Question for Applying Citizenship

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ygpeli

New Member
I obtained my green card 4 1/2 years ago through employment. My former employer sponsored me h-1 visa for 6 years and labor certificate and green card as well.

Unfortunately, I was terminated by the employer last year, which ended my 10 years career at the company. After the termination, I then filed workers compensation claim for the injuries at work, and civil lawsuit for discrimations and under-paid wages through lawyers. The two cases are pending at courts.

Now I have a part time job which is not related to the job that helped me get the green card.

It is almost time for me to apply for citizenship. However I am worried about how much the two cases would affect the application. I will be asked in the citizenship interview why I left the green card sponsor, why you were terminated and so on, so forth.

Please help advise if my worries are correct ?
Is it better to apply for citizenship when the problems above are ended in courts ?

Thank you very much for your help.
 
ygpeli said:
I obtained my green card 4 1/2 years ago through employment. My former employer sponsored me h-1 visa for 6 years and labor certificate and green card as well.

Unfortunately, I was terminated by the employer last year, which ended my 10 years career at the company. After the termination, I then filed workers compensation claim for the injuries at work, and civil lawsuit for discrimations and under-paid wages through lawyers. The two cases are pending at courts.

Now I have a part time job which is not related to the job that helped me get the green card.

It is almost time for me to apply for citizenship. However I am worried about how much the two cases would affect the application. I will be asked in the citizenship interview why I left the green card sponsor, why you were terminated and so on, so forth.

Please help advise if my worries are correct ?
Is it better to apply for citizenship when the problems above are ended in courts ?

Thank you very much for your help.
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Pending court orders from you or against you are not crimes, court actions against you are. Working with the employer who sponsored your GC, with new one or not working at all has nothing to do with your citizen application. What matter are MAINLY criminal history and fulfilling residence requirement
 
mmed said:
Pending court orders from you or against you are not crimes, court actions against you are.
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However, if you have a pending criminal case against you, they won't approve your citizenship until it is resolved.
Working with the employer who sponsored your GC, with new one or not working at all has nothing to do with your citizen application.
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That is not completely true, because if you got an employment-based green card and then did no form of employment whatsoever after green card approval, you're likely to run into trouble in the citizenship interview.
 
Jackolantern said:
However, if you have a pending criminal case against you, they won't approve your citizenship until it is resolved.

That is not completely true, because if you got an employment-based green card and then did no form of employment whatsoever after green card approval, you're likely to run into trouble in the citizenship interview.
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Again, it is the court order that put the person in trouble and by then being in jail with GC or citizen does not matter. And having pending case will not move the person in the criminal list and still the FP will be clear meanwhile.

I do not think you have to stay with employer after GC approval, please correct me if I am wrong, I moved to another employer in the same week I received my EAD even before GC approval. Yes, I was NIW but still NIW is an employment based petition. Any how the OP woked for many years after GC approval with the same employer.
 
mmed said:
I do not think you have to stay with employer after GC approval, please correct me if I am wrong, I moved to another employer in the same week I received my EAD even before GC approval. Yes, I was NIW but still NIW is an employment based petition. Any how the OP woked for many years after GC approval with the same employer.
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Jacko did not say that one had to stay with the sponsor from GC to citizenship. He merely said that not work at all after getting an EB GC would sound huge alarm at citizenship time.

And switching sponsors before GC approval is quite common, under AC21.
 
mmed said:
Again, it is the court order that put the person in trouble and by then being in jail with GC or citizen does not matter.
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It doesn't have to go as far as any actual court order or jail time or guilt to cause a problem with citizenship. As long as you have been charged with any criminal offense, USCIS will either delay your citizenship until after the case is resolved, or they will deny it altogether, even if you were allowed to roam around freely and never spent a day in jail.
 
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Thank you every helper, I don't have any criminal cases, the present ones are civil ones regarding the discrimination of age and national origin and under paid. I already stayed with the GC employer for about 3 years after I had my GC. If I was not wrongfully terminated, I would be still there. I am 54 yrs old. The termination deeply affected my job search. It's been over a year now, I am still out of unemployment. Fortunately, I got some umemployment benefits from state government. Now the 14 hours/wk job has nothing to do with the professional experience with GC employer. It is like a cashier. In future I can not find a comparable job at my age and in today's worse economy. I am just afraid that the termination and low-level job will do some bad and side affection to the interview and citizenship eventually.
 
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