Naturalization before 5-year or 3-year anniversary date

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fbanna79

Registered Users (C)
Is it possible to naturalized before the actual anniversary day of turning 3 or 5 years residency (whichever applies)?
I have applied based on 5-years residency, 89 days before my 5-year anniversary day (which is June 28, 2008). My case was processed faster than no one could expect and my interview is scheduled for June 19th.
Is it technically possible to be naturalized before my June 28, 2008 anniversary since I will be theoritically living in US for less than 5 years ?

I understand if they delay my oath, but should I expect a denial of my case just because they scheduled my interview before June 28, 2008 ?
 
I can't see how that is possible if you don't meet one of the basic requirements (5 year residency requirement in your case).
The USCIS's rapid adjudication in your case can't be used as defense to somehow bypass that requirement.
Also, they wouldn't schedule an oath if you don't meet the 5 year residency requirement.
 
Regardless of how fast the processing is, at the end they still control the timing with the oath date. Your oath will be on or after the 5 year anniversary.
 
Jackolantern said:
Regardless of how fast the processing is, at the end they still control the timing with the oath date. Your oath will be on or after the 5 year anniversary.
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But in this case the interview falls before the 5 year anniversary so the oath wouldn't be scheduled to begin with, correct?
 
I guess it would be good to point this to the IO during the interview to make sure they don't make the mistake of naturalizing you before your 5 year anniversary.
 
Huracan said:
I guess it would be good to point this to the IO during the interview to make sure they don't make the mistake of naturalizing you before your 5 year anniversary.
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And also to avoid any denaturalization process 20 years down the road (is this turning into the SOL thread?) :D
 
Bobsmyth said:
But in this case the interview falls before the 5 year anniversary so the oath wouldn't be scheduled to begin with, correct?
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So what if the interview is before the 5-year anniversary? They don't give you an oath letter until after the interview. And when the letter is sent, the oath date on it won't be earlier than the 5-year anniversary, even if the letter was printed and received before the 5-year mark. Naturalization isn't complete until the oath is done, so naturalization before the 5-year anniversary won't happen.
 
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Jackolantern said:
So what if the interview is before the 5-year anniversary? They don't give you an oath letter until after the interview. And when the letter is sent, the oath date on it won't be earlier than the 5-year anniversary, even if the letter was printed and received before the 5-year mark. Naturalization isn't complete until the oath is done, so naturalization before the 5-year anniversary won't happen.
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I don't buy your argument. I can't see them approve a case at the interview on the presumption that you will have fulfilled the 5 year requirement by oath time. Again, this case is very unique in the fact that the interview (and determination of eligibility by the IO) will be made before the OP has passed the 5 year anniversary date.
 
Bobsmyth said:
I don't buy your argument. I can't see them approve a case at the interview on the presumption that you will have fulfilled the 5 year requirement by oath time.
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They know the 5 year anniversary, and will fix the oath date to be on or after the 5 year anniversary. By that time, you would have completed 5 years! Unless you know how to freeze time. It's as straightforward as predicting that a 25-year old will be 26 in one year from now!

Now you might say, what if you go off on a long trip after the interview. Well, that's no different than if you had already completed 5 years before the day of the interview and traveled right afterwards. You still have to maintain that rolling 5-year window of residence right up until oath day, and if the trip was too long you won't get to take the oath. Final determinations of residence aren't going to be made until oath day anyway, whether or not the oath letter was sent before or after the 5 year mark.
 
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Jackolantern said:
They know the 5 year anniversary, and will fix the oath date to be on or after the 5 year anniversary. By that time, you would have completed 5 years! Unless you know how to freeze time. It's as straightforward as predicting that a 25-year old will be 26 in one year from now!

Now you might say, what if you go off on a long trip after the interview. Well, that's no different than if you had already completed 5 years before the day of the interview and traveled right afterwards. You still have to maintain that rolling 5-year window of residence right up until oath day, and if the trip was too long you won't get to take the oath. Final determinations of residence aren't going to be made until oath day anyway, whether or not the oath letter was sent before or after the 5 year mark.
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I agree with you. They probably already knew it. It is on my application and I sent in a copy of my Green Card. They may schedule oath on or after June 28. If they schedule me before that date, I will simply ask them to postpone it to avoid problems in the future. So, Iif I summirize, I can go to interview on Thursday, but draw their attention on that.

Thanks for all advices. I will let you know what they say.
 
This is a very unique situation/case because no one so far is being able to get their interview so quickly which clearly makes them not to meet one of the prime eligibilities for the naturalization. So it will be a big challenge to USCIS at the time of interview.

Immigration laws state very clearly that applicant MUST meet all the eligibilities for the naturalization. Thus, it's hard to believe that interviewing officer would approve the application at the day of interview because it seems very clear that applicant wouldn't meet one of naturalization eligiblities. I mean, how can USCIS approve a naturalization application when applicant doesn't even meet one of the prime eligiblities?? In order to approve the application, officer must need to be sure that applicants meets all the statutory eligiblities for the benefit.

Though an alien doesn't become a US citizen until Oath is taken, yet still I don't see an application for naturalization be approved when applicant doesn't even meet one of the statutory eligibilites for the benefit. So, let's see how USCIS will handle this case. It could be possible that officer might delay the decision for a few days to accommodate the applicant under the law.

There was a similar case reported on this forum more than 2 yrs ago wherein USCIS denied the application, but in that case applicant filed the application 4days earlier than his time than his application having being processed so quickly. Just to know, even though USCIS has made a mistake in accepting the application which should not have been accepted at first place, yet still USCIS can and do correct their mistake upon knowing it, which is similiar to the fact that many times USCIS approves green card applications which should not have been approved, but they do revoke the Permanent Residency later on whenever they realize their mistake which could be at any time even at the time of naturalization.
 
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Jackolantern said:
Final determinations of residence aren't going to be made until oath day anyway.
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What?? Immigration rules state that the 5 year residency requirement must be met before the application is sent in, and IOs check for that at the interview (not the oath). If residency was only determined at oath, one of the question on oath form would be "have you met residency requirement on oath date"?
The 90 day (before anniversary) grace period is a courtesy that USCIS provides since in the majority of cases adjudication takes longer than 90 days.
Again, why would an oath be scheduled (on basis of approved application) if the OP hasn't met one of the basic requirements before applying?
 
JohnnyCash said:
Though an alien doesn't become a US citizen until Oath is taken, yet still I don't see an application for naturalization be approved when applicant doesn't even meet one of the statutory eligibilites for the benefit.
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But the approval really isn't effective until the oath date, correct? The applicant will have met the 5-year mark as of the final approval (i.e the oath date), as long as they set the oath date to be on or after that point in time. Isn't the 5-year requirement applicable only to the endpoint of the process, with the start and interim being subject to the lesser requirement of "5 years minus 90 days"?

Ultimately it will boil down to their interpretation of the rules. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
 
I was thinking just the opposite.

I filed a couple of months before reaching my 5 years. It took another 14 months before the USCIS finally interviewed me and scheduled me for oath on that same day. IMHO, my naturalization certificate should be effetive retroactively back to the day my 5 years was up! :)
 
fbanna79 said:
Is it possible to naturalized before the actual anniversary day of turning 3 or 5 years residency (whichever applies)?
I have applied based on 5-years residency, 89 days before my 5-year anniversary day (which is June 28, 2008). My case was processed faster than no one could expect and my interview is scheduled for June 19th.
Is it technically possible to be naturalized before my June 28, 2008 anniversary since I will be theoritically living in US for less than 5 years ?

I understand if they delay my oath, but should I expect a denial of my case just because they scheduled my interview before June 28, 2008 ?
Click to expand...

Man, don't worry. You will be fine, even if your oath was done before June 28th. USCIS is not stupid to allow people to apply if they know they cannot approve them if their cases were processed faster than 90 days.

Whoever wrote this rule would have said "At no time, no one can be naturalized before his 5-year anniversary date". I did not read that anyhere.

Were they blind when they sent you the letter? Don't stress yourself, man. People are just scaring the sh*t of you. Relax and enjoy your interview. It will be fine

Let me ask you guys a question for those of you who applied 90 days before you 5 or 3 year anniversary. Did you check YES or NO for the question asking if you met the residency requirement ?

If fbanna79 would have to be denied, it will imply that all of us who applied before 5/3 years and checked yes for residency requirements should be denied or deported for lying.

fbanna79, your 5 year residence time has started 90 days before June 28. That is USCIS rule, and lets go by the rules.
 
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Akilou said:
Man, don't worry. You will be fine, even if your oath was done before June 28th. USCIS is not stupid to allow people to apply if they know they cannot approve them if their cases were processed faster than 90 days.

Whoever wrote this rule would have said "At no time, no one can be naturalized before his 5-year anniversary date". I did not read that anyhere.

Were they blind when they sent you the letter? Don't stress yourself, man. People are just scaring the sh*t of you. Relax and enjoy your interview. It will be fine

Let me ask you guys a question for those of you who applied 90 days before you 5 or 3 year anniversary. Did you check YES or NO for the question asking if you met the residency requirement ?

If fbanna79 would have to be denied, it will imply that all of us who applied before 5/3 years and checked yes for residency requirements should be denied or deported for lying.

fbanna79, your 5 year residence time has started 90 days before June 28. That is USCIS rule, and lets go by the rules.
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Thanks Akilou. I also found this also on Wikipedia. Scroll down to naturalization requirements and read it. It seems like the main requirement is when the application is received, not when the naturalization is performed.

I will try to locate the naturalization law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law#Eligibility_for_naturalization
 
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Jackolantern said:
But the approval really isn't effective until the oath date, correct? The applicant will have met the 5-year mark as of the final approval (i.e the oath date), as long as they set the oath date to be on or after that point in time. Isn't the 5-year requirement applicable only to the endpoint of the process, with the start and interim being subject to the lesser requirement of "5 years minus 90 days"?

Ultimately it will boil down to their interpretation of the rules. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
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Jack,

Approval on an applicantion is one thing while becoming a citizen after taking the Oath is another. Thus, an approval on a naturalization application could remain valid as long as USCIS determines to invalidate it administravely (like USCIS doesn't have any timeframe on some approved applications/petitions for them to be invalid such as I-130, I-360 and etc) despite of not taking the Oath.

As per immigration laws, applicants for naturalization must meet ALL the basic and statutory requirements/eligibilities in order to be a naturalized citizen. However, what laws don't say is- WHEN those requirements should be met, like at the time of making/filing the application or at the time of having interview or at the time of final approval or at the time of taking the Oath. So far USCIS has determined that all these requirements be met at the time of making/filing the application. That's why they have been denying accepting the application at the begining if someone sends the application prior to their eligibility for the benefit.

By the way, I'm not talking about applications which were/are filed 90 days prior to becoming eligible for the benefit because USCIS does allow filing of naturalization application 90 days prior to the eligibility. Instead I'm talking about those applications which are/were filed prior to 90 days period and those which don't meet the statutory residence requirement of 5 yrs or 3 yrs at the time of interview even if they were sent on time.

As I said, USCIS might exercise its discretionary authority to process the application in this situation. In my opinion, officer might approve the application later on when OP meets the eligibilities. However, I must say that I've seen only denial so far in this kind of situation, but who knows how particular officer or district office in this case would act upon....
 
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