Just wanted to post an update.
My wife has been here nearly three years now and married life couldn’t be better. She filed for U.S. citizenship yesterday. We filed the petition to remove conditions on residence (Form I-751) a year ago this week and still haven’t heard anything from Immigration. The published timeline for CSC says they are processing petitions filed one year earlier. I believe that some of the other service centers are even further behind on the I-751’s.
For those contemplating Naturalization, you will need to be a resident for 3 years (if married to a U.S. citizen) and you can apply up to 3 months prior to your third anniversary. The “Resident Since” date on the green card is where you start counting the 3 years from. You will need to file Form N-400 Application for Naturalization. The filing fee is $310 which includes the $50 fingerprinting fee. I read where all USCIS fees will be increasing an average of $55 very soon (shit!). Sorry, just testing Patrick’s new banned word list :-). You should also request a copy of “A Guide to Naturalization” (Form M-476) from the USCIS because it contains important filing information. You can download it, but it’s 66 pages.
It looks as if the requirements are even easier than they were 30 years ago when I went through this with the ex-wife. Now they even publish a list of 100 questions and answers in different languages that will include all questions on the oral exam. I have heard of some folks who memorize the list as their only preparation for the citizenship interview. I strongly recommend that you take a citizenship class to prepare for naturalization! My wife is taking a citizenship class at the local Adult School in the evenings and she really enjoys it. They teach you basic U.S. Government and History including the constitution, etc. There is no cost for the classes here in California, so it’s a real bargain. And I feel that becoming a citizen without a good understanding of the principles on which our country was founded is only cheating yourself. It was rather embarrassing because I forgot the words to our National Anthem the other day and my Filipina wife had to remind me. Another sign of old age I guess (LOL).
Tip: Make sure that you make LOTS of copies of your income tax returns. They want copies of the last 3 years’ JOINT tax returns if you file based on marriage to a U.S. citizen. I made 4 copies of all my tax returns and I’ve already run out of some of them. We sent one with the I-751 last year also.
I’m not sure if the I-751 backlog will cause a delay in processing the application for citizenship, but I guess we’ll find out soon. Hopefully, this will be our last application to USCIS!
Ray
