5 years residence or 3 years marriage to U.S.Citizen?which is better?

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bansheemom

Registered Users (C)
Hello everyone :)
I have been married for 8 years to a US Citizen active duty soldier, thus would qualify for application on grounds of 3 years marriage to a US Citizen. We are stationed overseas, but since we are on military orders I am exempt from request of re-entry ( N-470 ) and also exempt for continious residency and physical presence, thus I also qualify for application on grounds of 5 years of residency. My LPR date on my Permanent Resident Card is June/1997! Does anybody know, whether or not it makes a difference in difficulty and speed choosing one or the other? We are due back to PCS to Alabama in June next year, at which time I plan to file my application for US Citizenship. As my husband is also due to retire within a year after we come back, chances are we won't be in Alabama longer then 12 months. We will probably move to Arizona from there out. Does anyone know how that would affect a pending application? Say I file in Alabama, my district will be Atlanta. But if it takes longer then 12 months and we move to Arizona my district will change to California. Is that a problem? :confused:
My head is spinning, lol!
 
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I think you have a better stand with your 5yr rule if you can choose. The immigration will not have to worry and question you about your marriage in the same way they may feel the need on the 3yr rule. If you qualify for the 5yr rule it is a much straighter shot.
As far as moving goes, I heard from people who thought it was not a good idea - in 20/20 hindsight. Although technically it is possible of course.

Did you not plan to file from overseas ?

Alex
 
bansheemom,

As I posted on your other thread, the residency requirement is only waived if your husband is stationed overseas. If you return, you may have to wait 3 years. So, check it out - maybe consult an immigration attourney before moving back to US.

I am in Alabama too, and we went through the Atlanta office. It took just over a year, but it seems now that they are moving faster.

For my wife, in processing the N-400, the examining officer asked no questions about our marriage. They only asked to see our child's birth certificate to verify that both our names are listed there as her parents. They did not even ask to see tax records. So, I would not agree with the previous poster that the 5-year-rule is "much easier".

If you clearly qualified under the 5-year rule and had no problems with residency, then, of course, there would be no reason to file as a spouse of a citizen. However, in your case - since you have spent the last almost 5 years outside the country, there is a residency problem unless you file as the wife of a US citizen who is stationed abroad in the armed services. Since you have to prove that anyway, you might as well use the 3-year rule.

-Ocelot
 
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thanks guys! Ocelot awesome to hear you went through Atlanta and it got processed in little over a year. I am tending towards the 3 year option myself. Even though I got no problem proving the overseas stuff , as we have copies of all military orders. I got absolutely nothing to hide, they are welcome to check our tax forms, child birth certificate and everything. I remember going through a similar process when I changed my status from conditional to permanent resident back in 2000. I think they had even asked for my child baptism record back then. I figure the more " personal" docs I attach to the N-400 the easier it is for them to determine that we are a legally and happily, if I may say:), married couple for 8 years already and plan to stay that way!! And the less questions they will have. I hope it will all just go smooth once I file.
 
Question for Ocelot since you are in Alabama. If I read it right I send the initial package off to Texas, right? Then they send it to Atlanta? And Atlanta gets in touch with you? Fingerprinting is done in Montgomery? And interview/oath same day in Atlanta? How often did you have to travel to Atlanta?
 
bansheemom,

The mailing/filing directions change from time to time, so you should check the USCIS web site immediately before filing to be sure of the current fees and mailing addresses. Hurricane Katrina has disrupted government services on the gulf coast and there may be some reassignment of service areas for various government agencies. For example, the New Orleans passport office formerly processed passports for a large area of the country, but they are now closed.

That said; we filed by mail to the Texas Service Center, and the application was processed in the Atlanta District Office.

And congratulations on 8 years of successful and happy marriage. Marriage under the best conditions is a challenge. Being a military wife in an international marriage adds two more big challenges to the mix - but you, it seems, have overcome them.

Good Luck in your citizenship case and in your family's adjustment to the new locale.

-Ocelot
 
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