Eligibility question

[Suresh T]

One of the US citizenship eligibility criteria requires that you should have lived in US as a permanent resident for three years AND married to a US citizen. My question is, does your spouse need to be a US citizen during these three years while you are residing in US as a permanenr resident?

I have a situation where the spouses got their green cards couple of years apart and am wondering if the the spouse who got the GC later can apply for citizenship as soon as the other spouse gets theirs, of course after completing 3 years on GC.

Thanks!

 

[Flydog]

Check out the Guide to Naturalization, but, if I remember correctly, it is "three years married to a US citizen". So, in your case, it's the earlier of 5 years since your green card or three years since your spouse's oath ceremony.

Then again, my wife and I applied together, so I didn't read the rules very quickly.

 

[equate]

One of the US citizenship eligibility criteria requires that you should have lived in US as a permanent resident for three years AND married to a US citizen. My question is, does your spouse need to be a US citizen during these three years while you are residing in US as a permanenr resident?

I have a situation where the spouses got their green cards couple of years apart and am wondering if the the spouse who got the GC later can apply for citizenship as soon as the other spouse gets theirs, of course after completing 3 years on GC.

Thanks!

Your spouse has to have been a US citizen for all 3 years you were a permanent resident. You are not eligible for the 3 year rule.

 

[Suresh T]

Here's the relevant section from Naturalization guide:

If you:
Are currently married to and living with a U.S. citizen
AND
Have been married to and living with that same U.S.
citizen for the past 3 years
AND
Your spouse has been a U.S. citizen for the past 3 years

So I guess the other spouse also need to wait for 5 years in the case I outlined.

Thanks for your help!

 

[boatbod]

Right. The 3 year clock doesn't start until your spouse fulfills both conditions (USC + Marriage).

In the instance described by the OP, the wait would be 3 years from when the first spouse was naturalized as a USC, or 5 years from when the applicant obtained his GC, whichever comes sooner.