkard?
USCIS asks these questions to determine whether you still have the good moral character required for U.S. citizenship. You will be asked to disclose any crimes or offenses that law enforcement or other authorities have not discovered. While it might occur to you to hide this criminal activity because you have not been “caught,” if this information is uncovered in the future, you could lose your citizenship.
The inquiries about instances of specific behavior are USCIS’s “go-to” questions to determine good moral character. People who have been involved with prostitution, heavy drinking, drugs, gambling, and polygamy and those who have helped others to skirt U.S. immigration laws or lied to receive immigration benefits are not eligible for U.S. citizenship. Again, see an attorney if you’re worried about how to answer any of these questions.
Form N-445 asks: Have you joined any organization, including the Communist Party, or become associated or connected therewith in any way?
Communists are not eligible for U.S. citizenship. Likewise, if you have joined any club or organization that USCIS considers to pose a national security threat, you will not be allowed to take the oath. You can bring documentation of any groups you have recently joined that may be suspect, but the best thing to do is to avoid joining any new organizations until after you have taken the naturalization oath.
You will be asked two questions about military service: 1) Have you claimed an exemption from military service? and 2) Has there been any change in your willingness to bear arms on behalf of the United States; to perform non-combatant service in the armed forces of the United States; to perform work of national importance under civilian direction, if the law requires it?
If you are a man (as defined by the gender assigned you at birth) and you received your permanent resident card before the age of 26, you were probably expected to register for Selective Service (or the military “draft”), though some exceptions apply.
All applicants, both male and female, are asked on Form N-400 to certify that they will take up arms or perform noncombatant service in a war effort. If your religious beliefs have changed such that you are no longer able to swear to this part of the oath and have taken up “conscientious objector status,” you will need to provide proof of this and request taking a modified Oath of Allegiance.
An experienced immigration attorney can help evaluate your ongoing eligibility for U.S. citizenship and strategize ways to protect your eligibility to take the oath of allegiance and become a U.S. citizen.
Registering for Selective Service does not mean that you have to actually become a member of the U.S. armed forces. However, you are expected to be ready to join if a large-scale war or similar emergency arises.
If you knew about the registration requirement and refused to put your name in, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) can deny your application for naturalized citizenship. It's a matter of not only meeting the good moral character requirement, but proving that you are attached to the principles of the U.S. Constitution.
But not all cases are so clear-cut. This article will discuss:
In case it isn't obvious, women need not register for the Selective Service. For these purposes, your gender is the one assigned to you at birth, so a transgender person whose birth record shows them as female would not need to register.
As for men (per the gender stated on your records at birth), the main exceptions likely to help you, if you are sure you haven't registered, include:
Notice that no exception is made for undocumented or illegal aliens, conscientious objectors, or disabled persons. They are expected to register, though whether they'll actually be called to serve is another matter. The Selective Service office states that it does not share address or other information about undocumented persons with U.S. immigration authorities.
For more information on these exceptions and more, see the Selective Service website, in particular its FAQs.
Many young men find out when they fill out Form I-485 in order to adjust status and get a green card, because the form authorizes USCIS to provide your registration information to the Selective Service System. No one can assume, however, that USCIS actually took care of registering you.
To check, go to the Selective Service website's Verify Registration page and enter your information. The system will confirm whether or not you are registered (and you can print out proof, if you like).
If you are getting ready to apply for U.S. citizenship and you did not register for the Selective Service and are not yet age 26, it’s not too late. You can still register online or by mail or pick up the registration form at a U.S. post office, fill it out, and mail it in.
But if you're already 26 years old, this won't work.
If you’ve passed age 26, it’s too late for you to register for the Selective Service. Your chances of qualifying for U.S. citizenship depend on how many years have passed since you were supposed to register and how many years of good moral character you need to show in order to meet the naturalization eligibility requirements. If you need to show five years of good moral character, then the easiest thing might be to wait until you are age 31 to apply for citizenship.
Or, if you need to show only three years of good moral character (because you can apply early, having been married to and living with a U.S. citizen all that time), you should wait until you are 29 years of age to submit your N-400 citizenship application.
If you are eager to apply for citizenship before you turn 29 or 31 (as applicable), you might be able to show USCIS that you had no idea that registering was expected of you, and that you therefore didn’t “willfully” fail to register, by submitting these along with your naturalization application:
A Status Information Letter from the Selective Service simply states that you are over-age and therefore no longer required to register. However, you need to get one, because USCIS will refuse to look at the rest of your materials without it.
You can request the Status Information Letter from the Selective Service System website or by calling 847-688-6888.
Your sworn statement should offer reasons why you failed to learn about the Selective Service registration requirement.
If you attended high school in the U.S., you were probably sent a letter about this requirement, and will need to additionally explain why the information did not cause you to register. (For example, perhaps you heard about the requirement but believed it applied only to U.S. citizens.)
You will also have trouble claiming ignorance of the registration requirement if you got your green card either through the amnesty program in the 1980s or more recently, during or after the year 2001. In both cases, people were alerted to their registration obligations.
If possible, get letters from other people who knew you, particularly people in positions of authority, such as a high school teacher. The letters should support your explanation of what happened to result in your not knowing you were supposed to register.
For in-depth discussion of the process of applying for U.S. citizenship, see Becoming a U.S. Citizen: A Guide to the Law, Exam & Interview, by Ilona Bray (Nolo). Or, consider hiring an attorney to help with the application process and strategy.
]]>Under certain circumstances, however, you can still ask USCIS to make a decision on your naturalization application as soon as possible ("expedite" your processing). USCIS might agree to move your application to the front of the line for the reasons described in this article, including:
It's up to you to convince USCIS that you have one of those reasons. If you don't, you have no chance. Even if you do, there's nothing in the law that requires USCIS to expedite processing of your application.
The one situation in which USCIS will definitely agree to expedite processing of an application for naturalization is where you are receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, those benefits will be cut off within a year if you don't become a citizen, and USCIS has had your application for at least four months already.
In this situation, you will need to tell USCIS that your SSI benefits are about to expire so it knows that it should hurry up its processing of your application. You can do this by getting in touch with the USCIS Contact Center. Ideally, you'll want to get through the recorded material to a live person, though it probably won't happen on the first call. The best one can usually hope for is a call-back, which is why it's best to call first thing in the morning and make sure you'll be able to pick up your phone that day.
The person you eventually speak to might make an appointment for you to visit a local USCIS office. Writing to your local USCIS field office is also a possibility, as is requesting an in-person appointment via USCIS's online "My Appointment" system.
Either way, you will need a copy of your most recent letter from the Social Security Administration indicating when your SSI benefits will end. Show or give a copy of that letter to USCIS, and explain that your SSI benefits will be terminated within one year or less and that your naturalization application has been pending for four months or more. Ask USCIS to "expedite" processing of your application.
Other reasons USCIS might be willing to expedite processing of your naturalization application are:
In preparation to request an expedite on one of these grounds, gather documentation to prove the issue. For example, in the case of financial loss, you'd want to supply financial statements or an auditor's report. In the case of a health emergency, ask your doctor for a letter describing the problem. You'll need to decide what the most convincing, authoritative form of proof is. Also see Creating Substitute Documents or Affidavits for Immigration Applications.
In rare situations, the U.S. Department of Defense or another U.S. government agency might request that you become a U.S. citizen right away as a matter of national interest. In such a case, the DOD or other agency should supply you with a request letter or otherwise request USCIS's cooperation.
If USCIS denied your previous application for naturalization or has been delaying your current one based on a mistake, that's grounds for requesting that it expedite processing of your request. In some cases, USCIS might even expedite processing of your application for its own reasons or of its own accord.
To request expedited processing of your naturalization application, you can either go through the USCIS Contact Center (800-375-5283) or write a letter to your local USCIS field office (the one handling your N-400 application). You might also try requesting an in-person appointment via USCIS's online "My Appointment" portal; this isn't guaranteed, they'll evaluate your need after you submit the request.
Be ready to prove the reason you need expedited processing with documentation backing up your statements.
If the measures described in this article aren't getting results from USCIS, and you still need to naturalize as soon as possible, consult an experienced immigration attorney.
]]>Applying for naturalization while you're in college, and don't have a steady address, and perhaps spend summers in a different location, can be a bit tricky. It involves both legal and practical issues, as described in this article.
Legally speaking, you can use either your college address or your parents' address as your residence—that is, the first address that you list in Part 5, Question 1.A of the N-400. This comes from the Code of Federal Regulations, at 8 C.F.R. § 316.5(b)(2).
If you choose to use your college address, make sure you have lived there for three months or more already, since having lived in the same state for three months is a requirement before applying for naturalization. (See articles on Who Is Legally Eligible for Naturalized U.S. Citizenship for more information.)
If you would prefer to use your parents' address as your residence, make sure you can show that you are financially dependent on your parents at the time you submit the N-400 naturalization application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and that you continue to be so until you are approved (or denied) for U.S. citizenship.
One of the biggest issues if you're a college student applying to naturalize is making sure that you will receive notifications from USCIS for the next several months, so that you will hear about your biometrics (fingerprinting) appointment and your interview appointment. Either or both of these could be scheduled several months after you submit the application. Fortunately, Part 5 Question 1.B allows you to enter a mailing address that's separate from your residence address. That should be where you put your most stable address.
If, for example, you're living with a bunch of other students in a group house, summer break is coming, and you will all be moving to different places next year, don't count on the subsequent tenants (or even the U.S. Postal Service) to forward all-important pieces of USCIS mail to you.
Also realize that whichever address you put down as your place of residence will be the one USCIS assumes you need to be closest to in choosing the location for your biometrics appointment and interview. So, for example, if you use your parents' address and you are called for one of these appointments while in school, you might have to be ready to quickly book a cross-country flight.
One thing that might help with your planning is to look into the typical processing times (between filing the N-400 and being called for your interview) at the USCIS offices serving both your parents' address and the city where your college or university is located. To do so, go to the Check Case Processing Times page of USCIS's website.
By the way, we're assuming that you are already 18 years old, which is another requirement for naturalization.
If you have questions or would like assistance analyzing your eligibility, preparing the paperwork, and monitoring your citizenship application through the approval process, consult an experienced immigration attorney.
]]>Of course, you will be studying English before the next interview. But some common and reasonable questions for people in this situation are:
We'll answer those here.
This second naturalization interview at an office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is your final opportunity (within this part of the application process, at least) to pass the English exam that's required in order to be approved as a naturalized U.S. citizen. So you will definitely want to spend the time in between the two interviews (probably around 60 to 90 days) working hard on your knowledge of spoken and written English.
The USCIS officer will not use the same text passages to test your English this next time. In other words, you will be asked to read aloud a different portion of text than before, and to write down a different sentence in English.
The good news is, the English exam is likely all you need to prepare for. Assuming you passed the civics exam portion of your naturalization interview, the next USCIS officer who examines you will not administer that particular test a second time. (This policy is stated in the USCIS Policy Manual.)
You can double check the reason you weren't approved. The USCIS officer should have given you a "results sheet" at the end of your first interview, clarifying the reasons. Take another look at that. Hopefully it will indicate that the English exam was the one and only factor in the officer's decision.
If the reason you've had difficulty learning English can be traced to age or disability, you might also look into whether you can ask for an exception to or waiver of the English language requirement.
Best wishes at your upcoming interview! If for some reason it doesn't go well, and you are denied naturalization, you have two options.
You can, according to USCIS policy, appeal the decision by asking for a hearing. File Form N-336 within 30 days in order to make this request. This will give you one last chance to pass the English exam.
Or, you can submit a new N-400 to USCIS as soon as you feel ready to. There is no waiting period to refile if the only reason for denial was failure to pass one of the exams. Of course, you'll need to pass all the exams and go through a full interview at that time.
Although an attorney can't help you learn English, it's worth consulting an experienced one if any legal issues arise in your naturalization case, or if you don't understand why your naturalization application was denied.
]]>Form N-400 is available for free by calling 800-870-3676, or you can download it from the N-400 page of the USCIS website (though you will need to pay a fee to actually submit it). You can submit it either in paper form (by mail) or online. If you choose to mail it in, make sure you go to the USCIS website and check that you have the latest version before sending it in.
The instructions below refer to the version of the form that was issued 9/17/19.
How clearly and carefully you prepare your paperwork can affect how your application is judged. It’s important to:
Now, let’s go through the form, question by question (but skipping instances where the questions are self-explanatory). Note that at the top of every page of the form, you must remember to fill in your A-number.
Part 1. Information About Your Eligibility
Enter your A-number (found on your green card) then check the box matching your citizenship eligibility basis. Most people check Box A (five years of permanent residence).
However, spouses of U.S. citizens can check Box B or C (if they have been married and living together for three years) and people in military service can check Box D, stating that they qualify for an exception to the five-year rule. (Remember that you will need to provide proof that you fit in the stated category.)
Refugees and asylees should check Box A. Although they are permitted to credit some of their years as refugees or asylees toward the five-year requirement, they are not exempt from the five-year requirement itself.
Part 2. Information About You
Question 1. Your current legal name. Enter your full name. If your name has ever changed; perhaps due to adoption, marriage, or a court-ordered name change; include legal documentation of the change.
Question 2. Your name exactly as it appears on your Permanent Resident Card. This question helps USCIS match your application to your green card, so copy your name exactly as it appears there, even if there are mistakes or your name has been or will be changed.
Question 3. Provide alternate versions of your name (such as from past marriages) as well as names by which you have been commonly known. For example, if your legal name is Juozas but everyone calls you Joe and it appears on some of your personal records and documents, mention Joe on this part of the application. If, however, only your wife or a few friends call you Joe, then you don’t need to write it here. If unsure, simply enter the nickname, to be on the safe side.
Question 4. Name change (optional). If you have been wanting to legally change your name, this could be your opportunity. You can legally change it without any extra court procedures by filling in your chosen new name on Form N-400; on one condition. Your swearing-in ceremony must be held in a courtroom, presided over by a judge, not by a USCIS officer. In some USCIS districts, ceremonies presided over by a judge are held only a few times per year if at all, so asking for a name change will either be impossible or will result in your waiting longer than other people to receive citizenship. Contact your local USCIS office for details. If you are able to request a name change, the USCIS officer will have you fill out a form called a Petition for Name Change during your interview. Realize also that the law places limits on what you can change your name to; see Name Change FAQ for more information.
Question 5. U.S. Social Security Number. This is self-explanatory; you most likely have a legal Social Security Number by now. Don't put down a false one!
Question 6. USCIS Online Account Number. If you don't have one, don't worry about it--this applies only to people who have filed certain types of application with USCIS, and you can leave this blank.
Question 7. Your gender. If you've had a gender reassignment since getting your green card, include medical proof.
Question 8. Your date of birth.
Question 9. You can find the date you became a permanent resident on your green card.
Questions 10 and 11. Your country of birth (using whatever country name was official at that time) and of citizenship or nationality.
In Questions 12 and 13, you have the opportunity to advise USCIS as to whether you have any physical or mental disabilities, and whether you are requesting a waiver or reduction of the English language and/or U.S. history and government exam requirements, or other accommodation as a result.
It’s fine to say yes to both questions. If you say yes to the first one, however, you will need to have a doctor back up your request, by examining you and preparing USCIS Form N-648. See Waivers for Age or Disability When Applying for Citizenship for more on this topic.
There is actually a third issue regarding disability that Form N-400 doesn’t cover. Applicants whose conditions are particularly severe may, even after being approved for citizenship, be unable to understand or repeat the Oath of Allegiance that makes someone a U.S. citizen. The applicant will not automatically be allowed to skip this oath, but someone must first request a separate waiver of the oath requirement on the person's behalf (assuming that the applicant cannot speak for him- or herself). USCIS suggests using the space under this question to request the oath waiver; or else doing so in the cover letter to the N-400 or in a separate statement. (Doing both would be a good idea.)
Question 13 allows you to elect to take an age-related, easier version of the English language test that is part of the naturalization exam; and an easier version of the civics exam, if you are 65 or older.
Part 3: Accommodations for Individuals With Disabilities and/or Impairments
In addition to (or instead of) exceptions to the naturalization exam requirements, you can ask USCIS to make accommodations (something to make the interview less difficult for you) based on your disability.
Examples include requesting a sign-language interpreter, wheelchair access (legally required regardless, but it's still best to warn USCIS that you'll be coming), or whatever else will help you get through the exam (accompaniment by a nursing aide, perhaps, or a shortened waiting time, or even an in-house or in-hospital visit from USCIS, though it grants these only rarely).
Part 4. Information to Contact You
Questions 1-5. These ask for your phone numbers and email address. Where it's appropriate, you can answer “none.” Or, you could use a friend or neighbor’s phone number; USCIS is unlikely to actually call you. Be sure you provide some sort of workable contact information, just in case.
Part 5. Information About Your Residence
First, enter your current home address in Section A.
In Section B is a space to enter a different mailing address, if your home address is an insecure place at which to receive mail.
Next, in Section C, you will need to enter all your previous addresses for the past five years, from most recent to longest ago. One of the main purposes of this section is to make sure that you are not disqualified from applying for citizenship right now because you have spent too much time abroad.
Part 6. Information About Your Parents
Your answers to these questions could result in your saving a lot of time and effort! If you happen to have parents who are U.S. citizens, there is a chance they transmitted their citizenship to you, automatically. Whether this occurred depends on various factors, such as your date of birth, how long your parents lived in the U.S., and whether one or both of them were citizens. If they did pass on their citizenship to you, you need not fill out Form N-400, but can claim your citizenship in other ways.
See Acquiring or Deriving Citizenship Through Parents for details. If they are definitely not citizens, you can skip this section.
Part 7. Biographic Information
Fill in this information honestly. USCIS uses it to figure out whether you have a criminal record. If you are caught lying, it will raise serious questions about your credibility and what you are hiding.
If you do not believe you fit into any of the categories, choose the one that is closest. Under “Race,” people of Latin American or Hispanic background often end up choosing “White” or "Black."
If you have a criminal history, it's likely to come to light regardless—USCIS will separately check your fingerprints against various law enforcement databases. If you are have reason to believe that USCIS will turn up negative information in its check of your records, by all means consult an immigration lawyer.
Part 8. Information About Your Employment and Schools You Attended
Here, you must give details about where you went to school or worked for the last five years. If you cannot remember something from years past, put in as much information as you can remember. If you have gone through periods of unemployment, unpaid work, self-employment, disability, retirement, or taking care of your home or children, list these too.
Include any time you spent working in the U.S. illegally before you got your green card (but make sure that it matches the information on your green card application forms).
What if you spent all of the past five years not working, but had a job before that? It's a good idea to list that job in Question 2.
Part 9. Time Outside the United States
You will need to prove that you spent the required minimum amount of time in the U.S. in the years leading up to filing your N-400 and that your visits outside the United States (including to Canada and Mexico as well as any other countries) did not last too long.
If you cannot determine the information, enter as much as you can. For example, some people might write in the space (or on an attachment page) something like, “I crossed the border into Canada to spend time with my father approximately once a month for the last six years. Most of my visits were two days long, except for visits at Chinese New Year, when I usually stayed for five days.”
Or you can put "APPROX" in front of the date, to indicate that it's an approximation, or your best estimate of the date.
Part 10. Information About Your Marital History
This section raises questions for many applicants. For example, Question 8 is a source of confusion. It asks, “How many times has your current spouse been married?” The key is to understand that your current marriage counts in adding these up. So, for instance, if your spouse had been married twice before, you would answer “three” here.
Another common concern is the question about your spouse’s immigration status, particularly if your spouse is living in the U.S. after an illegal entry or a visa overstay. Possible answers to enter here include "adjustment applicant" (if you've started the immigration process for your spouse by filing a Form I-130) or simply "N/A" (not applicable).
Divorces are a source of worry for some applicants. See Can I Apply for Citizenship if I’ve Divorced the Person Who Got Me My Green Card? for details on that issue.
Why does USCIS need to know about your and your spouse’s previous marriages? One reason is to double check that you aren’t married to more than one person, which would make your current marriage invalid or be a sign that you’re intentionally engaging in polygamy, which USCIS considers to demonstrate bad moral character.
Even if the double marriage was an accident, it can create a problem if you got your green card as a result of your latest marriage. After discovering this, USCIS could take steps to not only deny your citizenship, but remove your status as a green card holder. If you find yourself in such a situation, see an immigration lawyer.
Part 11. Information About Your Children
Most of this section is self-explanatory. As stated in the N-400 instructions, however, you must list every one of your children, regardless of whether they are:
If you neglect to mention a child on your citizenship application, and then come back later with a petition to immigrate that child, USCIS may suspect that you are committing a fraud to help someone else’s child get a green card.
Part 12. Additional Information About You
These questions have to do with your basic eligibility for citizenship, in particular your moral character and the amount of time you have lived in the United States with a green card. If your answer to any of the questions is “yes” (with a few exceptions discussed below), you are at risk for your application being denied. See a lawyer.
Question 5, which asks whether you are legally incompetent or have ever been confined to a mental institution, does not represent an absolute bar to citizenship. It does raise the question, however, of whether you are able to understand and therefore take the oath of allegiance required for citizenship. If not, a disability waiver could help you overcome this hurdle. But definitely get help from an attorney.
Question 9 is particularly important, yet confusing to many applicants. There is no need to fear listing your membership in volunteer, charitable, or community organizations such as a social club, union, church group, P.T.A., volunteer corps, and so forth. These activities demonstrate your good moral character; and you must prove good moral character in order to be approved for U.S. citizenship. But it’s a different story if you belong to a group that advocates world communism, violence, terrorism, or other perceived threats to the U.S., or if you were involved with Nazi activities in Germany. Even if you don't mention these in Question 9, various other questions on the form are designed to elicit this information. If you belong to a group that might fit any of these latter descriptions, consult with an immigration lawyer before going further. As for the dates of your membership, it's okay to write "APPROX" in front of the date if you can't remember it exactly.
If you became a permanent resident through a claim for asylum or refugee status, and you check "yes" to any of the questions in this section, you might want to consult an immigration attorney before going any further. Depending on the exact fact pattern, it's possible you could undermine your underlying claim to asylum or refugee status. For example, if you answered Question 16 to say that you worked in a forced labor camp, this could (if this information wasn't already dealt with in your asylum claim) reveal that you are ineligible for asylum as a persecutor of others.
For Question 22, which asks whether you've committed any crimes for which you weren't arrested, your answer is expected to be "yes" if you have used, manufactured, or sold marijuana, even in a state where such actions were legal. See Crimes That Will Prevent You From Receiving U.S. Citizenship.
Notice that the many questions (22 - 28) about your criminal history are quite broad. In fact, you will need to mention any arrests by immigration authorities such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as any traffic tickets that you have received. You will also need to supply documentary evidence showing the outcome of your criminal case. That doesn’t mean that any or every crime will result in your being denied citizenship.
Traffic stops or tickets ordinarily will not disqualify someone from naturalizing. And USCIS does not (unlike with other crimes) require you to submit documentary evidence showing the outcome if you received only a traffic fine or if you were not arrested and the only penalty was a fine less than $500 and/or points on your driver’s license. (Also, don’t worry about listing parking tickets here; just the incidents that happened while you were behind the wheel of a vehicle.) But you should consult an immigration attorney for anything more serious on your criminal record. Also see the Crimes and U.S. Immigration section of Nolo's website.
Question 30C is another one that trips up applicants who have been involved in the marijuana industry in states where it's legal. This is still considered a federal offense and a bar to U.S. citizenship.
On Question 30F, be aware that even helping a family member to enter (or try to enter) the U.S. illegally must be answered with "yes," and is a crime.
On Question 31, remember that the "U.S. Government" includes its immigration authorities. If, therefore, you have provided false information on a green card, visa, or other such application, you need to answer "yes" here.
Questions 33 - 36 ask whether you have been in removal, exclusion. or deportation proceedings. If you have been recently summoned for immigration court proceedings, applying for naturalization will not protect you. Your citizenship application will most likely be denied, unless you are able to have the court proceedings put on hold until USCIS makes a decision on your naturalization application. See a lawyer for a full analysis of your situation; or if you answer “yes” to any of the other questions in this section about removal, exclusion, or deportation.
Question 44 is especially important; it asks about Selective Service Registration. If you are a male who was living in the U.S. or got your green card before or between the ages of 18 and 26, you were probably required to register for Selective Service, a list kept in preparation for a U.S. military draft. If you have not done so, you must either register with the Selective Service now (which you can do only if you are still younger than age 26) or attach a statement explaining why you did not comply with your duty to register.
In Questions 45 - 50, you must demonstrate that you are loyal to the United States and will fight for it if necessary.
If you are part of a religion that prohibits taking any sort of oath (for example, the Quakers and the Jehovah’s Witnesses), answer “no” to Question 46, but submit a letter from your church or other religious body confirming your membership. (Include this when you send in your N-400.)
If you are a conscientious objector, meaning that for religious or moral reasons you refuse to take up weapons or join in a war, you can answer “no” to Question 48, which asks whether you will bear arms for the United States. If your beliefs would prohibit you from providing any support to a war effort, answer “no” to Question 47, which asks whether you would be willing to provide noncombatant services. You will have to attach proof of your conscientious objector status and request taking a modified Oath of Allegiance.)
Part 13. Applicant's Statement, Certification, and Signature
Here, you must promise to have understood the Form N-400 and to have provided accurate responses.
If you are disabled and not able to sign your own name (for example, because your hands don’t work, or because of cognitive difficulties), you have two choices. You can either mark an “X” in place of your signature, or your legal guardian can sign for you. (After the signature, guardians should write, in parentheses “signed by [guardian’s name], designated representative.”)
Part 14. Interpreter's Contact Information, Certification, and Signature
If, in Part 2, you requested an age- or disability-related waiver of the English requirement, this is where you and your interpreter must sign. (If not, having an interpreter's help with this form will be seen by USCIS as an indication that you do not speak English. You might need to wait until you have a firmer grasp of the English language to apply for naturalization.)
Part 15. Contact Information, Declaration, and Signature of the Person Who Prepared This Application, If Other Than the Applicant
If a lawyer, paralegal, or other document preparer (including the designated representative of a disabled person) completes Form N-400 for you, that's fine, but that person must sign this section.
If you completed Form N-400 on your own, or if you merely received some advice from a friend, neither of you needs to complete this section.
Part 16. Signature at Interview
DO NOT fill this out until your interview at a USCIS office.
Part 17. Renunciation of Foreign Titles
If you're allowed to go by a title such as "Princess," "Duke," and so forth, you will have to give this up in order to become a U.S. citizen. However, leave this blank for now. You will not fill in or sign this section until you are at your USCIS interview.
Part 18. Oath of Allegiance.
You must also leave this blank until your interview with a USCIS officer.
If you have questions about how to fill in this form, or worry about your eligibility or other issues concerning your quest for U.S. citizenship, hiring an experienced immigration attorney can be well worth the expense.
]]>The rule requires only that you live somewhere for three months before filing your application, however. You can move to a new state or USCIS service district after you file your application and USCIS will continue to process it. The question in this situation is, where will your interview and oath ceremony be held—near your old address or your new one? We'll discuss the details here, focusing on three situations:
The first thing to know is that, as a U.S. lawful permanent resident (a green card holder), your ongoing responsibilities include sending notification of your change your address to USCIS within ten days of moving, whether you’ve applied for U.S. citizenship or not.
It’s especially important to change your address with USCIS if you have an application pending there. You can change your address online or call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283. Make sure to have the receipt number from your citizenship application ready.
What normally happens is that the USCIS office in the old state or service district sees the change of address a citizenship applicant has filed within its computer system and transfers the file to the USCIS office nearest where the applicant is now living. (This is despite the fact that U.S. immigration law says that USCIS doesn’t have to schedule an interview in the applicant's new state or service district.)
The USCIS office that receives the file will mail a notice of interview to the applicant at the new address, scheduling the interview.
If you moved without ever changing your address online or by phone, or if you know you’re going to move soon, you can request that your interview take place near your new address. You need to send a request letter to the USCIS office nearest your new address letting it know about your new address.
If you move to a new home after your U.S. citizenship interview has been scheduled, you first need to notify USCIS of your change of address. When the USCIS office near your old address sees your change of address in the system, it will cancel your interview and send your file to the USCIS office closest to your new address. That office will schedule you for an interview near your new address.
If for some reason USCIS never noticed your change of address and never cancelled your interview, you can, if it's feasible for you, show up for the interview near your old address. USCIS will usually just go ahead with the interview. Once the interview is complete, USCIS will transfer your file to its office nearest your new address. If your citizenship is approved, your oath ceremony will take place near your new address.
It’s a little bit risky to show up for an interview near your old address, however, because the USCIS officer might not agree to interview you. It’s better to change your address first and wait for a new interview.
If you move after your citizenship interview has been completed and you've been approved for citizenship, but before the oath ceremony at which you actually are sworn in as a new U.S. citizen, you first need to notify USCIS of your change of address. USCIS will then cancel your scheduled oath ceremony, transfer your file to the USCIS office nearest your new address, and schedule you for an oath ceremony near your new address.
Unfortunately, changes of address can cause your application to be lost or seriously delayed. If facing such complications, hiring an experienced immigration attorney can be your best bet for getting your citizenship case back on track.
]]>Whatever the reasons for the denial, failing to gain approval at the first naturalization interview is not necessarily the end of the line. Here's what to do if either you or your foreign-born relative is facing this situation.
Make sure that the officer of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has given you or your relative a “results sheet.” If the officer is asking for new documents, forms, or information, the officer should also complete and give you what's called a “Request for Evidence" (RFE) on Form N-14.
The results sheet will show the outcome of the interview. It should indicate whether the USCIS officer gave the applicant a Form N-14. The Form N-14 will list any additional documents, forms, or information that the USCIS officer wants in order to make a final decision on the naturalization application. The N-14 will also tell you how and when USCIS wants to receive the items, either:
Most importantly, the N-14 tells both you and the immigration officer who conducts the next interview or reviews the items that you send in by mail exactly what the first officer believed was missing. It is therefore very important that the information on Form N-14 is clear.
If you believe that the Form N-14 is not clear or do not understand what the USCIS officer is asking for, politely ask the officer to rewrite the request. If the officer does not comply, ask to talk to a supervisor.
If the officer asks for additional documents to be sent by mail, make sure to include a copy of Form N-14. Also make sure to:
Such careful tracking is important in case USCIS doesn't act on your follow-up information in a timely fashion.
It is possible that everything is fine with your application and basic eligibility, but that you did not pass the naturalization test of your English language ability and knowledge of U.S. history and civics. Fortunately, you will be given a second interview within the next 60 to 90 days. (See 8 C.F.R. § 312.5(a) and 8 C.F.R. § 335.3(b).)
If you just need to study a little bit more to be ready, you can prepare by checking out some of the resources at www.uscis.gov/citizenship.
Perhaps you are helping out a relative who studied really hard to learn English but could not pass the naturalization test because either:
If your relative falls into the second bullet-point description above, applying for a disability waiver of the naturalization test might make sense. See Waivers for Age or Disability When Applying for Citizenship for more information.
If you or your relative just ended up with a hostile or unaccommodating officer at the first interview, don't give up! The second interview is usually with a different officer, of whom you, your attorney, or your relative can ask “due consideration.” And even if the second interview is with the same USCIS officer, or a different officer who is not accommodating, you can always ask to talk to a supervisor. If the USCIS officer claims that the supervisor is not available or makes you wait for hours, try talking to a different officer when they come out to the waiting area.
Once you are with a supervisor, politely explain how hard your relative has been studying and explain that your believe the officer did not provide a fair chance to pass the naturalization test. If you are fortunate, the supervisor will be understanding and will allow another interview with a different officer. Also consider having an attorney come to the second interview.
Although an attorney can't help applicants overcome a lack of basic citizenship eligibility or ability to pass the exams, the attorney can provide important support at an interview, and ensure that the appropriate procedures are complied with. See How to Find a Good Immigration Lawyer For Your Case.
]]>In most cases, the reasons that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would deny a U.S. citizenship application have nothing to do with the person’s underlying eligibility for a green card, and thus would not result in deportation. But there are exceptions, or cases that should cause you to carefully examine your immigration history and consult with an attorney if in doubt. Keep in mind that applying for citizenship means USCIS will review your entire immigration file and recent history, plus run your fingerprints, and might find find damaging information. We'll take a closer look at the possibilities and risks here.
It's possible to be denied U.S. citizenship and go right back to being a permanent resident, with a green card. Common examples include when someone:
In any of these situations, the result would be that USCIS simply denies the application and the person goes back to life as it was before.
In fact, if the reason for not passing the first interview is that the person did not pass the test of either English or the U.S. government and history, USCIS will give a second chance, and automatically schedule a follow-up interview within the next 90 days, as described in, Second Chances If Naturalization Not Approved at First USCIS Interview.
If, on the other hand, the reason for denial is that USCIS discovers, during the review of the applicant’s immigration file, that the applicant did not qualify for a green card in the first place, then USCIS could not only deny citizenship but also place the person in removal proceedings.
This is most likely to happen if the applicant committed fraud in obtaining the green card. Someone who, for instance, immigrated as the unmarried child of a U.S. citizen, but whom USCIS later discovers to have been married at the time, could face this problem. (Learn more about the family-based green card sponsorship categories.)
The same goes for someone who immigrated under an amnesty program or cancellation of removal and it turns out they lied about their time spent in the United States, and thus weren't eligible.
Other concerning possibilities include that USCIS discovers that the naturalization applicant spent so much time outside the U.S. that they appear to have abandoned U.S. residency altogether, or has committed a crime that results in being deportable from the United States. In such cases, the agency can not only deny U.S. citizenship but send the person to immigration court for removal proceedings.
There's also a lesser-known problem that can arise when someone spends 180 days or more outside the U.S. or does something illegal during an overseas trip, thereby becoming "inadmissible" upon reentry. Perhaps, for instance, the person tried to smuggle drugs, or had been committed of one of various types of crimes (before or after departing the U.S.), or developed a communicable disease of public health significance. Then additionally imagine that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer simply didn't notice, and let the person in despite the fact that inadmissibility should have barred this entry. This situation creates grounds for later deportation.
See an attorney if there’s any chance that any of these grounds for denial of naturalized U.S. citizenship might apply to you, or if you have additional questions or concerns about your case. For guidance, see How to Find a Good Immigration Lawyer For Your Case.
]]>At the oath ceremony, you will swear your allegiance to the United States and receive your naturalization certificate. Once you receive this certificate, you can apply for a U.S. passport and vote in national, state, and local elections.
If you have opted to change your name, your new name will be on your naturalization certificate and you will be able to apply for other official documents (Social Security card and driver’s license, for example) in this new name.
Depending on where you live and the oath ceremony schedule in your district, you could be scheduled as soon as the same day you pass your interview; or, you might have to wait several months before taking the oath.
It might take place in a small room or a courtroom in a federal or state building or a large stadium or convention center. Sometimes special ceremonies are scheduled in historical landmarks such as Independence Hall or the U.S.S. Constitution. No matter where the oath ceremony is held, this is a momentous occasion, so make sure to wear appropriate clothing. (This is really not the day for jeans, T-shirts, shorts, or flip flops.)
You must attend your oath ceremony appointment unless you request a new date and provide information as to why you cannot attend. You should arrive about an hour in advance of your appointment time, as you will need to check in with a USCIS officer. This officer will double check your eligibility and collect all your paperwork.
You will need to bring Form N-445, Notice of Naturalization Oath Ceremony, which you will either receive at the conclusion of your interview or later in the mail.
This notice will also contain a list of what else to should bring to the oath ceremony, which might include:
Form N-445 includes a questionnaire that is similar to the one you received on your Form N-400. When you arrive at the oath ceremony, a USCIS officer will collect your Form N-445. If you answer “yes” to any of the questions, you might not be allowed to take the oath that day. For more on these questions and maintaining eligibility prior to the oath ceremony, see You’re Not a Naturalized U.S. Citizen Until You Take the Oath!.
When you take the U.S. citizenship oath, you are pledging that you will renounce allegiance to any foreign nations where you have previously held titles or citizenship. You also declare that you will support and defend the U.S. Constitution. You agree to bear arms on behalf of the U.S., perform noncombatant service in the armed forces, or perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by law.
To take a modified oath leaving out the part about bearing arms and serving in the armed forces, you will need to prove that your objection is based on your sincerely held religious beliefs or a deeply held moral or ethical code. For more information on this, see FAQs About Taking Oath of U.S. Citizenship.
After you take the oath of allegiance, you will hear a congratulatory speech welcoming you as full-fledged U.S. citizens. You will also receive your naturalization certificate.
Make sure that all information on the citizenship certificate is correct, and sign it and keep it in a safe place. For what to do if your certificate is incorrect, go to What Happens If the Information on My Naturalization Certificate Is Incorrect?.
You might also have an opportunity to apply for a U.S. passport at this time, depending on whether an official of the U.S. Department of State has come to the ceremony to assist new citizens with that task.
Congratulations, you are now a U.S. citizen!
]]>Green card holders who are age 65 or older and have lived in the U.S. as permanent residents for at least 20 years (not necessarily continuously) can take an easier version of the history and government (civics) exam that is required of naturalization applicants. This is commonly referred to as the “65/20 exception.”
A person who fits this category will have to study only 20 questions rather than the much longer (100-question) list that most applicants face. The applicant will be asked ten of these 20 questions and will need to answer six correctly in order to pass.
See the Study Materials for the Civics Test page of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website to find these questions and various means of studying them. (USCIS provides these questions in different languages too.) You can look at the full list of questions on this website—but then will need to identify the questions with a star or asterisk (*) next to them, which are the only ones that may be asked of someone who qualifies for the 65/20 exception. Or, this pdf has only the questions for 65/20 applicants.
In order to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, most applicants need to show that they can speak, read, and write in English. These English skills will be tested at the citizenship interview. The USCIS officer who interviews the person will normally speak to him or her in English and watch how well the applicant answers questions and responds to instructions. The officer will also ask the applicant to read a short piece of text out loud, and to write a sentence that the officer says aloud (dictates).
However, two separate rules allow older people to avoid the English requirement entirely, and instead have the interview done with the help of a foreign language interpreter. Note that this doesn’t mean you can avoid the civics exam as well—you will still need to take it (or the shortened version, if you also qualify for the 65/20 exception)—but you will be able to take it in your native language, with the help of an interpreter.
If you are age 50 or older and have lived in the U.S. as a green card holder (permanent resident) for at least 20 years, you can have the citizenship interview conducted in your native language. This is commonly referred to as the “50/20” waiver. These 20 years of permanent residence do not need to have been continuous. If you have been outside the U.S. for short periods of time (fewer than six months at a stretch, to be safe), that is okay, so long as all your time living in the U.S. totals 20 years.
The second rule is known as the “55/15” waiver. It says that if you are age 55 or older and have lived in the U.S. as a green card holder for at least 15 years, you can have the citizenship interview and exam conducted in your native language. Again, the 15 years do not need to have been continuous.
Although it's no problem to request the civics exemption at the time of the interview, if you need an age-related English-language exception made for you, you can and should let USCIS know in advance. Otherwise, the USCIS interviewer may get frustrated trying to speak to you in English. Fortunately, advising USCIS is a simple matter of filling in the appropriate box on the citizenship application form N-400 (Part 2, Question 13 on the version of the form expiring 09/30/2022).
If requesting an English-language exception, you must bring an interpreter with you to the interview. This can be a friend or relative rather than a paid professional. Be sure, however, that the person is truly fluent in your own language and in English. Interpreting is harder than it looks, and if the interpreter causes confusion, it may result in your citizenship being denied. (Learn more about the rules to follow when bringing someone to interpret between English and your own language at a USCIS immigration interview.)
]]>All applicants (with the exception of those living overseas) will no longer need to submit two passport-style photographs along with their application.
Instead, USCIS will take your photos when you go to the Application Support Center (ASC) for your biometrics appointment. (Before, this appointment primarily just dealt with taking fingerprints; the fee of $85 remains the same.)
You can expect to be scheduled for your biometric service appointment at a local ASC within weeks or months after submitting your N-400.
Another change is that USCIS used to waive the fingerprint requirement for applicants who were age 75 or older, which meant they were not required to appear at an ASC. However, USCIS will now require these elder applicants to appear for biometrics. Nevertheless, applicants who 75 years of age or older do not have to pay the biometrics fee.
]]>Here are the basics: For national security reasons, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in particular U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), began giving strict extra scrutiny to immigrants and non-citizens from Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities when they apply for U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residency (a green card), and asylum.
The typical result of this added scrutiny is that applicants put on the CARRP list face long USCIS delays in the best case, and in the worst, receive a USCIS denial without prior notice, stated reason, or legal authority. In some cases, USCIS will not take any action at all until the FBI tells it what action it would like taken on the application, which can result in indefinite limbo.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been a leading force in attempting to find out more, tracking CARRP’s results and bringing legal action in cases where the program has been applied unjustly. (Also see the ACLU report, Muslims Need Not Apply.)
It’s not just people who have some sort of black mark on their criminal or immigration record who are entered on the CARRP list. Applicants can be named as national security concerns and put on the U.S.’s “Terrorist Watch List” based on lawful religious activity, country of national origin, a history of travel through areas of “known terrorist activity” (which can be an entire country), and innocuous associations with groups or charities. The ACLU believes that hundreds of thousands of people, including green card holders, are on this list, without even having been advised of this.
For example, if you have given money to a charitable organization that the U.S. government later decides has some association with or provides material support to terrorism, you could be put on the Terrorist Watch List.
Once your immigration case has been flagged for CARRP treatment, USCIS may put your case on hold for 180 days. During that time, either USCIS or the FBI is supposed to conduct an investigation. However, this may drag on indefinitely, and the time period be extended.
You may ultimately be barred from obtaining immigration benefits even if you are otherwise legally entitled to them. What’s more, USCIS is reported to routinely come up with excuses or pretexts to deny these cases, such as that the person submitted “false testimony” (even if it’s forgetting to report having donated to a particular, innocuous charity many years before).
If you apply for a green card, U.S. citizenship, or some other immigration benefit, you would normally expect to wait a period of months for a decision. Check the USCIS website for the normal processing time. Some delays beyond these times are “normal,” as USCIS frequently gets backed up.
If, however, you are from one of the communities listed above, and you find that you have been waiting many weeks more than the normal processing time—or if your interview or similar follow-up is canceled at the last minute without explanation or a postponement—there’s a good chance you’ve been placed on the CARRP list.
Another indicator is if an FBI agent visits you with requests to inform on members of your community.
Because USCIS will not give you any notification of the suspicions about you, and won’t offer you any opportunity to counter or respond to them, contacting the ACLU is your best bet if you suspect you may have been placed on the CARRP list. You will likely need the help of an experienced immigration attorney, as well.
]]>If, for example, you will be requesting a waiver of the English language or civics exam requirement due to your age, the cover letter is a good place to highlight this. Or, if you have a disability that requires special accommodations or a waiver of the exam requirements, the cover letter will help bring this to USCIS’s attention. (These issues are covered within the N-400 itself, but it never hurts to remind USCIS of important features in your case so that the officer is prepared.)
Another advantage to preparing a cover letter is that it allows you to read it through one last time and make sure everything is included before you send your packet to USCIS!
(See articles on Application Process for Naturalized Citizenship for more on this process.)
If you find that this process is difficult to handle alone, consult an experienced immigration attorney. The attorney can not only draft a cover letter for you, but ensure that your case for citizenship is a strong one and that you've collected and will be submitting all the appropriate documents. In addition, the attorney can accompany you to your USCIS naturalization interview.
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