Appply Citizenship 6 month prior?

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siliconhybrid

Registered Users (C)
I just found this website today, and have been reading for hours now.

For Citizenship, I understand we may apply 90 days prior the eligibility. I have a friend who applied 6 months before 5 yr and got thru. I talked to a lawyer who said "best case: the date will be overlooked, and your application goes through, worst case: your application is rejected without prejudice, and apply again"

I am wondering if anyone here has any experience applying more than 90 day. I am in need to get a citizenship asap. What would be the worst scenario if I apply 6 mo before?

THANK YOU GUYS
 
siliconhybrid said:
I just found this website today, and have been reading for hours now.

For Citizenship, I understand we may apply 90 days prior the eligibility. I have a friend who applied 6 months before 5 yr and got thru. I talked to a lawyer who said "best case: the date will be overlooked, and your application goes through, worst case: your application is rejected without prejudice, and apply again"
Click to expand...

No, best case is your application will be sent back immediately and you will get your money back. But the worst case is they will catch the error at the time of the interview and ask you to withdraw your application. In the process, you will lose both time and money.
 
If you want to try your luck and have money and time to waste, go right ahead.

Here's the problem though. You may not be rejected by the service center right away. They may accept and process your application normally and may even schedule you for an interview. Once the IO at the interview finds out that you applied ahead of time, you will be asked to withdraw your application or else they will deny it. If you withdraw your application, you can re-file next day (go through entire processing again). If you don't withdraw and allow they to deny it, you will have to wait till you get denial letter in the mail which can take additional couple of months.

BOTTOM LINE - You will lose your money as well as time.

I would suggest to wait till you approach 90 day limit and then file rather than file before then.

Your call...Good luck.
 
And, since N-400 processing can take anywhere from 3 months to 3 years these days, would it really buy you that much if it accidentally succeeded.
 
Dont do it.Totaly waste of time and money.They will send it back !The processing times are different for all DO.
 
Thanks for the advise guys.
I was leaning towards submitting now than wait for another 3 months.
btw, my DO is San Jose.
 
I don't advise you putting your application in 6 mths before you're eligible. The IO goes through every little thing in the application and I'm sure they will figure out the dates.

I applied way pass either the 3 or 5 year mark so they didn't even count the days but if you are close, they most likely will count it.

The IOs at San Jose DO are pretty thorough. I should know...I went through the interview process already at San Jose DO.

My opinion, don't do it...it's not worth it. Waiting another 3 months before you're eligible to file doesn't kill you....if anything, that's one thing less to worry about.

If you want to take a chance and waste your time and money...go right ahead...but it seems silly to me to do that. :rolleyes:
 
You should totally do that! Apply early, don't wait!

P.S. only one thing though, please keep up posted on your progress :D
 
siliconhybrid said:
Thanks for the advise guys.
I was leaning towards submitting now than wait for another 3 months.
btw, my DO is San Jose.
Click to expand...

You think USCIS doesn't enforce the rules they publish? People have had their applications returned or been asked to withdraw simply because their paperwork was received 1 day early.
 
ok.. ok .. I got it :D thanks a lot, really.

Oh just to make sure: the 5 yr rule does not mean 5x365 days right? my GC started 7/22/2002, I suppose I can apply on 4/23/2007

I went on vacation out of US for 3 weeks each on 2003, 2004, and 2006 (say total of 63 days over 5 years), do I need to add 63 days before I can apply i.e. 5 yrs - 90 days + 63 days?

Thanks
 
5 calendar years (I got my GC on March 27th (as printed on my GC)). I was eligible for Naturalization on March 27th (or, maybe the 28th) 5 years later.

It's 90 days, not three months. Someone got burned last year because Feb+Mar+Apr = 28+31+30 = 89 days, not ninety.

And, don't apply exactly 90 days early. As boatbod mentioned, someone got bounced last year because he calculated 90 days exactly, but (similar to my March 27th versus 28th calculation above, the IO said it was 89 days).

Oh, someone else got his NOA back once and the PD was marked (probably by accident) a day or two before he had actually mailed the application. Had he been too close, he might have been screwed.

The real formula:

Take your GC date
Add 5 (or 3, depending) to the year.
subtract 90 days,
Add a week for error.
 
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