when to apply

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frankie44

New Member
We had our permanent residency status approved in November 2003 but weren't actually issued our Green Cards until October 2004 due to the backlog at the time. We read somewhere (?) that you can apply for Citizenship 5 years from when status was approved rather than when Green Card was issued? Perhaps someone can clarify whether this is true or not.
Many thanks.
 
It is based on your permanent resident status, not the physical card. Surely you must have received an approval notice and/or ADIT stamp in your passport in 2003 or early 2004?
 
We had an approval notice in 2003 but had to wait until Oct 2004 for the I485 to be approved and to physically get our cards. We are finding it all rather confusing!
 
Okay - I've finally got my act together and remembered the correct form names! We didn't apply concurrently for the I140 and I485. So, my question is simply is the date from the approval of the I140 or the I485?
Many thanks.
 
Your greencard has a date on it next to the words"Resident since". This is the date your lawful permanent residency began and should coincide with the date the I-485 was approved. You are eligibile to apply for citizenship 4 years and nine months from the "resident since" date. For example, if you are a "resident since" Nov. 15, 2003, you are eligible to apply for citizenship August 15, 2008.
 
We had an approval notice in 2003 but had to wait until Oct 2004 for the I485 to be approved and to physically get our cards.
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What do you mean? What type of approval notice did you get in 2003? An I-485 approval notice? Then what do you mean by the I-485 being approved in 2004, if you already got an approval in 2003?

Edit: I didn't notice your follow up post above when you distinguished between I-140 and I-485. As others have said, I-485 approval is the relevant date. I-140 approval does not give you permanent resident status.
 
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hazydog said:
Your greencard has a date on it next to the words"Resident since". This is the date your lawful permanent residency began and should coincide with the date the I-485 was approved. You are eligibile to apply for citizenship 4 years and nine months from the "resident since" date. For example, if you are a "resident since" Nov. 15, 2003, you are eligible to apply for citizenship August 15, 2008.
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Sometimes the "resident since" date is incorrect, as for some people that date on the card is their priority date (typically years before approval) or card production date (which may be several months after the approval date). The original poster needs to clarify what type of approvals happened at what time.
 
Jackolantern said:
Sometimes the "resident since" date is incorrect, as for some people that date on the card is their priority date (typically years before approval) or card production date (which may be several months after the approval date). The original poster needs to clarify what type of approvals happened at what time.
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That SHOULD never be the case because the priority date does not establish the date of lawful residency. While I'm not saying the government doesn't make mistakes, I'm just saying that the intended purpose of the "resident since" date is supposed to be the same as the I-485 approval date which signifies the approval of the applicant's adjustment of status from a non-immigrant status to that of a lawful permanent resident. The priority date and date of card production should have nothing to do with the date the applicant is considered to have become a lawful permanent resident.
 
Go by the date your I-485 got approved. Simple :)

PS: In some cases people have Green Cards that were produced with incorrect dates (perhaps with a resident date that corresponds to the priority date) and tried to game the system by applying for naturalization based on the incorrect date on the card. I think it is a very unwise thing to do and most likely leads to losing your money.
 
Huracan said:
Go by the date your I-485 got approved. Simple :)

PS: In some cases people have Green Cards that were produced with incorrect dates (perhaps with a resident date that corresponds to the priority date) and tried to game the system by applying for naturalization based on the incorrect date on the card. I think it is a very unwise thing to do and most likely leads to losing your money.
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Good point. While it would be the fault of the Immigration Service for printing the incorrect date, you can bet you will not be refunded your money if you apply prematurely.
 
I think the poster is confusing between I-140 AD (which has no basis) and then 485 AD and the green card received date.

485 AD is the date you will have on your green card. You can apply 5 years less 90 days or less from this date. Some one above said 4 years and 9 months. That is not correct.
 
hazydog said:
That SHOULD never be the case because the priority date does not establish the date of lawful residency. While I'm not saying the government doesn't make mistakes, I'm just saying that the intended purpose of the "resident since" date is supposed to be the same as the I-485 approval date which signifies the approval of the applicant's adjustment of status from a non-immigrant status to that of a lawful permanent resident. The priority date and date of card production should have nothing to do with the date the applicant is considered to have become a lawful permanent resident.
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If they didn't make a mistake with the card, then yes the "Resident Since" date is the one to go by. But I was just pointing out that the date cannot be used blindly, because it is sometimes incorrect and its accuracy should be confirmed using other available information. You don't have to search the forum for long to find people with obviously incorrect dates on the card. With the long gap the OP mentioned between the approval notice and the card, I wouldn't be surprised if the card had a wrong date.
 
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brb2 said:
I think the poster is confusing between I-140 AD (which has no basis) and then 485 AD and the green card received date.

485 AD is the date you will have on your green card. You can apply 5 years less 90 days or less from this date. Some one above said 4 years and 9 months. That is not correct.
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5 years less 90 days is essentially the same as 4 years and 9 months. That's what I was getting at. You are correct though that to be precise you should count back 90 days from the 5 year anniversary of your "resident since" date. That will give you the exact day you're eligible to apply for citizenship.
 
Yes, it says that, but word to the wise, don't try to use the date if it is wrong, always go with the date the I-485 got approved. I have read of a few people asking about this in the past, but I don't remember with certainty if anyone actually applied or got rejected for having used the wrong date. Doing a search of the forum should bring some answers. This is why people come to this forum, to find and share information beyond what it says on the N-400 application or the guide to naturalization.
 
Thank you to everyone for your help. Appreciate it. I used these forums when we were applying for the GC and found everyone so helpful then too. Good to know that you're all still around! Thanks again.
 
sankarnp said:
The n-400 application says use the date in u permanent resident card
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Which is true, assuming the date on the card is correct. The N-400 isn't going to say "by the way, sometimes we screw and put a date on the card that is 4 years before or 8 months after your case was actually approved".

Ideally, if you have a card with a wrong date, you apply to get the card corrected long before applying for citizenship. Then when you're ready to apply, the card already has the right date and they won't delay your case over the discrepancies.
 
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