Apply for Citizenship with expired Green Card?

[Juss11]

Hi all
My wife and step daughter came in from Canada in 2001 on k1 & k2 visa. So she has had a Permanent visa for 10 years now. Wife & daughter both want to apply for citizenship. Looked at wifes GC and it expired in May. Whats weird is my daughters doesn't expire untill 2018. Not sure why? We got them both at same time. I have read online that your GC must not be expired before you apply for Citizenship. Then I have read that it does not matter? Any one have any advice? Don't want to throw $450 down the drain if we don't need too. Plus probably only a few months difference, between getting either. Her Canadian passport is due to expire in November. She has no plans to leave the country any time this year.

 

[fisherman]

If you call the 800 help number, they will always tell you that green card must not be expired when filing for citizenship. But going by the law, your wife is still a legal permanent resident (even with expired GR), so there should be no problem applying for citizenship with expired GR.

As matter of fact, it might take less time to get citizenship than GR renewal. In my case, GR renewal took about 6 1/5 months, while my citizenship took only 4 months from start to finish.

So apply for citizenship as soon as possible, and since GR only expird last month, your wife should be ok.