Section 319 (b) expedited US citizenship

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weverifyit

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A spouse of a US citizen working overseas for a US corporation can qualify for expedited naturalization provided that the US citizen spouse works overseas for a US owned company that is engaged in "COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES". (under 319b)

Is someone aware of which US corporations will be considered in engaging in commerce of the United States.

e.g. Texas Instruments, IBM, Motorola, Freescale, Qualcomm etc:
 
Unfortunately those companies are private firms. I seriously doubt they will qualify for 319(b). The only possibility I see is if they are working on behalf of the US government. The 319(b) clause basically covers the braches of the armed ofrces and other government departments, like the State Department, etc.
 
Respectfully, I am not sure that I agree with Triple Citizen at all.

I think that private US Corporations do qualify. I do know that a US friend of mine in China was engaged, then married to a Chinese national.

Her residency, then naturalization, went very fast indeed (but pre 9/11, let me add).

He worked for an organization that was 100% funded by the private sector. As long as they are US registered and bone fide US Corporations, I think you are OK.

Check with your local US Consulate: they will know for sure.
 
I would not mind at all if I am wrong on this one. My limited knowledge states that exceptions are made for private corporations, provided they are working a project for the US government. I wish the OP the best of luck.
 
US corporation in the commerce chain of US governmen

I called up the USCIS office and the officer informed me that my employer would qualify my spouse for 319(b) provided that my employer is in the commerce chain of the US government.

Does that mean, that if my employer does business with US government or makes atleast one product for them which they buy, I could qualify if stationed abroad.

The other clause which will have to be examined is whether stationed abroad means an expat posting or it could be a voluntary decision also.
 
There's a Canadian citizenship forum on this portal somewhere.

I'm a citizen there by birth. As I understand it, the process is roughly the same. You must be first accepted as a "landed immigrant" (i.e. permanent resident) there, reside there for a set number of years, and then apply. I'm sure the details are different, but in general, I believe the two processes are roughly equivalent.
 
Commerce Chain of US ?

I called up the USCIS office and the officer informed me that my employer would qualify my spouse for 319(b) provided that my employer is in the commerce chain of the US government.

Does that mean, that if my employer does business with US government or makes atleast one product for them which they buy, I could qualify if stationed abroad.

The other clause which will have to be examined is whether stationed abroad means an expat posting or it could be a voluntary decision also.
 
weverifyit

weverifyit said:
I called up the USCIS office and the officer informed me that my employer would qualify my spouse for 319(b) provided that my employer is in the commerce chain of the US government.

Does that mean, that if my employer does business with US government or makes atleast one product for them which they buy, I could qualify if stationed abroad.
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You may have a look at the Adjudicator's Field Manual available on the USCIS website.

(B) Section 319(b) of the Act . This section of law requires that the applicant be a LPR (no set period) and that he or she is the spouse of a United States citizen who is assigned overseas with one of the following:
[...]
• U.S. firm engaged in the development of foreign trade and commerce of the US international organization of which the U.S. participates by treaty or statute,
[...]
In addition, the applicant must:
• Submit his/her application to any USCIS office;
• Be present in the U.S. at the time of naturalization;
• Declare in good faith an intention to take up residence within the U.S. immediately following the termination of employment abroad of the U.S. citizen spouse;
• (Generally) submit an affidavit from the spouse's employer itemizing the nature of the employment, length of time the spouse will be employed abroad, the ownership of the organization and the nature of the organization along with the naturalization application;
• Naturalize upon compliance with all the requirements of the naturalization laws, except that no prior residence or specified period of physical presence within the U.S. or within a District or state shall be required; and
• Establish that he or she will depart to join the citizen spouse within 30-45 days after the date of naturalization.
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This wording does not imply that employment with just any US corporation in the commerce chain of the US government would be sufficient. The main characteristic of a chain is that if a link breaks the whole chain becoms unusable. In my (non-professional) opinion, not many jobs will qualify for this definition. The wording rather suggests that the job must be of a critical nature to the United States government for the development of foreign trade and commerce.
 
8 CFR & 319b

Actually 8 CFR says this :

(B) in the employment of the Government of the United States, or of an American institution of research recognized as such by the Attorney General, or of an American firm or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the development of foreign trade and commerce of the United States, or a subsidiary thereof, or of a public international organization in which the United States participates by treaty or statute, or is authorized to perform the ministerial or priestly functions of a religious denomin ation having a bona fide organization within the United States, or is engaged solely as a missionary by a religious denomination or by an interdenominational mission organization having a bona fide organization within the United States, and

http://www.uscis.gov/propub/ProPubVAP.jsp?dockey=e6f9e66480441fe548dfe78bf2aff82c




McMahon said:
You may have a look at the Adjudicator's Field Manual available on the USCIS website.



This wording does not imply that employment with just any US corporation in the commerce chain of the US government would be sufficient. The main characteristic of a chain is that if a link breaks the whole chain becoms unusable. In my (non-professional) opinion, not many jobs will qualify for this definition. The wording rather suggests that the job must be of a critical nature to the United States government for the development of foreign trade and commerce.
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Thank you for the clarification - I am aware of the wording of 8 CFR, I was just quoting your posting.

weverifyit said:
Does that mean, that if my employer does business with US government or makes atleast one product for them which they buy, I could qualify if stationed abroad.
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So, what do you suggest?

If the US coprporation makes products for the US government, would their employees qualify or not for 319(b)?
 
I do not know the ways the USCIS is working however I would be surprised if the CFR 8 left a door wide open in the sense of waiving regular eligibility requirements just because someone is employed by a corporation supplying the US government. I would suspect that when processing an application based on Section 319 (b) the USCIS makes its determination based on some kind of cost/benefit analysis such as how essential is tha applicant to the supply chain of the US government.
 
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