1. If Your Fiancé Becomes a U.S. Citizen

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10. Fiancés in the U.S. Engaged to Permanent Residents

In order to become a U.S. citizen, your fiancé must have been a U.S. permanent resident for five years (four years or less for refugees and political asylees), lived in the United States for at least half of those years, be of good moral character, and pass an exam covering the English language as well as U.S. history and government. To learn more about becoming a U.S. citizen, see the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov or Becoming a U.S. Citizen: A Guide to the Law, Exam & Interview, by Ilona Bray (Nolo).

To help speed your progress toward a green card, your fiancé should look into the requirements for U.S. citizenship and apply as soon as he or she can. As soon as your fiancé obtains U.S. citizenship, you can:

• marry and leave, then apply for an immigrant visa to return. If you stayed illegally in the United States for more than six months, accompany your application with a request for a waiver (forgiveness) of your illegal stay. Get a lawyer’s help with this—if the waiver is denied, you may be barred from returning for three or ten years.

• leave the United States before you have been here illegally for six months and apply at a U.S. consulate to return on a fiancé visa.

These options are discussed fully in Chapter 9, covering fiancés of U.S. citizens living in the United States.

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