Most people ask, when can I apply for citizenship or how long after probation can I apply for citizenship?
Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, an experienced immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States at our offices in St. Louis, San Diego, and Washington, DC. Today, we will cover the topic of applying for naturalization and specifically when people can apply, and there are different deadlines for different kinds of cases. We're going to go over each of them today.Â
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Table of Contents
So our first topic is going to be the five-year green card. So the thing that you need to know is that most people are going to have to wait five full years for their citizenship. They're going to have to wait five years from the start date on that green card.Â
So when you get your green card, you can put a little mark on your calendar that five years later, you can apply for citizenship. That's for most cases.Â
If you get your green card based on a diversity visa, employment, or a family member who is not your spouse, then you're going to have to wait for five years. For instance, if you are the father or mother of a U.S. citizen, or if your employer sponsors you for a green card, you're going to have to wait five years, and it's the date on your green card. It's the lawful permanent resident status date - and that's the date you will use.Â
Next, we will talk about people who are married to a U.S. citizen and have lawful permanent resident status. The way that most people in that scenario have gotten their green card is by marrying a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. So, if you go through the adjustment of status process based on marriage, you are going to be able to apply for your citizenship after three years.Â
Again, it's not three years from the date of your marriage; it's three years from the start date on your permanent resident card. So, if you get married and apply for the green card based on that marriage, and you receive a green card, and it is dated August 1st, 2020, then you're going to be able to apply for citizenship on August 1st, 2023, assuming that you are still married.Â
One interesting aspect of this is that you don't necessarily have to receive your green card based on marriage to take advantage of the three-year rule.
What does that mean? Let's say you get your green card through employment and are married to a U.S. citizen.Â
Sometimes people will start the employment process and then get married after they've received their green card. They can also apply under the three-year rule if both things are true.Â
So if those two aspects of your case are present, then you can apply for citizenship after three years, even though you didn't get your green card based on marriage.
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Next, we will talk about people who get their green cards based on asylum. If you're in the United States and fear persecution back in your home country, you can apply for asylum.Â
If you apply for asylum and it's granted, then one year later, you can apply for your green card. After you get your green card, you would typically have to wait five years.Â
But the interesting thing about asylum grantees is that when you get your green card based on asylum, they will backdate it one year. So even though you have to wait the full five years, your green card will be dated one year prior to the date of the grant.
In other words, let's say you receive asylum. You applied for a green card a year later. Your case has been pending for, let's say, two years. And let's say your green card is approved on March 1st, 2022. It will be backdated to March 1st, 2021, meaning you only have to wait five years from March 1st, 2021, to apply for citizenship.
That's almost like a four-year rule for asylum seekers or asylum grantees, which is a good thing. You don't have to wait the full five years. You can apply technically after four years, but on its face, it will be five years.Â
I know it's a little confusing, but basically, your green card is going to be dated a year earlier. That means you could apply for citizenship a little bit faster than other people who got their green cards, not through marriage.
Now there’s a rule that says that you can apply 90 days before the five-year or three-year anniversary of your green card. It's a great benefit that allows you to apply 90 days early.Â
However, this is not always a good idea. Half the time, I recommend to my clients that they wait the full five years or the full three years. Well, why in the world would you do that, Jim? We do that because there are circumstances in the case that make us want to take advantage of the full five years.
Here are reasons why lawful permanent residents should wait the full five years, the full three years, or even beyond:Â
We have seen naturalization cases get denied where even though there's a start date on the green card, if the person came to the United States, received their green card, and immediately left and stayed home for another year or another couple of months, that can throw off that clock. And so we would look at the individual's travel history and when could we fairly argue that they've actually begun residing in the United States.
I technically don't know if that's legal, but when they deny you, it doesn't really matter if it's legal or not. Sometimes you just want to take that away from them by waiting a little longer to apply.
The overall rule would be five years from the start date on the green card, and that's going to carry a lot of weight. But if USCIS can establish or feels that you didn't really reside here on the start date, they might want to push back and deny the naturalization.Â
Sometimes the better thing to do is to not apply at all or to wait. One thing when it comes to applying for citizenship is you need to make sure that you're not putting yourself at risk of losing your green card.Â
I just read a denial today of a naturalization case where a fellow had applied for naturalization, and it turns out that when he got his immigrant visa, he allegedly did not disclose a prior drug conviction. So, this poor guy never should have applied for his citizenship, and it's most likely that he's probably going to lose his green card or at least be placed into removal proceedings.Â
So you always need to think about that in the back of your mind. I know it's a great reward to get your citizenship, but if you're putting your green card and your ability to stay in the United States at risk, you need to be careful about that and think it all through.
The next issue we need to discuss is travel overseas. When you receive your green card, you want to make sure that you don't put your green card at risk by staying outside of the United States for more than six months. Staying outside the United States for a long time as a lawful permanent resident can not only put your green card at risk, but it can also derail or deny your ability to naturalize in a timely fashion.Â
If you've been outside the United States for more than six months, you're going to have trouble establishing that you maintained your residency for purposes of citizenship.Â
How does this work?Â
You need to demonstrate that you have no trips outside the United States for more than six months. If you do have a trip outside the United States for more than six months, you may not want to apply for citizenship right away. You should wait for that bad over-six-month trip to go off your history. In other words, wait till that's long enough in the past that it's not going to put your citizenship case at risk.
We've seen a lot of cases denied because people were outside of the United States for more than six months. And one thing to keep in mind is that if you get a re-entry permit, the re-entry permit does allow you to stay outside the United States for more than six months. But it also does contribute to a finding that you've broken the continuous presence in the United States for purposes of naturalization.Â
You might not be able to establish that you've maintained your permanent residence in the United States, and that might be the basis of denial for naturalization. So a trip of more than six months is going to make it very hard for your case to be approved. You're going to need to demonstrate that you did not abandon your residency.
The way that you make sure that you can prove that you did not abandon your residency is by demonstrating all the ties that you kept in the United States.Â
All those kinds of things. It's still an uphill battle. Many times we recommend that people just simply wait to apply for citizenship and not that they apply right away, but instead, like I said earlier, wait for that bad time to sort of move off their history.
The other thing that you need to keep in mind is that if you have more than half the time outside the United States during the lookback period, you're going to have a hard time getting your citizenship case approved, and, in fact, it will not be approved.Â
If you apply under the five-year rule, the simple question is, where are you in the United States for two years, six months, and one day? And if you apply under the three-year-old, it's one year, six months, and one day. And it's just math. You either have the right number of days, or you don't have the right number of days. If you don't have the right number of days, your case is going to be denied.
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Now you might be wondering how can good moral character affect my ability to apply for citizenship.Â
Let's say that you have a criminal conviction, and this could be for a DUI or multiple DUIs or other non-deportable offenses, but which USCIS believes impact your good moral character.Â
Remember, it's your burden as a naturalization applicant to establish that you have good moral character, that you follow the laws of the United States, and that you're going to make a good citizen. If you have any criminal convictions, USCIS will most likely argue that you are not a person of good moral character. If you show up at your interview on probation, it's almost a sure thing that your naturalization case is going to be denied. If you have a conviction within that lookback period, the five-year or the three-year lookback period, that might also affect your ability to naturalize.
When someone comes to our office, and they want to apply for citizenship, if they have a conviction in that lookback period, the five years or the three years, our immigration attorney must get those records and see if that can serve as the basis of a finding for bad moral character. If there's bad moral character, you're going to need to spend some time waiting to apply for citizenship.
What do I mean?Â
Well, let's say you get a conviction for, let's say, drunk and disorderly conduct or something that USCIS doesn't like, such as an assault, or they could think that that demonstrates a bad moral character on your part. If you apply for citizenship within five years of the completion of the sentence, if you get put on probation, or if you have some kind of jail sentence or whatever, and you apply too early, that's going to affect the viability of your claim. That's going to impact whether or not your case gets approved or not.
So we see this often with probation, and people apply too soon after their probation. They think, "Well, my conviction is way in the past." But USCIS likes to deny cases, and one of the ways they do that is by looking at the actual date of probations and then calculating good moral character from that point.Â
We'll tell people that you need to wait three years from the date probation ended or five years from the date probation ended. We've actually had those conversations and had those cases approved later on after the person waits the requisite amount of time. You sort of need to let the dust settle and let those convictions work their way out of your criminal history.
You need to demonstrate good moral character before filing your naturalization application to increase your chances of success.
So that's the gist of when you can apply for citizenship. We tried to cover all the different things that can impact the time you file. You need to think about when am I be statutorily eligible. When does it make sense for me to apply? When does any kind of travel that I have impacted my ability to naturalize? And then, of course, if I have any kind of criminal conviction, that can be the last factor that affects when to apply for citizenship.Â
Remember, our idea and plan is always to take away the reasons for them to say no. So if I can have you wait for a certain amount of time to re-establish residency or to establish a stronger history of no problems with the immigration law or no trips too long, then we're going to do it. We're going to always err on the side of trying to get your case approved, even if it means you have to wait a little bit longer. You should think that through.
If you have any questions about Form N-400, or if you think you need our citizenship and immigration services, give us a call at 314-628-0293. You can email us at [email protected]. Be sure to join us in our Facebook group. It's called Immigrant Home. If you like this video, we ask that you please share it on social media and subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you get updates whenever we make videos like this one. And then, don't forget, on most Tuesdays and Thursdays, you'll find us live on our YouTube channel and our Facebook group answering all of your immigration questions that we can in one hour for free. Thanks a lot, and have a great day.
