Certificate of Citizenship

What Happen Once You Apply

Once USCIS receives your form N-400, you will receive:

• A receipt notice clearly stating that USCIS has received your application.

• A notice for your biometrics appointment date

• A notice mentioning information for your naturalization interview with immigration services officer at your nearest USCIS office.

• A notice clearly informing to take the Oath of Allegiance if or in-case your application is approved.

• A Certificate of Naturalization once taking the Oath of Allegiance.

At the Time of Interview:

if not exempt. USCIS can provide you with a notice of interview results following your interview. Note: you'll be able to take a practice civics test online to test your knowledge of U.S. history and government.

When you become a U.S. Citizen, there are more job opportunities. In fact, jobs with government agencies require U.S. Citizenship. Some naturalized citizens want to take a more active role in U.S. Govt. In many cases, only U.S. citizens are eligible for the financial grants made by the government, including college scholarships. And of course, becoming a U.S. citizen is a way to demonstrate patriotism for your new country

Eligibility for Naturalization

Eligibility for Naturalization If you’re a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), you may be eligible to become a U.S. citizen through a process called naturalization. An individual has to fulfil several requirements before applying for citizenship.

If you’re a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), you may be eligible to become a U.S. citizen through a process called naturalization. Naturalization is the best way to become a U.S. citizen those who are foreign born people.

The majority of naturalization applicants are eligible on the basis of 5 years with permanent resident status, but there are exceptions. The most common exceptions are for permanent residents who have been married to a U.S. citizen for 3 years and permanent residents with U.S. citizen spouses working abroad

• Five Year Permanent Resident

If you are applying on the basis of 5 years with permanent resident status, you must meet the following requirements to be eligible for naturalization

• You must be at least 18 years old

• Five Years of permanent residency is compulsory.

You must have your permanent resident status for at least 5 years before you are eligible to naturalize. Time as a permanent resident started the day you were granted permanent resident status. The Date can be easily found on your green card next to Resident Since.

• You must have lived within the state for at least 3 months before filing the application

You must have lived within the same state (or USCIS district with jurisdiction over the applicant’s place of residence) for at least 3 months prior to the date of filing your application.

• You must have continuous residence in the United States as a permanent resident for five years before filing the application.

Continuous residence means that the applicant has maintained residence within the United States for the last five years. It’s okay if you’ve travelled abroad for a short trip or moved to another state. The continuous residence requirement helps you demonstrate that you have begun to integrate with American community and have made the U.S. a permanent home.

Have you lived abroad more than six months or longer? If yes, then you must have disrupted your continuous residency. Please contact F4 India office before you start filing.

If you are working in certain types of overseas employment — like as working for the United States government or United States armed forces — you are eligible for an exception to the continuous residency in U.S

• Physically present in the United States for at least thirty months out of the five years before filing.

Physical presence refers to the period of time the applicant must be physically present in the United States during the five years prior to filing the application. Like continuous physical presence requirement helps you demonstrate that you have begun to integrate with American community and intend to stay in the U.S. Therefore, you must be physically present in the United States for at least thirty months out of the five years immediately preceding the date of filing your application.

• Physical presence is a cumulative requirement. Therefore, you must combine the number of days of all your trips outside the United States.

• You have to pass all the tests which includes the U.S. History, Civics test and English test

You must be able to read, write, and speak English and have knowledge and an understanding of U.S. history and government (also known as civics). USCIS provides study materials for both tests.

USCIS does provide some English language exceptions and medical disability exceptions to English and civics portions of the naturalization requirements for those who qualify. USCIS also provides accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

• You must have a good moral character

Everybody makes mistakes; you aren’t expected to be perfect. The United States Govt wants new citizens to be of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well-disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States. Generally, minor crimes will not prevent someone from naturalizing. Traffic tickets do not need to be reported. If you have a criminal record, speak to an immigration attorney before applying for naturalization.

If you’re not eligible to become a U.S. citizen as a five-year permanent resident, you may be eligible in one of several other categories. The most common two are for a 3-Year Permanent Resident Married to a U.S. Citizen and Permanent Resident with a U.S. Citizen Spouse Working Abroad:

Three Year Permanent Resident Married to a U.S. Citizen

If you have been a permanent resident for 3 three years, and you have been married to a U.S. citizen for at least three years, you may also be eligible for naturalization. Your spouse must have been a U.S. citizen for the last 3 years and at the time of filing the application.

Additionally, the physical presence requirement is reduced for this eligibility category. You must only be physically present in the U.S. for 18 months out of the 3 years before you file the application.

United States citizen’s Spouses that have already been permanent residents for five years will generally apply under the general five-year provision. There is less documentation required, and most people find it an easier way than applying as a three year permanent resident married to a U.S Citizen.

Permanent Resident with a U.S. Citizen Spouse Working Abroad

If you are a permanent resident, and you are the spouse of a U.S. citizen that is regularly engaged in qualifying employment abroad, you may also be eligible for naturalization.

Spouses who are entitled under this facility are exempt from the continuous residence and physical existence requirement for naturalization. That means that the applicant must only be a permanent resident at the time of filing the naturalization application and time spent outside the U.S. will not affect eligibility. Qualifying service abroad means to be under employment agreement and to accept the duties of employment in any of following entities or positions

• U.S. government (including the U.S. armed forces)

• American institution of research recognized as such by the Attorney General

• 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

• Public international organization in which the United States participates by treaty or statute; Authorized to perform the ministerial or priestly functions of a religious denomination having a bona fide organization within the United States

• Involved exclusively as a missionary by a religious denomination or by an interdenominational mission organization having a bona fide organization within the United States.

How To Apply For Naturalization

Permanent residents that want to apply for U.S. citizenship through naturalization must file Form N-400, Application for Naturalization.

For people that want the reassurance that they’re applying correctly, F4 India provides filling service that gives a guarantee that USCIS will accept the application.

PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW

USCIS will mail you a letter with the date, time and location of your naturalization interview.

Items to Take to the Naturalization Interview. The USCIS letter will list the items that you must take to your naturalization interview. Generally, the mandatory items include:

• Appointment notice letter

• Permanent resident card (green card)

• Passports (even if they’re expired)

• State-issued identification (such as a driver’s license)

It can also be very helpful to take documentation that helps support your application. These items may include:

Proof of marital status (if you have ever been married) such as a marriage certificate, divorce decree, or death certificate of former spouse

• Proof of name change (if you’ve ever changed your name) such as a marriage certificate or court decree

• Spouse’s prior marriage history such as divorce decree or death certificate to prove that the marriage was terminated

• Court disposition in criminal cases

• Proof of Select Service registration for men

Since you would have filed Form N-400 several months prior to the interview, it is very possible that information has changed. You may have made an additional trip abroad, have a new job, or even gotten married. If there are any differences between answers you provided on your application and the supporting documents you submitted than, be prepared to explain the reason.

You must always be honest about your answers. Lying to a USCIS officer will likely make you ineligible for naturalization. If you feel the new information could be harmful to the naturalization process, speak with an immigration attorney before attending the naturalization interview.

Your ability to understand the questions and answers in English is part of the interview.

Keep a copy of the Form N-400 that you filed. Review this in detail before your interview. Make sure you understand each and every question.

Preparing for the Test

During your naturalization interview, the USCIS officer will also test your ability to read, write, and speak English (unless you are exempt from the English requirements). Civics tests will also be given to you in the English language to check your knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and government unless you are exempt. Even if you are exempted from the English test, you have to take the civics test in the language of your choice or qualify for a waiver.

English Test Your English skills will be tested in the following ways:

Reading	This Test is to find out your ability to read in English, out of 3 sentences you have to read one sentence.
Writing	This test to check your ability to write in English, out of three sentences you must write one sentence
Speaking	Speaking test is also to check the ability to speak English is determined by your answers to questions normally asked by USCIS officers during the naturalization eligibility interview on Form N-400.

You will only be expected to write, read and understand simple vocabulary and use basic grammar. You may ask for words to be repeated or rephrased and may make some errors in pronunciation, spelling, and grammar and still meet the English requirement for naturalization

History and Civics Test

The U.S. History and Civics Test have 10 questions. The questions will be asked orally, and you will be required to answer orally. It’s only necessary to get 6 questions correct to pass. Once you have answered 6 correctly, the test is complete.

The great news is that you can study these questions before the test. USCIS makes a list of 100 questions available for you to study. Again, you will only be asked to answer 10 questions.

USCIS officers will give careful consideration for an applicant’s age, background, level of education, length of residence in the U.S., opportunities available and efforts made to acquire the requisite knowledge, and other factors that may affect the applicant’s knowledge and understanding of the questions.

At the end of the interview, the USCIS officer will inform you if you have passed the history and civics test.

Exemptions For The Test

An applicant may get an exception from the civics requirement, English requirement, or both. The table shows below serves as a quick understanding of the exceptions to the civics and English requirements for naturalization.

Why You Need An Immigration Attorney?

To avoid running into unnecessary trouble, it is a good idea to hire an immigration attorney. Keep in mind that, each year, USCIS rejects or denies thousands of applications.

Just Remember that “a good attorney can be the difference between an approval and a denial and its always better to get it right the first time.”