Does my wife need to naturalize with me?

[howlongmore]

Hi,

Got my employment based green card 5 years ago. I am about to naturalize. My wife who got derivative green card with me, does not want to naturalize for various reasons. There's no rule to say we need to naturalize at the same time right? And when she eventually decides to naturalize, she can just do it on her own merit, and is in no way tied to our marriage right?

Thanks.

 

[Jackolantern]

There's no rule to say we need to naturalize at the same time right?

Correct. There is no direct requirement for permanent residents to ever naturalize, and one spouse's naturalization does not obligate the other spouse to do the same. There are only conditional requirements; you must naturalize *if* you want to vote in a Federal election, run for political office, or do other things that only citizens are allowed to do.

And when she eventually decides to naturalize, she can just do it on her own merit, and is in no way tied to our marriage right?

Yes, if she decides to apply for citizenship based on the regular 5-year rule, her naturalization would be independent of the marriage or lack thereof (note that there are other routes to naturalization that do depend on the marriage). The marriage might only be indirectly relevant in certain cases, such as if she took very long trips outside the US while you remained in the US, she could use your presence in the US as evidence of ties to the US.

 

[Triple Citizen]

Apart from the possibility that the duration of the marriage (if there is a divorce) may be questioned by an N-400 adjudicator, there is no connection between one spouse's naturalisation and the other's naturalisation.

And when she eventually decides to naturalize, she can just do it on her own merit, and is in no way tied to our marriage right?