calling all MARRIAGE based (3yr) N400 applicants.

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washburn1

Registered Users (C)
From all the reading I've done here, I have the feeling that most of the N400's are 5-year perm resident based applicants.

We do have a good collection of feedback and posts showing how the interviews go for those applicants, what questions/evidences to prepare for the interview.

HOWEVER: there haven't been very many posts about interview experiences for N400 interviewees whose appl was based on marriage to a US citizen, to which category I belong to also.

How are these interviews different from the others?
what extra stuff does one need to do to prepare for this type?
(my GC interview was pretty painless, just a few basic questions about our marriage, and the IO looked at a few photographs, but not with any interest)
what additional questions do they ask?
what kind of proof should one have in hand when going to the interview?

I'd love to hear from some marriage based N-400 people who had their interviews already, or from people who have heard about how it goes..
I think it would be interesting for some of the marriage based applicants here...to get a rough idea at least

Thanks.
 
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I really do not think they are any different then 5 yrs employment based applications. They already have established that you are in a valid marriage when you received your GC. The only difference I assume is presentation of documents such as marriage certificate and divorce decrees etc.
 
Just to clarify for other readers. There is no "employment based" category when filing for US Citizenship. There is the 5-year category and the marriage based 3-year catergory. In either category, they do not care about your employment history. You could be an umemployed bum but as long as you have satisfied the other requirements for naturalization, you are eligible to apply.
 
I filed My N400 based on 3 year marriage

In my IL letter they said to bring my Marriage Liscense and any previous devorce papers that i have
They did not say they wanted evidence of a good faith marriage like the they do for the GC interview
 
The approach I will take for my Citizenship Interview will be to have my wife with me along with ALLLLL my( 2 with us and 1 on the way!!) kids :)
It worked pretty good for my GC as the IO just wanted to get the kids out of his office.....
In all seriousness though, I think it helps if you bring along teh best evidence that you have..your wife. And they can get a sense for the relationship and see the interaction.......
 
VisaNutz said:
Jojo.. your timeline is UNREAL. Are you sure you're not a USCIS agent posting imaginary dates to make USCIS look good?
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No kidding... My N400(b) timeline is now 6 years: applied 5/2002, interview and "application granted" November 15, 2002, divorced 12/2004, denied 9/27/2007 - because of the requirement that I must be married at the time of naturalization - despite that the application was already granted 5 years ago, when all requirements were met!

I have not found that requirement on the N400 application (even this year's one), nor on the instructions for it. I am trying to figure out now, if I can appeal.

Does anyone know, where I can find that requirement, and when did it go in effect?

Thanks!
 
mixednut said:
No kidding... My N400(b) timeline is now 6 years: applied 5/2002, interview and "application granted" November 15, 2002, divorced 12/2004, denied 9/27/2007 - because of the requirement that I must be married at the time of naturalization - despite that the application was already granted 5 years ago, when all requirements were met!
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You had interview in 2002 and never received oath letter??
 
Since you already had your interview, you should have filed 1447(b) in 2003 when you had the chance to force USCIS to adjudicate your case.
For marriage based applications, you need to keep all the conditions (including remaining married) up until the oath.
You have 30 days to appeal a denial, but you've already passed up on that last year. As a last resort,contact an lawyer to determine if you have any options remaining.

Note: The application may have been "granted" at the interview, but your case isn't considered officially adjudicated until you had your oath.
 
Bobsmyth said:
Since you already had your interview, you should have filed 1447(b) in 2003 when you had the chance to force USCIS to adjudicate your case.
For marriage based applications, you need to keep all the conditions (including remaining married) up until the oath.
You have 30 days to appeal a denial, but you've already passed up on that last year. As a last resort,contact an lawyer to determine if you have any options remaining.

Note: The application may have been "granted" at the interview, but your case isn't considered officially adjudicated until you had your oath.
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Thank you, that helped - except for, how was I supposed to know any of that? :)

Would you know, where on US CIS site is this "continued marriage" requirement spelled out? (And for the love of .gov, why is it not mentioned on N400 instructions?)

Already contacted a lawyer, who said - fuhgedabautit, file a new N400.
 
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mixednut said:
I have not found that requirement on the N400 application (even this year's one), nor on the instructions for it. I am trying to figure out now, if I can appeal.
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The answer can be found in 8.CFR.319.11(b)2

(2) Loss of Marital Union--(i) Divorce, death or expatriation. A person is ineligible for naturalization as the spouse of a United States citizen under section 319(a) of the Act if, before or after the filing of the application, the marital union ceases to exist due to death or divorce, or the citizen spouse has expatriated. Eligibility is not restored to an applicant whose relationship to the citizen spouse terminates before the applicant's admission to citizenship, even though the applicant subsequently marries another United States citizen.​
 
boatbod said:
The answer can be found in 8.CFR.319.11(b)2

(2) Loss of Marital Union--(i) Divorce, death or expatriation. A person is ineligible for naturalization as the spouse of a United States citizen under section 319(a) of the Act if, before or after the filing of the application, the marital union ceases to exist due to death or divorce, or the citizen spouse has expatriated. Eligibility is not restored to an applicant whose relationship to the citizen spouse terminates before the applicant's admission to citizenship, even though the applicant subsequently marries another United States citizen.​
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This is all true as far as it occurs while you are still eligible for the 3 year base only, but it doesNOT prevent the switch of the application from 3yr base to 5yr base once you become eligible for the 5yr base conditions.
I was told by an immigration lawyer that he knows of cases who switched from 3yr to 5 yr right during the interview, and their cases were approved.
he said he doesn't have any record of someone doing so after the interview, and only during the oath ceremony, but he told me worse case senario should be to re-interview, not just deny the whole case.
 
In mixednut's case, it was already denied and an appeal is too late at this time..best to move on and apply for 5 year based application.
 
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