DUTCH US Military Spouse appying for Citizenship

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bansheemom

Registered Users (C)

Hello everybody!
I am a dutch ( Netherlands ) citizen and have been married to a US military member for 8 years. I am a permanent resident alien, but want to apply for US Citizenship. Here is my problem. I only received my permanent resident alien status very shortly before we got orders to be stationed in Germany in July 2000. I had lived in the States from July 1997 through July 2000. Since then we have been as I said stationed in Germany. I did not opt for the " expedited " citizenship because my husband was deployed a lot and we a have a school age child, so I could not just go hop on a plane for an interview back to the States like that, never mind the travel costs either. Next year we are due back in the States as we are getting stationed in Alabama. I was planning on applying for US Citizenship as soon as we get there, but this is where my questions start. First of I did not request for re-entry on my resident alien card before we left in 2000 because, I am under the assumption, that there is no need for that if you are on orders from the military as a dependent of a active duty soldier. Furthermore I assume continous residency is also waived due to us being on orders with the military. Meaning basically even though we are stationed in Germany it still counts as though I am residing in the USA. Now my question. When I look at a copy of my N-400 form, it states nowhere where I can tell them I am a military spouse that was stationed overseas. Do I file under the 5 year residency status? Or do I file under the 3 years married to a US Citizen status? If I were to list my residence of the past 5 years I would have to put in Germany! How do I indicate I was in the a dependent in the military overseas? Are there any other documents I need other then the N-400?? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank You!
 
Since you qualify as the spouse of a USC, I would file on that basis (unless you anticipate a divorce before this application makes it's way through the system).

Your other questions, I don't know the answer to, but perhaps there is some military office that might help you with this.

Residency is still going to be an issue if you have been living outside the US for so long, but I think you are right that this is some kind of exception for this. Read the "guide to naturalization" again, very carefully. Most cases are covered there. As I remember the guide, you will find that in your case there is no residency requirement.

http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/English.pdf

Ok, I went and looked. In the table on pages 20-21, look at the last row on the bottom to see a description of your case. You have no residency requirement nor any required time as a permanent resident.

I would recommend that you file your application while you are still abroad and, since there is no such case on the form, under eligibility on the n-400, check "other" and write that you are the spouse of a US citizen who is a member of the armed forces stationed in Germany.

If you move back to the states before filing, I'm afraid you will have to wait 3 years.


Good luck,

-Ocelot
 
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bansheemom,

I edited my post above. Please re-read it.

I think you have to file while you are still abroad - or you will have to wait 3 years if you file after your return.

-Ocelot
 
Thanks for looking that up for me. That is really sweet of you. I went back and read the whole thing myself again. See here is the problem with applying from overseas. You may do that, but they schedule the interview/oath date whenever they do, and then you have to fly to the States at your own expense to attend it. With only 10 months out before we PCS ( permanent change of duty station ) that is just not feasable to me. And as I stated in my orginal post before, with my husband in Iraq or Kosovo and a school age kid it was not exactly doable before either. Only soldiers can be sworn in overseas, not spouses ( not fair in my opinion, but oh well ). How I understand the guide it seems that I am exempt from N-470 request for re-entry and continous residence as well as physical presence due to being the spouse of an active duty soldiers with a permanent duty station overseas. So the way I see this is that I can basically file the application as soon as we are back in the U.S. This however does not answer all of my questions. I might have to contact the embassy here and ask them certain things I cannot find in the guide. Here is my list of questions:
1. Can I file N-400 immediatly after returning to the U.S?
2. Do I need Form DD1278 ( it is a department of defense form stating you were/are on a command sponsored overseas tour as a dependant of a active duty soldier)?
3. Am I really exempt from N-470 request for re-entry?
4. Do I need to list all the trips we made withing Europe while we were stationed here?
5. Do I write down our military APO, AE address or our actual German street address?
6. Do I apply under 5 year residency, 3 years married to a U.S Citizen or OTHER? As I qualify for all of them I believe?
6. Do I need 3-5 years of tax statements from the IRS, which we file every year normally from over here at our military base?
Whewy, that's a lot of questions, I know :rolleyes:
 
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Quick follow up: Ok so I talked to an INS officer from the embassy at Frankfurt today and I got some helpful info. As long as you have orders from the military overseas as a dependant of an active duty soldier, one is exempt from N-470 request for re-entry. And all your time spent overseas as long as you have proof per copy of your spouse's orders, is counted as actually residing in the U.S. So continious residency and physical presence are NOT REQUIRED. She said I could apply for petition for naturalization as soon as we get back to the States. NO 3 month wait for physical presence. I have to attach a copy of my Military ID card front and back, copies of all PCS orders to my N-400 though in addition to check, PR card copy and passport photos. She also strongly recommended listing all trips we made while being stationed overseas.
 
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bansheemom,

I already posted on your other thread, but I see that you have already gotten on top of things. It is an excellent and fair policy to count all your time as resident.

-Ocelot
 
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