want to start citizenship process but i am about to move?

[SoloJourney 0]

hey guys,

I've been a green card holder for a little over 3 years. My husband, US Citizen, and I would like to start my naturalization process.

I believe I meet the requirements to start the process, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

However, we most likely will be moving out of state in the next few months, most likely far away from where we are now.

Since I most likely will be filling at Vermont, will my case be able to be transferred to different USCIS offices? It states on the guide than some states file to certain USCIS offices.

Thanks in advance Visajourney knowledgeable members!

Bxsjourney

Edited April 21, 2014 by Bxzjourney

[Messybrownhair 251]

If I am not mistaken, you have to have lived in your state for 3 months before you can file naturalization to establish residency. You may want to wait until 3 months after you have moved to file.

This is how I understood the rules, I may be wrong, someone will confirm this I'm sure

If I am not mistaken, you have to have lived in your state for 3 months before you can file naturalization to establish residency. You may want to wait until 3 months after you have moved to file.

This is how I understood the rules, I may be wrong, someone will confirm this I'm sure

[BigDaddy28 228]

You have to be living in the local district area for at least 3 months. There was a guy here who was denied because he forgot that and applied right after he moved. Don't do that mistake. Good luck.

[christeen 966]

Correct... You cannot transfer the case, 3 months residency where you apply... I would wait. Once you meet the requirements, the process is fairly straight forward and compared to all the other visa stuff, the easiest step in the whole journey...

[Birdo 16]

Yes definitely don't apply until you've moved and lived in your new state for 3 months! The person who applied right after they moved had to re-apply and pay for all the fees again. And they made his wife go through the whole process including the interview before they told her she needs to withdraw the application or be denied citizenship!

[Darth Vader Ku II 2]

To the Original Poster,

You have been given somewhat misleading information in most of the responses above.

Simply put, a petitioner must have lived continuously in the jurisdiction where they file for three months prior to the filing date. However, a naturalisation petitioner who moves from the district of application where the application is already pending may, at any time thereafter, request to transfer the petition to any other district in the United States. In the case of such a transfer, the proceedings on the original petition shall continue as though the application had originally been filed in the new district to which the petition is transferred.

That said, you must consider the following two scenarios and make the informed decision:

1) Are you in a hurry to file?

If yes, the submit the petition now regardless of the fact that you intend to move in a few months.

Benefits:

i) You will save time! If you were to wait till you moved, you would have to add the "few months' time" in which you indicated you plan to move to the minimum three-month requirement for continuous jurisdictional residency. Let us assume that you planned to move in four months, then you would automatically delay your petition by a minimum of seven months.

ii) Potential to complete the petition before you move. Assuming that you have already been eligible for quite some time now, submitting your petition now places you, quite realistically, rather well to complete your petition before you even move. Let us assume that you do indeed intend to re-locate out of your jurisdiction in four months, it is entirely conceivable that you could have this petition adjudicated before then.

Drawback:

i) You throw yourself at the mercy of the administrative efficiency (or lack thereof!) of the USCIS. Some petitioners have transferred their N-400 petitions fairly smoothly. Others have encountered road bumps. However, accepting that an administrative road bump could occur anyway at any stage of your petition, even when a jurisdictional transfer is not involved, puts into perspective that the marginal administrative risk associated with transferring your case to the new jusrisdiction you re-locate to is not as great as it may sound.

2) Are you unhurried to have your petition submitted and adjudicated this year?

If yes, then waiting till you have re-located to your new jurisdiction and satisfied the three-month continuous residency requirement might be the better option.

Benefits:

i) Peace of Mind. The process is fairly stressful without adding psychological complications. This is not to say you would be unsuccessful under the previous scenario, but more to to indicate that if your faith in the process is already wavering, it might be the better psychological option to follow the more traditional route.

Drawback:

i) None. By definition, you would have indicated that time is not a factor and therefore, you have nothing to lose under this scenario.

I hope you can make an informed decision. A good place to start is to investigate how much success previous petitioners who have transferred their pending petitioners to your intended jurisdiction have had.

Good luck.

[SoloJourney 0]

Thank you Darth Vader Ko, & co.

If any other member else has some relevant info to add, please feel free to do so.

Thanks