USCIS Rejected N-400 Because Deadline

T

Tracy6009

New Member
USCIS rejected my wife's Application for Naturalization (N-400) because they said that she waited too long (over 90 days) to file for US Citizenship.

Although we were not aware of any deadline (other than her green card which expires in August 2012) we knew that she had to be at least a permanent residence for at least 3 consecutive years.

I am her husband and I am a US citizen in the US Army. What can we do to get USCIS to accept her application? They wrote that she need to resubmit the application and check the appropriate box other than:

Part 2. B: I have been a lawful permanent residence of the United States for at least three years, and I have been married to and living with the same U. S. citizen for the last three years, and my spouse has been a U.S. citizen for the last three years.

Next week my wife will be a permanent residence for 5 years in the U.S. So should we check Letter A?:

A. I have been a lawful permanent residence of the United States for at least five years.



Some guidance here would be greatly appreciated. :confused:
 
Tracy6009 said:
USCIS rejected my wife's Application for Naturalization (N-400) because they said that she waited too long (over 90 days) to file for US Citizenship.
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I thought waiting too short can be a problem never heard waiting too long can be a problem
 
If they have already rejected the application and they require a fee to contest their desion,, then by all means wait until she has the 5 years and have her reapply based on the 5 year rule she should be ok.

good luck :)
 
Tracy6009 said:
USCIS rejected my wife's Application for Naturalization (N-400) because they said that she waited too long (over 90 days) to file for US Citizenship.

Although we were not aware of any deadline (other than her green card which expires in August 2012) we knew that she had to be at least a permanent residence for at least 3 consecutive years.

I am her husband and I am a US citizen in the US Army. What can we do to get USCIS to accept her application? They wrote that she need to resubmit the application and check the appropriate box other than:

Part 2. B: I have been a lawful permanent residence of the United States for at least three years, and I have been married to and living with the same U. S. citizen for the last three years, and my spouse has been a U.S. citizen for the last three years.

Next week my wife will be a permanent residence for 5 years in the U.S. So should we check Letter A?:

A. I have been a lawful permanent residence of the United States for at least five years.



Some guidance here would be greatly appreciated. :confused:
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Did she submited as marriage based? Then she may submited earlier then 90 days advance. So, you should be married at least 3 full years before she submited. You need to recalculate and if there is only 90 days or less days left to your 3rd aniversary then she can re-apply.
 
I think what the original poster is saying is that she applied based on a three-year marriage but she waited more than three years to apply so they rejected it. Is that what happened? That's weird.

In any case, yeah if she qualifies for a five-year rule, by all means she should go for it, and check the 5-year box instead. Gurus, help this guy!
 
Tracy6009 said:
USCIS rejected my wife's Application for Naturalization (N-400) because they said that she waited too long (over 90 days) to file for US Citizenship.

Although we were not aware of any deadline (other than her green card which expires in August 2012) we knew that she had to be at least a permanent residence for at least 3 consecutive years.

I am her husband and I am a US citizen in the US Army. What can we do to get USCIS to accept her application? They wrote that she need to resubmit the application and check the appropriate box other than:

Part 2. B: I have been a lawful permanent residence of the United States for at least three years, and I have been married to and living with the same U. S. citizen for the last three years, and my spouse has been a U.S. citizen for the last three years.

Next week my wife will be a permanent residence for 5 years in the U.S. So should we check Letter A?:

A. I have been a lawful permanent residence of the United States for at least five years.



Some guidance here would be greatly appreciated. :confused:
Click to expand...

When did she originally get her GC, in 2004? How long have you been married and when did she apply? You'll need to provide some dates and more info on your case to get an appropriate answer.
 
Tracy6009 said:
USCIS rejected my wife's Application for Naturalization (N-400) because they said that she waited too long (over 90 days) to file for US Citizenship.

Although we were not aware of any deadline (other than her green card which expires in August 2012) we knew that she had to be at least a permanent residence for at least 3 consecutive years.

I am her husband and I am a US citizen in the US Army. What can we do to get USCIS to accept her application? They wrote that she need to resubmit the application and check the appropriate box other than:

Part 2. B: I have been a lawful permanent residence of the United States for at least three years, and I have been married to and living with the same U. S. citizen for the last three years, and my spouse has been a U.S. citizen for the last three years.

Next week my wife will be a permanent residence for 5 years in the U.S. So should we check Letter A?:

A. I have been a lawful permanent residence of the United States for at least five years.



Some guidance here would be greatly appreciated. :confused:
Click to expand...
I submitted my application exactly on the rigth date, but they rejected, and I found out that I have signed the application one day earlier. I called the customer service , and they told me to resent the application in 2 or 3 weeks, but I waited a little longer because I went on vacation. I resent the application 4 months later , and it was accepted. Since she has only one week left to complete her 5 years as a permanent resident, I would apply with the 5-year rule instead of the 3 year marriage based
 
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That's crazy...you should try to get your money back? If they haven't return it...trying stoping the money order or check.
 
Thank you all for responding so quickly to our problem. Here is a quick timeline of my wife's Permanent

Residence in the U.S.:

* I married my wife in May 2004 under her K-1 Visa.
* My wife received her green card in July 2006 and the card expires on August, 2016.
* We mailed the N-400 Application last month (April 2009).
* Our 5th year wedding anniversary is this month (May 2009) in two weeks; which is how she has been in the United States (minus 393 days outside the U.S.).
* On April 21, 2009, we received a I-797C, Notice of Action from USCIS (with our $675 check un-cashed) stating the following:


==============================================

"This is reference to the Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, you submitted. Your N-400 is being returned to you for the following reason(s):

Part 2 of the Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, Information about your eligibility, shows that you are seeking naturalization based on either:

a. Section 316(a) - been a lawful permanent resident for five (5) years, or
b. Section 319(a) - been a lawful permanent resident for at least three (3) years and have been married to a United States citizen for those three years

Section 334(a) of the Act states, in pertinent part:

'In the case of an applicant subject to a requirement of continuous residence under section 316(a) or 319(a), the application for naturalization may be filed up to 3 months before the date the applicant would first otherwise meet such continuous residence requirement.'

The information provided with your application indicates you have filed your application more than 3 months before meeting the residency requirement for the category selected. Therefore, you are ineligible to file for naturalization at this time under the category selected.

Please ensure you have included the following items when you resubmit your application: A copy of both sides of your Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card (PRC), commonly known as a 'green card', and 2 passport style photos.

In addition, all applicants with any military service must provide a completed Form G-325B, Biographic Information, and applicants currently serving in the U.S. military must provide a Form N-426, Request for Certification of Military or Naval Service.

All applicants whose place of residence is outside the United States must submit a completed Form FD-258 fingerprint card prepared by the USCIS, a U.S. consular office at U.S. embassy or consulate, or a U.S. Military installation abroad.

USCIS OFFICE ADDRESS
USCIS
PO Box 21251
PHOENIX, AZ 85036

USCIS CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER
(800) 375-5283

==============================================

They returned our entire package along with the copy of her green card (front & back), her un-cashed check for

$675, and her two photos. And this was after she had selected:

Part 2. Information About Your Eligibility (Check only one)
B. [X] I have been lawful permanent resident of the United States for at least three years, and I have been married to and living with the same U.S. citizen for the last three years, and my spouse has been a U.S. citizen for the last three years.

My wife was thinking that maybe she should wait two more weeks and resubmit her package choosing option"A" instead.

[NOTE:] Also in Part 7, my wife visited out of the United States on these dates:


OCT 2007 to AUG 2008 = 286 DAYS
AUG 2006 to OCT 2006 = 57 DAYS
MAY 2005 to JUN 2005 = 20 DAYS
OCT 2004 to NOV 2004 = 30 DAYS
Total days spent outside of the United States during the past five years = 393 days (4 trips)


What do you all think we should do?
 
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Is last trip > 6 months but < 1 year?

If this is the case she has to have ties to the US: joint IRS transcripts for the past 3 years, joint bank statements, bills(electricity, mortgage or lease, credit card, telephone, water, sewage etc), kids birth certificates, joint health and life insurance for the period she was absent or she'll have to re-appply after 2 years plus 1 from 10/2008 since her return.

Also she got her GC 7/2006 counting 3 years minus 90 days that would be April 2009 but it has to be 90 days or less not more. She does not qualify for citizenship by 5 year rule yet that will be in 7/2011 so do not use option a she will be denied.

All the best.
 
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In a way you were very lucky. USCIS sometimes cashes the check and makes you go all the way to interview to deny you at the interview and you have lost all the time and money. It seems like your best option is to fill out a new N-400 and make sure it is signed within 90 days of her three years of Green Card. From the dates you have posted you can fill it out and put today's date and that should be perfectly fine. If you don't want to fill out an entire application you might just print out the signature page and sign and date with the current date. As a rule of thumb most people in this forum recommends to sign and post within the 90 days, don't sign/date or mail before the 90 day period.
 
On your wife's green card - what date has she been "resident since"? If you signed and sent your application less then 90 days before the three year anniversary of the 'resident since" date, then it would appear they should have accepted your application.

However, are you aware of the problems you will have due to the below statement.
Tracy6009 said:
Also in Part 7, my wife visited out of the United States on these dates:
OCT 2007 to AUG 2008 = 286 DAYS
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From page 22 of the M-476 Guide to Naturalisation:

Continuous Residence
“Continuous residence” means that you
have not left the United States for a long
period of time. If you leave the United
States for too long, you may interrupt
your continuous residence.

What if I was outside the United States
between 6 and 12 months?
If you leave the United States for more than 6 months,
but less than 1 year, you have broken
or disrupted your continuous residence
unless you can prove otherwise. Read the
“Document Checklist” in the back of this
Guide to find out what information you
must give to prove you did not break your
continuous residence.

This trip of 286 days will likely cause you major problems getting your application approved (not accepted - approved). What was the purpose of this lenghty trip?
 
Your wife's application was sent in too early. It doesn't matter when you got married, the important date is the "resident since____ date" on the green card. If she received the card in July, you should mail the application in sometime in May (even better June).

I got my Green card on May 17th 2006 and my application was sent on April 1st 2009. Everything is going smooth so far.
 
Tracy6009 said:
* My wife received her green card in July 2006 and the card expires on August, 2016.
* We mailed the N-400 Application last month (April 2009).
* Our 5th year wedding anniversary is this month (May 2009) in two weeks; which is how she has been in the United States (minus 393 days outside the U.S.).
* On April 21, 2009, we received a I-797C, Notice of Action from USCIS (with our $675 check un-cashed) stating the following:


'In the case of an applicant subject to a requirement of continuous residence under section 316(a) or 319(a), the application for naturalization may be filed up to 3 months before the date the applicant would first otherwise meet such continuous residence requirement.'

The information provided with your application indicates you have filed your application more than 3 months before meeting the residency requirement for the category selected. Therefore, you are ineligible to file for naturalization at this time under the category selected.
Click to expand...

Your wife has been a permanent resident since July 2006. She can file an application for naturalization up to 90 days before meeting 3 years of continuous residence as a permanent resident married to a US citizen. Since she broke continuous residence with her 286 day trip outside the US, she did not have enough continuous residence.

Tracy6009 said:
My wife was thinking that maybe she should wait two more weeks and resubmit her package choosing option"A" instead.
Click to expand...
She's only been a permanent resident for 3 years, so she wouldn't qualify under Part A as permanent resident for 5 years. Permanent resident means having green card.

What was the purpose of her long trip of 286 days? Were you stationed overseas and she came to join you?
 
tyanne said:
Your wife's application was sent in too early. It doesn't matter when you got married, the important date is the "resident since____ date" on the green card. If she received the card in July, you should mail the application in sometime in May (even better June).

I got my Green card on May 17th 2006 and my application was sent on April 1st 2009. Everything is going smooth so far.
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In the OPs case, the reason for denial was lack of continuous residency. An application can be sent in up to 90 days before meeting continuous residence requirement. Had his spouse met continuous residence requirement, the early filing of up to 90 days would have been accepted.
 
This is a classic case where people think 3 months rather then 90 days is the time to send in the application. People have been rejected at the exact 90 day mark as well.

As a general rule people should always wait a few days or even a week or two after the exact 90 day thing has come. Apply at the 85th day or so and people should be perfectly fine...
 
The application was rejected because it was filed too early. Or a USCIS clerk incorrectly thought it was filed too early because they miscounted by a day or two. It's not because of the 286 day trip, because if the issue is long trips they will always give the applicant the opportunity to explain the situation in the interview.
 
Jackolantern said:
The application was rejected because it was filed too early. Or a USCIS clerk incorrectly thought it was filed too early because they miscounted by a day or two. It's not because of the 286 day trip, because if the issue is long trips they will always give the applicant the opportunity to explain the situation in the interview.
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I disagree. USCIS has interpreted in the past that the 90 day early filing rule is specific to meeting the continuous residency requirement. In other words, with the 90 day rule, any break in continuous residency (presumed or otherwise) is not allowed and you are not given the chance to first explain such a break, unlike an application that is not sent in early. The OPs denial clearly states this.

'In the case of an applicant subject to a requirement of continuous residence under section 316(a) or 319(a), the application for naturalization may be filed up to 3 months before the date the applicant would first otherwise meet such continuous residence requirement.'

The information provided with your application indicates you have filed your application more than 3 months before meeting the residency requirement for the category selected. Therefore, you are ineligible to file for naturalization at this time under the category selected.
 
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