Citizenship Eligibility (2001 V-visa Now Green Card For 2 Years)

G

GDSNY

New Member
HI,

Firstly Best wishes for New Year.

I came to usa in 2001 on v-visa then received my green card. Now I have been living in usa for last 5 years. 2 and half years of which as a green card holder.

My questions are:

1. Would my first 3 years as v visa status be counted towards my citizenship or no?

2. my wife got neutralized 2 years ago, in this case when would i be eligible to apply for citizenship?

thanks in advance

SINGH
 
GDSNY said:
HI,

Firstly Best wishes for New Year.

I came to usa in 2001 on v-visa then received my green card. Now I have been living in usa for last 5 years. 2 and half years of which as a green card holder.

My questions are:

1. Would my first 3 years as v visa status be counted towards my citizenship or no?

2. my wife got neutralized 2 years ago, in this case when would i be eligible to apply for citizenship?

thanks in advance

SINGH
Click to expand...

Your time in V status does not count toward citizenship. You can apply 90 days before 3-year anniversary of your wife's naturalization.
 
No earlier than 3 yrs after her citizenship and your marriage

I don't think you may apply 90 days earlier than your wife's 3 year anniversary of her citizenship.

If you like to go through marriage route, you may apply after your wife has had her citizenship for three years and more AND you and your wife have been married for three years and more at the time of your application AND you have been GC holder for more than three years minus 90 days (I think you will for sure have met the last requirement when you meet the first two, according to your timeline). No 90 days of grace period in the first two requirements. Of course you still need to meet other eligibility requirements like continuous residency etc.

The only time that 90 grace period is provided is when you count how long you have your green card at the time of application (three years minus 90 days for marriage-based, 5 years minus 90 days for employment-based).


You may carefully go through the Naturalization Guide and probably will reach the same conclusion.
 
I agree with Aug2006. The 90 days in advance filing rule applies only to the continuous residence requirement. All other requirements must be satisfied at the time of filing N-400. For someone applying based on 3 years of being married to a U.S. citizen this means, in particular, that you must be married to a U.S. citizen for at least 3 years at the time of filing N-400.

There were several posts in this and other forums where people's N-400 applications were rejected because they filed too early in this kind of a situation.

See, for example:

http://immigration-information.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2387
 
Citizenship eligibilty - GC Timeline

Please advise on my friends case, i think he is eligible for citizenship.

he got his GC in May 1993
01/31/2000 left the US and lived in Indonesia
02/08/2001 enterred US

02/21/2001 left the US again, and
12/19/2002 enterred US with the whitebook (re-entry permit)

since then, he's been in the US , and never left US more than 2 months.

Please help, thanks
 
mileage said:
Please advise on my friends case, i think he is eligible for citizenship.

he got his GC in May 1993
01/31/2000 left the US and lived in Indonesia
02/08/2001 enterred US

02/21/2001 left the US again, and
12/19/2002 enterred US with the whitebook (re-entry permit)

since then, he's been in the US , and never left US more than 2 months.

Please help, thanks
Click to expand...

He probably is eligible to file N-400 now. Based on your post, he seems to satisfy the 5 years continuous presence requirement because, under the 4 years plus one day rule, the last year of his 02/21/2001-12/19/2002 absence does count towards the period of continuous presence. So your friend appears to have satisfied the continuous presence requirement on 12/20/2006.

He still needs to make sure that he satisfies the physical presence requirement: for the last 5 years he must be physically present in the U.S. for the total of at least 30 months.
 
Naturalization Requirement - Selective Service

He probably is eligible to file N-400 now. Based on your post, he seems to satisfy the 5 years continuous presence requirement because, under the 4 years plus one day rule, the last year of his 02/21/2001-12/19/2002 absence does count towards the period of continuous presence. So your friend appears to have satisfied the continuous presence requirement on 12/20/2006.

He still needs to make sure that he satisfies the physical presence requirement: for the last 5 years he must be physically present in the U.S. for the total of at least 30 months.

Thanks Baikal3. He did physiacally present in the US total more than 30 months.
Now, He faced the issue of Selective Service. He got his GC when he was 23 years old. He was a foreign student and didnt know anything about SS. We gonna call the SS office, but most likely he wasnt registered. What can he do about this?

Thanks a lot
 
mileage said:
Now, He faced the issue of Selective Service. He got his GC when he was 23 years old. He was a foreign student and didnt know anything about SS. We gonna call the SS office, but most likely he wasnt registered. What can he do about this?
Click to expand...

At the very minimum he's going to need a status information letter from the selective services agency. Then he's going to need to demonstrate to the IO that his failure to register was not willful. If he can successfully establish that, he may be approved, otherwise he will need to wait until he is older than 31, at which point he'll be more than 5 years beyond the registration cutoff.

See the adjudicators handbook (approx one third the way down the page) for a more detailed explanation.
 
Naturalization Requirement - Selective Service

At the very minimum he's going to need a status information letter from the selective services agency. Then he's going to need to demonstrate to the IO that his failure to register was not willful. If he can successfully establish that, he may be approved, otherwise he will need to wait until he is older than 31, at which point he'll be more than 5 years beyond the registration cutoff.

Could u please explain more about the registration cutoff?
He is 36 years old.
 
The link I gave you in my previous post explains more or less all there is to know about the three levels of selective service registration decision making. Earlier this evening there was also an interview writeup covering this very topic, so check that too.

Put simply, a person aged 31 or older only has to show they did not intentionally fail to register in order for the issue to be put to rest. Those aged 26-30 have a harder time because the failure to register must have occurred during the 5 year "good moral behavior" period, and thus has much more impact on their case.
 
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