Last week I wrote about the residence requirements for citizenship.  If you will recall, there is a required five year period of residence for most applicants for citizenship, but for people who are married to and living with a U.S. citizen spouse, they only need three years of residence.

I also wrote that if you leave the US for more than six months straight, you may have to restart the three or five year count.   Whether or not you have to restart the count will depend on if you can convince the USCIS that it was still a temporary trip and that you had continued to maintain your residence in the U.S.  If you leave the US for a year or more straight, they will make you restart your three year or five-year count — regardless of whether or not you feel that you had continued to maintain your residence in the US.

Today I want to address that potential break if you are out of the US for more than six months but less than a year.   If you stay out for more than six months straight, the USCIS will presume that you broke your residence for Naturalization purposes.  This does not mean that you will lose your green card — it just means that you need to restart your three or five-year residence period.

However, as I stated above, you have the opportunity to convince the USCIS that your six-month to less than one year trip did not break your residence.   The main goal here is to demonstrate that it was your intent to maintain your residence here in the U.S.   Here are some types of evidence that you might use in this regard.   If you did not intend to stay out that long, proof of that would be helpful, including proof of why you unexpectedly needed to stay out that long.   Proof that you kept your job in the US while you were out.   Proof that you didn’t have someone living in your house while you were gone — to show that you had a home that you could have returned to at any time.   Proof that your immediate family members stayed home in your home in the U.S.   And, finally, proof that you did not accept foreign employment while you were abroad.   Some other items would be proof that you kept up with your mortgage payments and property taxes, and that you filed your US taxes as a resident.

You will be able to provide this proof at your citizenship interview.  However, I would suggest providing as much of this evidence as you can when you apply.

Remember also, that if you are filing under section 319b as the spouse of a U.S. citizen who is a full-time m-ssionary overseas, you do not need to establish any period of residence in the U.S., so this whole discussion does not apply to you.

I hope this is interesting and helpful. Remember that this is not legal advice. It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation. I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong

As most of you know, there are residence requirements that you have to satisfy before you can apply for citizenship in the U.S.   For most people, this is five years.   That means that you need to be a resident of the U.S. for the five years immediately preceding the date that you apply for U.S. citizenship.  The USCIS will actually allow you to file your citizenship application 90 days before you complete the five years

This five year period needs to be after you have received your green card.  This is residence, not physical presence.   You only need to be actually in the United States for one-half of the five years, but you need to live here the entire time.   In other words, you could take frequent visits outside the US, but as  long as you maintain your residence in the U.S. for the five straight years immediately preceding the date that you apply for citizenship, you have met this requirement.

Please note that this is “residence”.  In other words, if you get your green card and then go and live outside the US and return to the US frequently enough to obtain the required 2½ years of physical presence, that will not work.  If they conclude that you were actually living outside the US and only visiting here, that will not count as five years of residence.  In addition, they could take your green card — stating that you weren’t a resident here — and green cards are only for residents.

If you leave the US for more than six months straight, you may have to restart the five year count.   Whether or not you have to restart the count will depend on if you can convince the USCIS that it was still a temporary trip and that you had continued to maintain your residence in the U.S.  If you leave the US for a year or more straight, they will make you restart your five-year count — regardless of whether or not you feel that you had continued to maintain your residence in the US.

If, for the past three years, you have been married to and living with a US. Citizen while having Green Card, you can file at the three-year mark rather than at the five year mark.  You can file 90 days early, and all the other discussion about maintaining residence during the five year residence period applies to the three year residence period as well

For both the three-year and five-year residence periods, you also need to reside in the state where you file.   You need to start your residence in that state three months before you file for citizenship.

For certain m-ssionaries, if you are a m-ssionary for a U.S. based m-ssions organization or ch-rch, you may be able to satisfy the three or five year residence period even though you are living outside of the US the entire time.    If you are a permanent resident whose U.S. citizen spouse is a full-time m-ssionary for a U.S. based m-ssions organization or ch-rch and who is serving outside the U.S., you may be able to file for U.S. citizenship without any period of residence in the U.S. There are special rules for these situations — more complicated than I can address in this article.

I hope this is interesting and helpful. Remember that this is not legal advice. It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation. I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong

One of the major requirements for applying for U.S. citizenship is that the applicant is a person of good moral character.   Although, in one way, this is a very broad standard, yet there are some guidelines.   The USCIS does not do a moral examination or inquiry.   What they do is ask a specific list of questions, and if the applicant answers “yes” to any of these questions, he is precluded from receiving citizenship for three to five years, depending on the length of his required residence period.   They want you to complete your required residence period (five years for most people; three years for most spouses of US citizens) and maintain good moral character throughout that time period.

The questions that they ask are listed on the Naturalization Application. In general, they relate to criminal activity, polygamy, drug trafficking, being a drunkard, failing to support your legal dependents, prostitution and immigration violations.   There are some other considerations as well.   If you committed the crime before the time period and were still on probation during the required residence period, that would prevent you being found of good moral character.   If you got lots of speeding or parking tickets — so many that it shows a disregard for the law, that might prevent you from being found of good moral character.  Sometimes some other moral issue comes up, and if it is so blatant that it really shocks the person interviewing you, he could conclude that that action or actions that you did could qualify as a failure to have a good moral character.

If any of these problematic actions apply to you, and it happened during the required residence period, then you cannot get citizenship at this time.   You would then need to wait until you have a full residence period of time free of these moral character issues, and then you can apply again.

I hope this is interesting and helpful. Remember that this is not legal advice. It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation. I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong

What are the requirements for obtaining citizenship?

In almost all cases, you need to have a green card before you can become a U.S. citizen.   If you are a U.S. citizen living abroad, and you have a child who is born abroad who is not a U.S. citizen, that child can become a U.S. citizen without first obtaining a green card.

In most cases, you need to have your green card before you can apply for citizenship.   However, if you are the spouse of a U.S. m-ssionary serving overseas, you may be able to apply for citizenship while your green card application is still being processed.  This may also be available to people in the military and spouses of people who are serving overseas in the military or on behalf of the U.S. government.

In most cases, you need to be at least 18 years old in order to apply for citizenship for yourself.   Being 18 doesn’t seem to be a requirement if you have been serving in the military for one year (but it is unlikely that anyone would be able to start serving in the military young enough to serve a year and still get citizenship before turning 18).

In most cases you need to be residing in the U.S. and have your green card for five years.  If you are married to a U.S. citizen, you may be able to apply in three years.  If you are in the military or are married to a person who is in the military or is employed by the US government or is a m-ssionary, and who is serving overseas, you may be able to get your citizenship without any time of residence in the U.S.

In most cases, you need to be physically present in the U.S. at least half of your required residence period.  If you are absent from the US for more than six months straight, they may require you to start counting your three or five years again.    If you are absent from the US. For more than one year straight, you will need to start counting your three or five years again.

In most cases, if you have a required residence period, you also need to be resident in your local USCIS district for three months before you file.    If you move just before you are ready to file, you will need to wait three more months before you can file.

Almost everyone will need to pass the Citizenship Exam. They test you on your ability to read, write, speak and understand English.   And then they test you on your knowledge of US history, government and the Constitution.   These tests are not difficult.   The Civics test (history, etc) is not hard as long as you study.   They provide you with a list of all the questions that they will ask.   The English test is very simple, and they provide you with a list of the types of words that they will use.   However, you do need to be able to have a basic understanding of English, because the interview will be in English and you can’t bring an interpreter.

In all cases, you need to establish that you agree with the oath of citizenship — regarding allegiance to the US and Constitution, and regarding willingness to serve in the military (unless you have a r-ligious objection).  You also need to establish that you have Good Moral Character.   There are a number of specific items which, if they apply to you, will result in a finding of lack of Good Moral Character.   However, they will look at your whole history.    I have heard of Good Moral Character being denied to a person who had a lot of unpaid traffic tickets.

I hope this is interesting and helpful. Remember that this is not legal advice. It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation. I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong

Did you know that in certain limited circumstances, you may be able to apply for U.S. citizenship before you become a permanent resident?   Normally, before you can apply for citizenship, you need to be a US permanent resident (green card) for three to five years (three if you are married to a US citizen and five if not).   However, as many of you know, there is a special provision for people who are married to US citizens who are full-time m-ssionaries outside the US.   In cases like this, the spouse of the US citizen is allowed to apply for US citizenship without any required residence in the US.

Normally, I tell people who qualify for this that it means that they can apply for US citizenship the day that they enter the US and receive US Lawful Permanent Resident status.    They do not need to wait any longer before applying.

However, if their time is tight and they need US citizenship as soon as possible, there is another option.   If you qualify to file for US citizenship as the spouse of a US citizen who is a full-time m-ssionary, then you might be able to file for citizenship even before you land in the US with your immigrant visa.   You need to file first for the immigrant visa and then you file for citizenship while you are waiting.  It might also be possible if you are currently in the US to file for citizenship while you are waiting for approval of your adjustment of status application.  I have helped one client file for citizenship before they entered the US.   I have never done it with someone applying for adjustment of status but it might be possible.

However, before you jump at this, you need to know the caveats.  The first is that you need to qualify for this m-ssionary-based citizenship process.  There are a number of requirements for this process.  The most important is that within 45 days after becoming a US citizen, both spouses need to leave the US for a year-long commitment as m-ssionaries overseas.  The second caveat is that it is somewhat risky.   You may wind up getting someone at the USCIS who doesn’t realize that this is possible and deny you (meaning that you lose the money you spent) — I know of no “official” rule saying that this can be done — it just has been something that they allowed — and they probably still do, but I can’t guarantee it.  The other problem is the fingerprints.   It used to be easy — you just got fingerprints on a fingerprint card and submitted them with the application.   However, it is more difficult to get fingerprints anymore.  There are very few places overseas which will do fingerprints that the USCIS will accept — usually only USCIS offices overseas and they have been closing and consolidating.  Finally, I have never done this for an Adjustment of Status.  I think it might work and it is easier to get fingerprinted for the USCIS in the States.  I think this would work, but you would need to want it enough to be the guinea pig!

If you think this might interest you, feel free to contact me for further information.

I hope this is interesting and helpful.   Remember that this is not legal advice.  It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation.   I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong

Don’t forget that there are special citizenship provisions for spouses of US m-ssionaries.  It is much easier than many people realize.   It can be obtained with no required residence in the US.  You will need to get a green card first, but then, if you satisfy the requirements, you can immediately apply for citizenship.   This allows you to enter the US at any time with peace of mind.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

I hope this is interesting and helpful.   Remember that this is not legal advice.  It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation.   I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong

You have a Green Card, making you a permanent resident of the United States.  You are interested in becoming a U.S. citizen.  However, you are also a m-ssionary overseas.   You have a problem.

In order to become a U.S. citizen, you need to be a resident for five years (three years if you are married to a U.S. citizen spouse).  In addition, you need to be physically present in the U.S. for half of that period.  That is difficult if you are planning on spending most of your time abroad on the m-ssion field.  To make matters worse, your attorney has just told you that if you are out of the U.S. for more than six months straight, the five (or three) year residence requirement resets to zero.  There appears to be no way that you can ever get U.S. citizenship!

Well, actually, there might be.  U.S. immigration law is actually very favorable to m-ssionaries.  If you are a full-time m-ssionary overseas, and you are serving on behalf of a U.S.-based m-ssion organization, there are two options that can be helpful.   One option is designed for green card holders who are not married to U.S. citizen, or whose U.S. citizen spouse is not a m-ssionary.

The other, better, option.is for someone whose U.S. citizen spouse is a full-time m-ssionary.  I find this useful where both spouses are m-ssionaries.

For the person who is not married to a U.S. citizen m-ssionary spouse, there is the form N-470.   Once this form is approved, all your time spent outside the U.S.  will be treated as if you were inside the U.S.  The only catch to this is that before you can file for citizenship, you need to come to the U.S. and live here, without leaving, for one year.

But, if your US Spouse is a full-time missionary, you just come to the United States and file for citizenship.  You don’t need to live here for one year or three years — no time of residence is required at all!

I hope this is interesting and helpful.   Remember that this is not legal advice.  It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation.   I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong