To put N/A or to leave blank?

[KazuriSana 324]

I am working on my N-400. The instructions state to "type or print N/A..."

 

I notice that some questions, such as Item Number 5. U.S. Social Security Number specifically ask for a “N/A” if you do not have one. However, many other questions that would not be applicable to not ask for a N/A in the instructions. Has anyone had experience with leaving these fields blank, which is what I am inclined to do, and did it negatively affect the application?

 

(This question is for the revised N-400 of 12/23/2016)

[eggplant 8]

Hi BlessedAssurance, this “N/A” business definitely made me think a bit, too. I filed in September 2016, and this is just what I did, but it worked.

Basically:

I hand-wrote N/A in the FIRST box of the set of boxes under a certain question that I didn’t have an answer for, but the question did not tell me I could skip, or I didn’t say “No” to.

I did not write N/A in the FIRST box of a set of boxes if I answered No (like if I wanted a name change, or if I was requesting accommodation because of a disability) or if it was in a section I could skip (I totally skipped Information About Your Parents because neither of my parents are US Citizens and therefore did not write N/A anywhere in there, as well as in the Information About Your Marital History after checking Single, Never Married…I did not write N/A anywhere below that in that section).

 

For example, the first time I wrote N/A on my application was under Part 2, #3, “Other Names You Have Used Since Birth”. I wrote N/A in the “Family Name” box, and kept the other boxes after that (Given Name, Middle Name) blank. The second N/A on my application was the USCIS Online Account Number. The third N/A on my application was in the square “In Care of Name” in Current Mailing Address (because my physical and mailing address are the same). 

 

I don’t have any children, so I wrote None in the first question about number of children, but because it didn’t  actually say I could skip the section, I then wrote N/A in the “Family Name” box of all the Child #’s under. This is what I mean by “FIRST box in a set of boxes”.

 

You don’t have to go writing N/A in every single box you don’t fill out on the application. Also, I hand-wrote N/A because I couldn’t figure out how to type it into the application. I definitely think that other ways of writing N/A work as well, but this is just what I did. I hope my explanation makes sense!

[candybabe 46]

I made sure I wrote N/A in all empty boxes I was not completing - In example if the question was - How many children do you have ? Answer was marked as None. Then I went and wrote N/A in all boxes related to children .

The forms are scanned when received and the instructions say to not leave blank spaces.

N/A pretty much makes sure that no errors could happen and it was intentionally not completed. It is their way of making sure you didn't just forget to fill it in, but that you read the questions and deliberately deemed it N/A.