Applying for citizenship under 3 year rule.

[Evgeniya 3]

I have read a lot of posts concerning delays in citizenship process, when applicants applied under 3 year rule on a marriage bases. What I wonder is it guaranteed that you are going to have an RFE and a hard long process, or it is just depends on the officer in whose hands the case will end up at? I have applied in August under the same rule, and have not submitted any additional prove of marriage aside from standard list of documents (Tax transcripts, marriage certificate). Will it be a problem? I have been married for 6 years even though been a resident for only 3 years come October.

[v333k 59]

naturalization based on 3 years or 5 years should take the same amount of time. They go in the same queue and they are processed as they are received. The only difference is the supporting documentation you need to submit which should show that you are married to the USC that you applied for AOS with and still living together.

Now if someone had issues in the past where they were questioned about the truthfulness of their marriage, then they might get some headache.

Many people have gone through naturalization based on the 3 year rule and very few had issues mainly due to past records/citations/arrests and so far I have not seen someone get in trouble because the application is based on 3 years since it is a marraige to a USC.

HTH

I have read a lot of posts concerning delays in citizenship process, when applicants applied under 3 year rule on a marriage bases. What I wonder is it guaranteed that you are going to have an RFE and a hard long process, or it is just depends on the officer in whose hands the case will end up at? I have applied in August under the same rule, and have not submitted any additional prove of marriage aside from standard list of documents (Tax transcripts, marriage certificate). Will it be a problem? I have been married for 6 years even though been a resident for only 3 years come October.

[kelzm 0]

I think that this might be highly dependant on the IO.

I applied under the 3 year rule. My I-130 application and my RoC were all very simple, I never had any RFE's or any issues with the information I submitted. I do not believe there is anything 'suspicious' about my case. I come from an English speaking country (New Zealand), am educated and employed, I can't see any reason why my marriage would appear doubtful.

For naturalization I applied 88 days prior to my 3rd year as per the 90 day window rule. I submitted tax transcripts, wedding certificate and proof that I was on car insurance and medical insurance with my husband. The IO sent an RFE asking for more information such as joint utility bills, proof of joint ownership etc. I went to an infopass appointment and was told by the infopass officer that additional proof other than tax transcripts was pretty standard for someone applying under the 3 year rule and it was necesary to prove ongoing marital union. So, I think that there is always a chance you will get asked for more than just the transcripts (even though the USCIS form says OR, not AND on the types of info they want). However, I've read of people that have not been asked and I highly suspect it's dependant on the officer that you happen to get for your interview.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I have read a lot of posts concerning delays in citizenship process, when applicants applied under 3 year rule on a marriage bases. What I wonder is it guaranteed that you are going to have an RFE and a hard long process, or it is just depends on the officer in whose hands the case will end up at? I have applied in August under the same rule, and have not submitted any additional prove of marriage aside from standard list of documents (Tax transcripts, marriage certificate). Will it be a problem? I have been married for 6 years even though been a resident for only 3 years come October.

I'm reading about anything in regard to citizenship for about 2 years now, and I have never read such a post. Do you have a link for me to one of those posts?

[Evgeniya 3]

I'm reading about anything in regard to citizenship for about 2 years now, and I have never read such a post. Do you have a link for me to one of those posts?

You have participated in the discussion of one of the posts, I can't find it right away now...and actually I thought it was your opinion, that applying early is not a good idea. Regardless, I just had an impression that applying under 3 year rule almost always implies that one has to prove legitimacy of marriage all over again.

[Penguin_ie 6,002]

I applied under the 3 year rule and have been having no problem. It took me just over 2 months from sending in the N-400 to interview, and no yellow letter. I think if you have a simple case (been living together, taxed filed together etc) then you won't have problems with the 3 year application.

You have participated in the discussion of one of the posts, I can't find it right away now...and actually I thought it was your opinion, that applying early is not a good idea.

I *think* that is NickD. His wife and step daughter have had all kinds of problems with their applications.

[Anh map 2,098]

You have participated in the discussion of one of the posts, I can't find it right away now...and actually I thought it was your opinion, that applying early is not a good idea. Regardless, I just had an impression that applying under 3 year rule almost always implies that one has to prove legitimacy of marriage all over again.

Yes, you have to show evidence of a continuing married relationship. Should be very straight forward to document after that amount of time. Tax returns, bank accounts, insurance policies, etc.

Was very straight forward, simple, and low stress.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I only advise against rolling the dice at the 3-year mark if the applicant's marriage is in the process of falling apart and divorce is inevitable.

[NickD 203]

Wifes' interview was 43 minutes long and was grilled on marriage documents, she was approved, major problem was her IO misplacing her application delaying her oath ceremony. My senators office quickly remedied that problem. We didn't have that eligibility sheet *.pfd that just appeared more recently. Read that can get the impression you only need tax returns with all those ORs in it.

Her IO never went through that thick pile of evidence we sent in, instead she had her own list and requested to see our original evidence. Questioned if we had any natural born children with our marriage, wife had to admit she had an early menopause. But could show between us, we already had eight kids between us, ha, eight is enough. Could also show we had joint ownership of a puppy we just got back then. Wanted to see our original divorce papers, her IO wanted my wife's original, she said no way, would cost her a fortune to get another court copy from Venezuela. Her IO let that go.

Besides a ton of other joint evidence, home and vehicle ownership, wills, bank accounts, health insurance, tax returns, drivers' licenses showing the same address, both my US passport and birth certificate, joint property tax bill etc., she was also asked for what I call a worthless joint utility bill, she had that as well. Wife never had a traffic violation in her life, but proof of that was not asked for, IO took her word for that. But she was asked as well as did you ever commit crimes you never were caught for. On being detained by a police officer, she said, actually yes. We were stopped on US 41 after her biometrics in Milwaukee, but so were hundreds of others, a major accident was ahead he said.

My major point on marriage is that it was a hell of a lot of work to gather all this evidence that is not even necessary for the five year. With the largest disappointment was our goal not to have to maintain her foreign passport. Had to renew the damned thing anyway and she is not a US citizen like she was born here. Some line of BS that place of birth is necessary for further ID. How much ID do that want? Already have tons of it.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

I have read a lot of posts concerning delays in citizenship process, when applicants applied under 3 year rule on a marriage bases. What I wonder is it guaranteed that you are going to have an RFE and a hard long process, or it is just depends on the officer in whose hands the case will end up at? I have applied in August under the same rule, and have not submitted any additional prove of marriage aside from standard list of documents (Tax transcripts, marriage certificate). Will it be a problem? I have been married for 6 years even though been a resident for only 3 years come October.

I just finished my citizenship process (based on 3 yrs marriage) and I didn't find anything a problem. I didn't like waiting for the interview, but that was about the worst of it

Here is my review - my interview took 10 minutes:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/319345-interview-review-fairfax-va/page__st__15__p__4781627__hl__fairfax__fromsearch__1#entry4781627

I provided the standard list of documentation needed and brought originals to the interview. You have a solid 6 yr marriage which should provide plenty of evidence. study and answer everything honestly and everything will go smoothly.

If the IO is a knob the day of your interview, you can't help it but I believe being prepared and ready to answer all questions is what allows everything to go smoothly.

Edited September 30, 2011 by Udella&Wiz

[NickD 203]

Terrible to be paranoid, wasn't born that way, but always feel there is a reason. Never before was there a threat to government employees and with decisions cannot be made at this time for proof of paid insignificant traffic violations and additional proof for marriage, the USCIS besides inconveniencing us is also making a lot more work for themselves. More work translates to more job security. Feel that is the reason they do this.

Outside of that worthless joint utility bill I got at the last minute because a friend ahead of us received major delays by not having one, not a shed of new evidence was supplied for us for the N-400 they didn't already have. Since they played around so long with our I-751, we had to update all of that evidence. The reason why I state a joint utility bill is worthless, any name can go on that piece of paper, they don't give a damn what name is on that bill. We are also landlords, and when our tenant took off to some unknown place, the utility companies took us to court to pay six months of unpaid bills. Because our names are on the deed. Only way we could restore service was to pay those bills.

Our AOS processing took almost a year to process, we both had to provide undeniable proof we were free to marry, I was a US citizen, capable of supporting both her and her daughter. Free from all crimes, valid marriage certificate, that was another issue, Wisconsin has the strictest marriage laws in the country, also had to provide all that proof to them before we could get a marriage license. Without all this proof, wife would have never been issued a green card. Same stuff again for the N-400, just a comment to myself, have to be super nice with the USCIS, how in the hell did she get a green card in the first place?

Fraud is a key issue with the USCIS, but why? If fraud is proven, the US citizen goes to federal prison and the immigrant is deported, no skin off their nose. The real people that suffer if one spouse poses fraud against the other, this is reason to be concerned more than anything. US citizen can get robbed with I-864 payments, immigrant can be abused.

Marriage is very serious business, both my wife and I wanted to be absolutely sure we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. For her, was leaving a high paying job, getting major permission from her ex to bring her daughter here, and leaving leaving an over 21 unmarried son behind. For me, just the very act of saying I DO in this state, half of everything I owned was hers anyway, regardless of whatever proof the IRS wanted. Care of her son, a good relationship between her daughter and me all had to be worked out first before tying the knot.

To maintain sanity with the USCIS, just made a game out of it, have to play by their rules. You want evidence, we have evidence. And of course, you always have to be nice, the latter almost killed me dealing with some of these idiots.

[bigdog 377]

Should be the same show evidence of continued marriage, taxes etc.