applying for citizenship- timeline

K

kaashi

Registered Users (C)
Hi,
It will be 5 yrs of green card status for me in Jan 2010. I will apply for the citizenship in Oct 2009. Could someone please take me through the possible waiting time I am looking at to get my citizenship after I file?

I have heard that it takes 6-7 months for the application to get processed in the North East. Then there's the fingerprints, the interview, and an oath and may be other things as well before I finally get the citizenship. Could someone please give me an idea about the full picture?

I ask this because there's a fiance waiting abroad and I need to tell her what a long haul she's looking at. The next question will be how to play it out- marry soon, file for an I-130, (or not file the I-130), stay separated for a few years, keep waiting till I become a citizen, expedite her case, bring her here? How long would that take?

Or do I wait for the citizenship,a nd then try to ring her here on a K visa? How long would that route take?

All help would be appreciated. Thank you.
akash
 
Hi,

Just wanted to add that the fiance will apply for a tourist visa before the marriage. If she gets it, I guess she can travel here for a month or two every year, and I could go home for a month and pass the time like this. Any comments, any help, any ideas will be appreciated. Thanks.
akash
 
Akash,
Your plan looks fine. Just make sure you are mentioned on the DS-156 when your fiancee' applies for her visa.
 
kaashi,

The 6-7 month timeline for naturalization is quite reasonable optimistically speaking. However there are several factors that could prolong that - backlogs at your district office, background checks for you taking longer than expected (some people do get stuck for months and even years) or a service center backlog/frontlog (due to events similar to what happened around July 07). Since we are talking about at least another 2-3 year wait before your fiancee can join you in the US even in the best case scenario, you may want to consider other avenues to bring her here (F1, H1, L1, etc). Good luck !

-KM
 
kaashi said:
Just wanted to add that the fiance will apply for a tourist visa before the marriage. If she gets it, I guess she can travel here for a month or two every year, and I could go home for a month and pass the time like this.
Click to expand...
Note that once you file the I-130, she is likely to be denied entry with a tourist visa.
 
i have related questions.
2. Applied re-entry permit before leaving US but the re entry permit was issued after 6 months of the application received by USCIS. If the person re enter US within the re entry permit date limit which was exactly 2 years from the issuing date but actually stay 2 years 5 months (because of the delay of issuing the permit by USCIS) ,will it be against the rule of within 2 years limit to calculate the 4years 1 day rule (continuous residency) for the purpose NATURALIZATION
As the reentry permit was issued late, the person could stay 2 years 5 months. Off course these 2years 5 months would not be counted towards 5 years continuous residency. There will be 4 years I day rule provided person return within 2 years (the date mentioned in the reentry permit)
The complication here is actually the person is able to stay abroad for 5 months more with the 2 years re entry permit.
Will 2 yrs 5 months be a problem any manner like breaking the rule or something.
Will it be an issue at the time naturalization?
 
re-entry permit

Does anyone have any knowledge about the following situation? please can anyone discuss about this type of situation?Some time people because of the lack of knowledge about the very complicated rules and regulation of USCIS put them self in a peculiar position.
Applied re-entry permit before leaving US but the re entry permit was issued after 6 months of the application received by USCIS. If the person re enter US within the re entry permit date limit which was exactly 2 years from the issuing date but actually stay 2 years 5 months (because of the delay of issuing the permit by USCIS) ,will it be against the rule of within 2 years limit to calculate the 4years 1 day rule (continuous residency) for the purpose NATURALIZATION
As the reentry permit was issued late, the person could stay 2 years 5 months. Off course these 2years 5 months would not be counted towards 5 years continuous residency. There will be 4 years I day rule provided person return within 2 years (the date mentioned in the reentry permit)
The person is able to stay abroad for 5 months more with the 2 years re entry permit for the delay of issuing the reentry permit by the USCIS.
Just to make the situation more clear , suppose the person went abroad may 2004 and returned oct 2006 and the reentry date was valid till nov 2006.
Will 2 yrs 5 months be a problem any like breaking the rule or something if it is shown in the N 400 form?
Continuous residency can be counted from oct 2005 but in the naturalization form(N400) there is a column where one has to state the entire history of stay since the availability of green card.
Will it be an issue at the time naturalization?
 
greencard-citizenship-marriage- timeline etc.

Guys,
Thanks for your responses. You guys are wonderful, so helpful, so patient. You are doing a wonderful service to us novices. Thank you.

I just heard that the wait time for citizenship, from the date of filing, has gone up from 6-7 months to more like 12 months or even a bit more. Anyway, I'll write a couple scenarios and if you could please advise me which way makes more sense, or correct me if I have sequence of events wrong, I'd appreciate that.

A. Marry in Sept 08, religious ceremony. File for citizenship in Oct 09. Wait till I get it in the next 12-15 months. File for a K1 visa. She comes here in another 6-12 months. Quite a long haul. I'll visit home once a year.

I hope she can travel, for a month or two, on a tourist visa if she gets it and if we don't register the marriage. One wants to be truthful and do the right thing but what to do when faced with such circumstances.

I guess we can't have kids in this picture before the fiancee is able to come here in 3-4 yrs, can we? I guess if we do have kids, then we go to the next scenario.

B. Marry in Sep 08/09, religious and court marriage. File I-130 right after the marriage. File for my citizenship in Oct 09, get the citizenship around Oct 2010. File for K3 then? Wait it out for another 6-12 months.

I guess, this would be a pure waiting game and would kill the tourist visa thing. What if we have kids in this scenario? File for both the spouse and the child together.

C. Apply for F1 at some local college. I will probably be sponsoring her. She and I run into the "intent to immigrate" problem. People make it sound so easy. How does one tackle that? She studies for 2 yrs. I wait my time for citizenship. Get the citizenship and then marry here?

Thanks so much for your patience and understanding.
akash
 
kaashi said:
C. Apply for F1 at some local college. I will probably be sponsoring her. She and I run into the "intent to immigrate" problem. People make it sound so easy.
Click to expand...
It's not so easy. If you sponsor her, they will question her on her relationship with you and why you would pay for it. If she gathers the college money into her own account or has one of her relatives in the US sponsor her, that keeps you out of the picture and makes it less problematic. But it's still problematic. Bear in mind that most people who do it via the F1 route were already in F1 status when they decided to get married; they didn't get an F1 just to get into the US while already planning to get married after entering.
 
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greencard-citizenship-marriage- timeline etc.

Kaashi,

I can understand where you are heading towards, I personally feel its better if you could arrange for F1 visa for her before you get married(I am not sure if its possible else you should try to hide it), once she comes to the US, Marry her in the US immediately and then file for her I-130, this would be backlogged as you are still on PR status, but once you get your citizenship, this could be escalated. And in the mean time you can claim her as dependent and file her taxes, and most importantly you can have kids in the US. So in my view its better option to file for I-130 as soon as possible, else there would be conditional GC and all that crap you have to go thru, by filing I-130 which is a Immigrant nature, you might violate the F1 rules, but this is the best option, plus you can get her Aid since you are a PR holder. and once you become a US Citizen she can get her normal GC as well.

I am trying to think if there are any other alternative routes that I could shed some light on, but I have totally drained out with ideas. Guys if any of you have any other info to share would be helpful.

My only concern is, what happens if she travel's abroad during F1 visa and tries to re-enter, usually since she already have a F1 stampt and there is validity on it, should not be a problem at port of entry, but you never know. lets see if any one has any ideas they can share.

-Vamsi
 
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