Citizenship after 3 years....?

S

skiflyer

New Member
i have read a lot about this in previous threads etc. HOWEVER it does not seem to have a clear answer.
QUESTION: can i apply for citizenship after 3 years of marriage or 3 years of permant residence?

From the paragraphs below straight from the uscis website i read that you are eligilbe after 3 years of marriage to the same us citizen and nowhere does it state anything about length of permanent residency other than that you have to be one!

"Residency
An applicant must have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence. Lawfully admitted for permanent residence means having been legally accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant in accordance with the immigration laws. Individuals who have been lawfully admitted as permanent residents will be asked to produce an I-551, Alien Registration Receipt Card, as proof of their status" ***

"Residence and Physical Presence

An applicant is eligible to file if, immediately preceding the filing of the application, he or she:

has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (see preceding section);
has resided continuously as a lawful permanent resident in the U.S. for at least 5 years prior to filing with no single absence from the United States of more than one year;
has been physically present in the United States for at least 30 months out of the previous five years (absences of more than six months but less than one year shall disrupt the applicant's continuity of residence unless the applicant can establish that he or she did not abandon his or her residence during such period)
has resided within a state or district for at least three months

here is the SPOUSE EXEMPTION
"the applicant has been married to and living in a valid marital union with the same U.S. citizen spouse for all three years;
the U.S. spouse has been a citizen for all three years and meets all physical presence and residence requirements; and
the applicant meets all other naturalization requirements

If someone reads this differently please elaboraote!
Thanks for your help in advance
 
skiflyer said:
From the paragraphs below straight from the uscis website i read that you are eligilbe after 3 years of marriage to the same us citizen and nowhere does it state anything about length of permanent residency other than that you have to be one!
Click to expand...

You can naturalize after three years of permanent residency, provided that:

a) Your spouse has been a US citizen for all three years;
b) You have been married to that US citizen for all three years;
c) You meet all of the other residency requirements

Ask yourself a question? If it merely required three years of marriage, you would see plenty of new permanent residents who have been married to their US citizen spouse for >3 years file an N400 the day their Green Card wasn't approved. You don't. There's a reason for that. ;)
 
TheRealCanadian said:
You can naturalize after three years of permanent residency, provided that:

a) Your spouse has been a US citizen for all three years;
b) You have been married to that US citizen for all three years;
c) You meet all of the other residency requirements

Ask yourself a question? If it merely required three years of marriage, you would see plenty of new permanent residents who have been married to their US citizen spouse for >3 years file an N400 the day their Green Card wasn't approved. You don't. There's a reason for that. ;)
Click to expand...

...of course not!!! one of the requirements is permanent residency.......im not saying u can apply for citizenship if u dont have permant residency but have been married for 3 years!!!!
im saying where does it state you must have been a permanent resident for 3 years?
where did you get that information from?
thanks for ur help
 
skiflyer said:
here is the SPOUSE EXEMPTION
"the applicant has been married to and living in a valid marital union with the same U.S. citizen spouse for all three years;
the U.S. spouse has been a citizen for all three years and meets all physical presence and residence requirements; and
the applicant meets all other naturalization requirements

If someone reads this differently please elaboraote!
Thanks for your help in advance
Click to expand...

You see that part that say meets all physical presence & residence requirements? That coveres the information you are looking for. Obviously it is not stated explicity from the link you copied from, but that does not mean the requirements are not stated elsewhere.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
You can naturalize after three years of permanent residency, provided that:

a) Your spouse has been a US citizen for all three years;
b) You have been married to that US citizen for all three years;
c) You meet all of the other residency requirements
Click to expand...

d) You live in marital union with the spouse for all three years, which the courts have defined as physically living together during the three year period.
 
skiflyer said:
...of course not!!! one of the requirements is permanent residency.......im not saying u can apply for citizenship if u dont have permant residency but have been married for 3 years!!!!
Click to expand...

I know that. The point I was making was that according to your interpretation, one could apply for citizenship the instant after they became a permanent resident, which is clearly not the case.
 
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