Eligibility Requirements for N-400 U.S. Naturalization and Citizenship

In order to become a U.S. citizen, each applicant must meet a number of requirements.    Generally, the applicant must be 18 years of age, must continuously and physically live in the U.S. as a green card holder for at least 5 years (or 3 years, if married to and living with a U.S. citizen), must have a “good moral character”, be proficient in basic spoken and written English and demonstrate knowledge of U.S. history and government.

Five Years of Permanent Residency (Three Years If Married to and Living with a U.S. Citizen)

The applicant must  have resided continuously in the U.S. as a green card holder for at least five years; provided, however, applicants who are married to and living with a U.S. citizen may be eligible to apply after three years.    There are two related but distinct rules about residency – continuous residency and physical presence – in addition to provisions regarding living in the same USCIS district and early application.

Continuous Residency

Continuous residency means that the applicant must not have spent extended period of time outside of the U.S. which generally means that they must not have taken trips outside of the U.S. lasting more than six months or longer.

A green card holder who leaves the U.S. for more than six (but less than twelve) months (without a good reason) may cause their continuous residency for naturalization purposes to be considered interrupted.    It is still possible to make a successful case; however, USCIS will have to be convinced that the reasons for the extended stay abroad was due to “extraordinary” circumstances beyond the applicant’s control and that the applicant did not otherwise abandon their U.S. domicile and maintained U.S. ties.   The USCIS officer has discretion in making a determination of these circumstances are good enough to excuse the 6+ month stay abroad.

Green card holders who have spent more than 365 days outside of the U.S. during a single trip (hopefully, while holding a reentry permit to protect the green card) have their continuous residence considered as interrupted.   In such circumstances, the continuous residency count resets and the applicant may need to wait for another four (possibly, four-and-a-half) years before being eligible (or two-and-a-half years if applying on the basis of marriage to a U.S. citizen).

There are many strategies to limit the impact of extended international travel on the eligibility for U.S. citizenship, including carefully planning international travel dates, applying for a reentry permit,  or “preserving” time spent abroad while working for a certain organization abroad.   Details on all of these options are beyond the scope of this article but our office can consult on options and strategies.

Physical Presence

In addition to the continuous residency, an applicant must also demonstrate that they have lived physically in the U.S. for at least half of the five-year eligibility period (three years if married to and living with a U.S. citizen).    The applicant will have to provide their exact travel history for the prior 5 years and show that they have spent physically in the U.S. more than 912 days (or 548 if applying under the 3-year eligibility period).

This requires applicants to keep good track of their exact international travel dates.  This is especially important for applicants who spend extended time abroad and who may be close to the cutoff.   This calculation is made based on the entire 5-year term; not on a calendar year basis.

Three-Month Residency in Same District

Additionally, applicants must have resided in the state or USCIS district where they will be applying for at least three months prior to submitting the naturalization application.   This requirement can be confusing because USCIS has multiple districts in the same stage (for example, in California, there is field office covering San Francisco, Los Angeles, among others).   Generally, an applicant has to reside within the jurisdiction of the same USCIS field office (see this site for ZIP code lookup) for three months prior to the application.   Changing addresses from one home to another within the same district should not be an issue.

90-day “Early” Filing

Applicants who meet the continuous residence, the physical presence requirements (or their exceptions)  and the three-month residency requirements may be able to apply under the “early filing” provision which allows submitting a naturalization application 90 days prior to the fifth anniversary of the green card approval (or third anniversary if applying based on marriage to a U.S. citizen).

Good Moral Character

Applicants for naturalization must demonstrate that they have “good moral character” for the five (or three) year eligibility period and until the actual naturalization oath takes place.    This is a case-by-case determination by the immigration officer and focuses on the applicant’s record and conduct, including outside of the U.S.    Common issues are driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana (which is prohibited under federal law even if many states now allow it), not registering for the selective service for certain male applicants.   These are in addition to certain types of more serious crimes.      Our office can help you understand if any past incidents may be an issue for good moral character.

Knowledge of English and U.S. Civics and History

During the naturalization interview the adjudicator will test the applicant’s knowledge of English (reading, writing and speaking) and civics (U.S. history and knowledge of government).    Certain applicants are exempt based on their age and how long they have been green card holders.

The English test will require the applicant to handwrite a sentence (for example, “The President lives in the White House”) and then the applicant will be asked to read a sentence shown by the adjudicator.   Generally, this is a fairly simple process.

For the civics test, the applicant will be asked up to 10 questions (from a pool of 100 total questions) about U.S. history and government and will be expected to answer at least six out of these ten questions correctly in order to pass.   See details of the 2008 version of the civics test.

Application Process and Timeline

Once eligibility is established and the relevant application documents have been finalized and submitted with USCIS, within the first month or two after the filing, the applicant will be expected to appear for biometrics (digital photo and fingerprints).   The required naturalization interview can take many months after that and this largely depends on the workload of the local to the applicant USCIS field office.    At the time of this article the average processing time is between 9 and 18 months for most field offices.   Applicants are generally allowed to travel outside of the US but we do not recommend spending extended periods of time and all other eligibility requirements for naturalization must continue to be met.

Applicants can check the “normal” processing times at this site by selecting N-400 under “Form” and then choosing the USCIS Field Office nearest them which is likely going to be processing the naturalization application.

Conclusion

Our office’s naturalization department will certainly be happy to help with the process.   Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any help including to evaluate naturalization eligibility and provide a free and no-obligation case quote.    Please feel free to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to obtain developments on this and related topics.