Change of Address issue in N400

S

suncat

Registered Users (C)
I read a article before says there is a person who didn't report change of address one time, on citizenship interview got deported.

I have a quesiton now. I moved from other state to CA last year. There are total 5 months during the relocation, I stay overseas around 1 month, then looking for a job in LA and just stay with freinds. So I didn't report change of address since I was not settle down. After I found a job, then I file change of address.

The issue is that I filed change of address at May 14, but I started my job in LA at April 29. It requires file change of address within 10 days after move. So I was supposed to file change of address before May 9.

should I put my employment date later than real start date to match my change of address date? USCIS will find out which date I started my employment? Is this a lie and will cause problem?

Doesn't anybody here have change of address issue during N400 application.

Thanks for everybody's help.
 
suncat said:
I read a article before says there is a person who didn't report change of address one time, on citizenship interview got deported.
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Please link to that article. There must be more to that story, like the person committed some other offense, or lied about their addresses, or didn't report the address change at all (as opposed to simply reporting it late).

The issue is that I filed change of address at May 14, but I started my job in LA at April 29. It requires file change of address within 10 days after move. So I was supposed to file change of address before May 9.

should I put my employment date later than real start date to match my change of address date? USCIS will find out which date I started my employment? Is this a lie and will cause problem?
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Lying on the N-400 is a bigger problem than a late filing of change of address. On the N-400, tell the truth about your addresses and work dates.
 
If I remember correctly , the change of address online form does not have a date on it.

I do not know generally, but in my case, the date I filed AR11 and the date on my N400 were different. I did file it within 10 day window, but it didn't ask me for move date. But the N400 form asks for the exact move date-so that in itself creates a difference. The IO never asked me anything.

Plus this person who was deported, was he a greencard or maybe something like a tourist visa or other visas?
 
Don't worry

This is a very small issue. They hardly care about such issues. Put the correct employment date. During the interview they will only ask if u r still working there.
You are fine.
 
Thanks everyone.

The article I read says the guy is a green card holder, doesn't have crimial history. That article scared me as well.

I remember regarding file AR-11, if you temperaly live in some places, doesn't need file change of address. I think even at interview, if IO quesiton that, I can explain that I stayed at my freind's house before I found my own place to live to start my new job in a new state is understandable.
 
what does it mean - as in I moved from Boston to NY 3 years back. I dont remember when (or if) I filed AR11.

What impact would it have on N400 and citizenship in general?
 
what does it mean - as in I moved from Boston to NY 3 years back. I dont remember when (or if) I filed AR11.

What impact would it have on N400 and citizenship in general?
 
suncat said:
Thanks everyone.

The article I read says the guy is a green card holder, doesn't have crimial history. That article scared me as well.

I remember regarding file AR-11, if you temperaly live in some places, doesn't need file change of address. I think even at interview, if IO quesiton that, I can explain that I stayed at my freind's house before I found my own place to live to start my new job in a new state is understandable.
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Can you please post the link of the article that you mentioned?

Well, For changing your address for a pending application, the law requires that all non-U.S. citizens, except for holders of A or G visas, report a change of address (even temporary address) within 10 days of moving by completing a USCIS Form AR-11, Change of Address.

See: http://www.larrabee.com/faqs_coa.aspx
 
I found this on the internet. The article is dated June 20, 2005:

Form AR-11 Change of Address Notices. For 50 years, ever since the Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted in 1952, most foreigners in the United States, including those who have been granted U.S. lawful permanent resident status, have been required to notify the government in writing on Form AR-11 within 10 days of any change of residence. The law has always authorized serious penalties for a failure to comply, including deportation and criminal penalties. In practice, however, the law was almost never enforced or publicized, and until recently even many immigration lawyers were not aware of the requirement. In the wake of September 11th, however, the government has been aggressively enforcing this law, including an attempt in North Carolina to deport a Palestinian father of four who had entered the United States lawfully as a refugee and is a U.S. lawful permanent resident (“green card” holder). After local police officers in Raleigh stopped him for driving four miles over the posted speed limit and reported him to the INS, the INS claimed that he had failed to file an AR-11 after a change of residence. Reportedly deportation charges against this man were dismissed, because his lawyer succeeded in persuading the Immigration Judge that the failure to file an AR-11 was not “willful,” as required by Section 237(a)(3)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Nonetheless, noncitizens in the United States must now regard this requirement with deadly seriousness, even if they have been law-abiding green card holders with American families for many years.

Looks like INS did not have this man's present address on file.
 
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ncnat said:
I found this on the internet. The article is dated June 20, 2005:

Form AR-11 Change of Address Notices. For 50 years, ever since the Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted in 1952, most foreigners in the United States, including those who have been granted U.S. lawful permanent resident status, have been required to notify the government in writing on Form AR-11 within 10 days of any change of residence. The law has always authorized serious penalties for a failure to comply, including deportation and criminal penalties. In practice, however, the law was almost never enforced or publicized, and until recently even many immigration lawyers were not aware of the requirement. In the wake of September 11th, however, the government has been aggressively enforcing this law, including an attempt in North Carolina to deport a Palestinian father of four who had entered the United States lawfully as a refugee and is a U.S. lawful permanent resident (“green card” holder). After local police officers in Raleigh stopped him for driving four miles over the posted speed limit and reported him to the INS, the INS claimed that he had failed to file an AR-11 after a change of residence. Reportedly deportation charges against this man were dismissed, because his lawyer succeeded in persuading the Immigration Judge that the failure to file an AR-11 was not “willful,” as required by Section 237(a)(3)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Nonetheless, noncitizens in the United States must now regard this requirement with deadly seriousness, even if they have been law-abiding green card holders with American families for many years.

Looks like INS did not have this man's present address on file.
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It is a scary story, same as the one I read ( but I don't have the link now, it was many years ago. )

From the link AR-11 requirment, it doesn't make sense, even I temporaly stay with friends a couple days need file change of address???

I do remember I saw somewhere saying that temporaly stay doesn't need file AR-11 so long as you have a address that INS can reach you . I don't remember where it is now. Who can find it ?

Thanks for everyone here! We'd better become citizen so don't need file change of address all the time.
 
A temporary VISIT to a friend's place needs no notification! Come on, be serious. But, if you move temporarily to another place while, say you sell your house and are looking for another one, then that's when they mean they require you to file.
 
ncnat said:
After local police officers in Raleigh stopped him for driving four miles over the posted speed limit and reported him to the INS, the INS claimed that he had failed to file an AR-11 after a change of residence.[/B]
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Are you kidding me??? The Raleigh cops reported the guy to the INS for a traffic violation???
 
Vorpal said:
Are you kidding me??? The Raleigh cops reported the guy to the INS for a traffic violation???
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The story as I rmemeber is that the cop found a map in the car and some places were marked. The guy said those marked places indicate some retail stores he did business with but the police thought those mark matched
some sensitive places like airports. So the police contacted FBI. FBI could not
find anything wrong either so they contacted INS. INS could not find anything wrong except that he failed to report AR-11.

He was convicted for not reporting AR-11 and was in removeal proceedings.
A judge ordered the removal to be canceled. Don't know where he is now.
Maybe he already got his citizenship.
 
WBH said:
The story as I rmemeber is that the cop found a map in the car and some places were marked. The guy said those marked places indicate some retail stores he did business with but the police thought those mark matched
some sensitive places like airports. So the police contacted FBI. FBI could not
find anything wrong either so they contacted INS. INS could not find anything wrong except that he failed to report AR-11.

He was convicted for not reporting AR-11 and was in removeal proceedings.
A judge ordered the removal to be canceled. Don't know where he is now.
Maybe he already got his citizenship.
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That explains a lot. I guess the fact that the guy had a map with "sensitive" places marked and the fact that he was Palestinian set it off.

On a side note, I myself have been guilty of not filing an AR-11 in a timely manner. In fact, when I got my first apartment, I didn't file an AR-11 for over a year. The reason? I simply didn't know I was supposed to file it. Eventually, I found out about it and filed it. I haven't had any issues as a result.
 
Vorpal said:
On a side note, I myself have been guilty of not filing an AR-11 in a timely manner. .
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Are we supposed to answer Yes to the question "Have you ever commited an offense for which you were not arrested?" for past failure to report AR-11?
 
I am getting ready to file my N-400 and I am unsure when I moved to my previous address. I had two addresses during this time because of in-laws apt. . .and changed my address to that one so there were no sponsorship issues. Is there a way for me to find out the date I reported on my AR-11 that I mailed approximately 4 years ago?

I am not trying to hide any info, I just want to be as accurate as possible on the N-400.

Thank you.
 
WBH said:
Are we supposed to answer Yes to the question "Have you ever commited an offense for which you were not arrested?" for past failure to report AR-11?
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You're not supposed to answer that question because you are already a citizen ;) Please don't make people worry about non-issues.
 
WBH said:
Are we supposed to answer Yes to the question "Have you ever commited an offense for which you were not arrested?" for past failure to report AR-11?
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I don't think so. Then again, while you're at it, you may as well answer "YES" to that question if you live in Philadelphia and have sang in a shower, or if you live in Kansas and keep an elephant in your backyard.

There are plenty of antiquated laws that are no longer enforced, but are still on the books.
 
cafeconleche said:
A temporary VISIT to a friend's place needs no notification! Come on, be serious. But, if you move temporarily to another place while, say you sell your house and are looking for another one, then that's when they mean they require you to file.
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I moved from other state to CA last year. I kept my other state address as my address in AR-11 ( in fact my freind there still forwarded me mails ) . In April last year, I found a job in CA and started to work. I stayed with my friend during the time looking for jobs and at first few weeks when starting the new job. Later in May I found a place to settledown and filed AR-11.

I have the issue that my April residence address in AR-11 was still in other state while my employment address is in CA. I didn't file AR-11 while I was looking for job and travel overseas for about 2 months. Should I file AR-11 according to Law for that temporary time? Is it easy to explain during interview and won't cause issue?
 
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WBH said:
The story as I rmemeber is that the cop found a map in the car and some places were marked. The guy said those marked places indicate some retail stores he did business with but the police thought those mark matched
some sensitive places like airports.
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This is another example of why you should never consent to a police search of your vehicle. You may think you have nothing to hide, but a creative cop can find a sinister interpretation of the innocent items in your car.

If the cop is determined to search your car they will do it anyway, but when you get out of the car to let them search you should firmly say that the search is against your consent. Police cars often have video cameras with audio capability, so your words being on tape will help your case if it goes to court. If the officer does a search of your car without your consent and does not have a legal basis for the search (probable cause or a warrant), in most cases the judge will throw out the evidence. And I'm quite sure that going 4 mph over the limit is not probable cause for a search.
 
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