I had heard from others that my wife can apply for Citizenship 90 days before her 3 year GC anniversary as long as she meets the continuous residence (she has been here since 9/2004 with only a few trips out of the country and none over 2 weeks) and marriage (married to me a USC since 11/2004) requirements.

She received her original green card 10/25/05, does that mean she can apply end of July/beginning of August or does she need to wait until 10/25/08?

I want to be sure so we don't waste time/money applying early but would like to do asap since bringing her parents here requires her to be a citizen.

Any confirmation we would be grateful for.

Thanks, Dave

10/25/08 minus three months equals 07/25/08, can be postmarked this date.

M-476 A Guide to Naturalization

Page 22

"If you are applying based on 5 years as a Permanent Resident or 3 years as a Permanent Resident married to a U.S. citizen, you
may file for naturalization up to 90 days before you meet the continuous residence requirement. For example, if you are applying
based on 3 years of continuous residence as a Permanent Resident married to a U.S. citizen, you can apply any time after you
have been a Permanent Resident in continuous residence for 3 years minus 90 days. You may send your application before you
have met the requirement for continuous residence only. Therefore, you must still have been married to and living with your U.S.
citizen spouse for 3 years before you may file your application. You must also meet all the other eligibility requirements when
you file your application with USCIS."

But 10/25/08 minus 90 days equal 7/27/08. The rule is 90 days, not 3 months.

Yes, the guide is actually what is confusing me. It only talks about applying 90 days before she meets the "continuous residence" requirement; nothing about being able to apply 90 days prior to the PR card 3 year anniversary. This is the reason I was looking for some confirmation from some other sources hopefully. The part that states "You may send your application before you have met the requirement for continuous residence only." is the part that really makes me wonder if we should wait until the actual anniversary.

I understand the confusion, but your worry is unfounded in this case. The only place where the 3 year anniversary of gaining PR status comes up is in the "continuous residence" requirement. The physical presence requirement is normally met about a year and a half after gaining the green card, assuming only a little occasional international travel. The "three years married to and living with a US Citizen" requirement will be met in your particular case before the "continuous residence" requirement will be met (that's not always the case for everyone). The other requirements, like knowledge of civics, knowledge of English, good moral character, etc. aren't time bound.

I assume that Dave is a US citizen married to an immigrant for over three years and she has a continuous, or quite more accurately a ten year green card.

But that isn't necessary as my wife's ten year green card didn't come in yet, so we had to send in a copy of her conditional resident card that was expired along with her one year extension notice, it was accepted. A week later we did receive her ten year green card, so I copied that and mailed it off. But a day later we received both the receipt for the N-400 and her biometrics appointment, and this was definitely before they received the copy of her ten year green card.

I used that 3 month before the date of her 3rd anniversary, talking a day or two, but also delays in mailing, the USCIS is not that critical, they accepted our application. But did sent it first class mail that took an extra day or two, it's no big deal. We certainly are not talking weeks or months here in advance, so don't get picky. But you can count 90 days on the calendar if you prefer.

We also had a discussion on the USCIS definition of a permanent resident with their statement of waiting for a green card, but still being a current resident that adds even more confusion, but sending in the N-400 90 days before the 3rd year anniversary of the date the green card was first issued is valid.

What part of this is confusing copied from the N-400 instructions?

If you are applying based on five years as a Lawful Permanent Resident or based on three years as a Lawful Permanent Resident married to a U.S. citizen, you may apply for naturalization up to 90 days before you meet the ''continuous residence'' requirement. You must meet all other
requirements at the time that you file your application with us.

The ''continuous residence'' requirement, is that if your wife is married to a US citizen for three years as a Lawful Permanent Resident meaning she has held a green card for at least three years, but you can apply 90 days before that date.

If you are confused now, wait until you read some of those questions on that ten page form, may have transgressed a day in sending our application in, but the required days out of the country and other employment and address dates were right on the money.

Still have to wait months before anything happens, but that has been consistent. But again, not nearly the tension of waiting for the conditional and ten year card.

Ha, anybody here of the ancient Roman faith? So why are we still honoring their gods with the name of our months? Caesar Augustus thought he was so great our current calendar starts with the day from zero of his reign, but errors did exist as the calendar is based on astronomical observations at that time That was corrected by Pope Gregory in the 15th century, heaven help you if you are celebrating a feast day when the earth in it's orbit around the sun wasn't in exactly the same spot year after year.

Currently takes 365.2424 days for the earth to rotate around the sun, that adds a day to the calendar every four years with an extra day every hundred to get things close again. Can also ask why the year was divided into 12 months and why, Februum only got 28 days, can you buy the logic that Februum was a younger month so should have less days than the other months?

New Years day should be on December 21st, the shortest sunlight day of the year, and Christmas should be in June, but the way it is, with have three major holidays at the end of the year, and no matter how good your company did before this time, always have a boss that would like you to do a little better so wants you to work those three days with December 31st between the last day of the year that starts tax time. So you like to spend your money on your family at Christmas time and also spend time with them, but they got you both ways. Why is it this way? Ever ask that question?

And why divide the year by 12? Where the number 12 is magical because it has the greatest number of prime numbers, a few more than ten, but why divide the year at all? Sure makes days between dates complicated along with computing hours at work by dividing a day into two 12 hour periods, but hey 24 has even more prime numbers than 12! Ten rounds things off nicely. As would dividing the earth into 400 segments rather than 360.

The notion that the descendants of a powerful leader should always rule was broken with the formation of the United States, but the notion that you should marry that girl/guy next door somehow is still hanging around. That sure didn't work for me and maybe not you either. And with these little constant power struggles all peoples of a common origin proven by scientific fact divided this God given earth into a 195 different countries. Result, we have immigration interfering with our luck in finding a true mate.

And for those of us that are a little bit older and wiser have to have kids lacking wisdom to wipe their own behinds telling us what we can or cannot do. And strange in a country where we have very strict and confusing immigration laws that also permitted 20 million illegals to enter here.

But no matter how confusing, we have to get through it. Ha, like my immigration attorney told me, if the laws were written in plain English he wouldn't have a job. And since our congress consists of mostly attorneys, can only wonder if this confusion was done intentionally so you will have to hire an attorney.

But whatever the cost, my wife is worth it, ha, still a lot cheaper than buying a gas guzzling SUV that falls apart after warranty, and bringing me a lot more happiness.

Thanks for all the replies. This is the part that worries/confuses me:

"You must meet all other
requirements at the time that you file your application with us."

I am interpreting this to mean that while it is ok to apply 90 days prior to meeting the continuous residence requirement, it is NOT ok to apply 90 days before you meet the other requirements-such as being married for 3 years and having the PR card 3 years.
Know what I mean?

I am interpreting this to mean that while it is ok to apply 90 days prior to meeting the continuous residence requirement, it is NOT ok to apply 90 days before you meet the other requirements-such as being married for 3 years and having the PR card 3 years.
Know what I mean?

You can hire an immigration attorney to file your wife's for you, average flat fee is around a thousand bucks, most will send you out long forms to fill out and tell you what proof you will need. Still a lot of work and make sure your fee is contingent on the USCIS accepting your application, but no attorney can guarantee she will get US citizenship, least none that I know of.

This site has an easier to understand quiz to check to see if a person is eligible, can take it for free that may help you answer some of your questions, but would be a bit apprehensive sending them 60 bucks even for that civics study CD since the USCIS gave us one for free during our biometrics, but you may have to ask for it.

https://www.uscitizenship.info/en_US/citizenship/home.html

Are you a US citizen and did your wife receive her green card based on her marriage to you? If the answer is yes, you had to be married much longer than the three year anniversary of her green card, right? And can you prove that you are a US citizen, legally married, living together, and not have left this country for more than 18 months in the last three years from the date of her 3rd anniversary from when her green card was issued.

If so, just subtract 90 days from the date of her 3rd anniversary of her green card, and send it in. If you are overly cautious, send it in a week or two later.

Thousands of people have filed 90 days prior to their third year of getting the greencard - and have been perfectly OK. If you are so worried about it, you can wait till after. Some do not file for citizenship for 10, 20 or 30 years, so you don't have to file for citizenship. Good Luck

There's the root of the confusion. The requirement to have the PR card 3 years is not separate from the continuous residence requirement. They are one and the same. It is ONE requirement. You can file 90 days before you meet this one single requirement. You've got to meet all the other requirements when you file.

I filed about 80 days before my 3 years PR. In fact I had my interview before my actual 3 years came up (by a few days). I was still given my interview and passed. The only difference was the IO said because I was not yet at the exat 3 years mark, I'd have to wait for the oath letter which came about a month or so later...

Thank you! That is exactly the confirmation we were looking for...congrats on your completed journey!

Dave and Marina