10YR GREEN CARD N CITIZENSHIP

[hearttoheart 0]

Hello, VJ'er's! i am new, and i just have one tiny question

i have been married to my husband (USC) for 2yrs now,and was given

the 10yr green card, but i have been living in jamaica all this time

and i just moved to the us recently, so my question is how long would

i have to wait before i can apply for citizenship?? not that i am rushing

anything, but i am a bit confused, because my undertanding is that if you

are married to the USC for 3yrs you can apply for nautralization, so does

that still apply even if you were NOT living in the us for the 3yrs?

that is where i am lost.

thanks everyone, and love and blessings

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

Have you been living together with the USC husband in Jamaica?

[YuAndDan 153]

Not a Visa question, moving to Citizenship.

Can file N-400 At 3 years of residency in the USA, 3 years after the resident since date on the card, requires at least 18 months in the USA.

MORE:

[Stanley Hermosill 1]

Yu, thanks for the diagram, I had not seen any like this before, it is quite clear and informative.

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@ penguin, NO i have NOT been living with him in jamaica..he had continued living in the us

while we file the documents to get me there.

so based on YOU'S diagram i will be qualified for citizenship after living in the US

for 18months correct?

or would i have had to be living with him in jamaica for a while

and then 18months in the US???

am not dumb guys just wanna get it crystal clear

[YuAndDan 153]

@ penguin, NO i have NOT been living with him in jamaica..he had continued living in the us

while we file the documents to get me there.

so based on YOU'S diagram i will be qualified for citizenship after living in the US

for 18months correct?

or would i have had to be living with him in jamaica for a while

and then 18months in the US???

am not dumb guys just wanna get it crystal clear

Starting 3 years after getting residency status, that is noted on the green-card, and are required to have been resident at least 18 months of that 3 year period, also 3 months in the state USCIS district prior to filing.

[LIFE'SJOURNEY 970]

You need to have had your GC for 3 years, and out of those 3 years you must have reside in the US for at least 18 months of the 3 years, if you are still married to the orginsal petitioner.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I am a bit confused by your post, but I think I get it now.

You have been married to your husband for about 3 years, but while he lived in the US, you stayed in Jamaica?

You worked on getting you an IR-1 visa, and recently moved to the US?

If I interpreted this correctly, then your Green Card is relatively new. Look at it. On the front side there is a line reading:

RESIDENT SINCE: xx/xx/20xx.

That's the date that counts.

If you stay married to your husband and live together now, then you can become a US citizen exactly 3 years after the date on that card. If you divorce your husband or separate, you'll have to wait until 5 years after that date has passed. You need to reside in the US at least half of the time purely as a minimum requirement for naturalization purposes, although you may get in trouble if you are absent for too long in one piece, or if you show a pattern of getting in and out. This concerns your residency and thus your Green Card.

In any case, you can apply for naturalization as early as 90 days before you are eligible to become a US citizen.

Edited February 26, 2011 by Just Bob

[vett 6]

o.k thank you very much for all the replies and support.

i think i understand now

[hearttoheart 0]

thanks to everyone for the support and replies!

[NickD 203]

See that under the forms section for the N-400 when my wife became a US citizen over two years ago, and when my stepdaughter just applied, the USCIS added a lot of very informative addendum you can download and read for eligibility and evidence requirements. This they made a lot simpler, before you had to chase all over the place to get this information. But they did have the M-476 68 page manual you could download and print and try to dig the information out of that.

Was confusing as they combined every possible combination into one book, where they combined it, you had to separate it to meet your individual circumstances.

Believe it was back in 1927 that our congress in their wisdom decided an immigrant married to a US citizen would become a US citizen much quicker than one not married to a US citizen, so came up with the three year. But that comes with a huge burden of proving you are married and living with that US citizen and basically paying taxes together. But then I wonder if that same law should apply to a child brought here as part of that family. Attends US schools, learns the rules of the road, curfews, and everything else regarding living in this country. So why isn't that three years as well? But with a child that exceeds 18 years of age before the parent citizenship, its five years.

I think its best not to think about it.