Do I have to prove my marriage when I apply for citizenship after three years? Hi, I'm Jim hacking immigration lawyer, practicing law throughout the United States, out of our offices in St. Louis, San Diego, and Washington, DC. In today's video, we're going to talk about that three year naturalization process. Most people who get a green card have to wait a full five years to apply for citizenship. But if you're married to a U.S. citizen, and if you've been married for the three years, and if you have your green card for three years, then you can apply for citizenship after just three years. Now, under the Trump administration, they try to take a harder line on this and they said that "The couple had to actually be living together all three years." They tried to twist and turn the regulations and the rules to make it harder to get citizenship under this three-year rule. We expect that we'll return back to its old ways, and that you'll just have to show that you've been properly married for three years, and then it's a real marriage.
But the question comes up, what do I have to prove? Is that it's hard as I did when I filed for the I-130? Do I have to submit that much evidence? I was explaining this to a client the other day. I think that the best way to think about it is that you have to lightly prove it. You have to be prepared to prove it. So, number one, your spouse should definitely attend the interview. They'll probably just spend the whole time sitting out in the waiting room, but you should have your spouse come. Most times they don't talk to the spouse, but if the spouse isn't there, it seems like they always ask and are always wondering, "Where is the spouse?" You want to show at the very least that your spouse is supporting your application for citizenship and that they want you to become a U.S. citizen.
You will probably also want to bring some updated marital evidence, sort of like you did for the I-751. Now you're three years into your marriage and you should have good documentation that the relationship is ongoing, that you're spending money together, that you're living together. You want to bring just some updated marital evidence, both in your submission of the original N-400 and at your interview, you want to bring some updated evidence. So I wouldn't say that you have to go all out. You don't have to go crazy. We have a great client who I really love his name's Tony. He brought me this much stuff for his spouses naturalization case. You don't need to do all that. But I do think it's helpful to submit some evidence with the N-400 and to bring some more evidence to the interview itself.
Short of that it should be pretty straight forward. It'll just be a matter of whether the person applying for citizenship can show that they're a good person of good moral character, and that they meet all the statutory requirements for citizenship. So if you have questions about this, or if you're thinking about applying for citizenship under the three-year rule, and you have any questions, feel free to give us a call 314-961-8200. You can email us [email protected]. You can also join our Facebook group, which is called Immigrant Home. And of course, we also have our YouTube channel that you can subscribe to. We put out a new video every single day. We have our show on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Facebook group and on our YouTube channel answering as many of your immigration law related questions as we can in just under 60 minutes. Thanks a lot. Have a great day.
