Applying for citizenship when in a new state for less than 90 days

[luciea 0]

Hi everyone,

So here is my question,

I have a permanent residency card which expires in March 2017. I am eligible to apply for citizenship. My problem is, we just moved to a new state, North Carolina, on June 13th 2016. So I would have to wait until September 13th 2016 before trying to apply for citizenship , since there is the 90 days rule. But I was told to apply for citizenship 6 months prior to the expiration of my permanent residency. (which should be no later than September 15th 2016) I called immigration services and was told to first renew my residency, since the time frame is way too small, and then apply to citizenship.

Is there a way around that ? because residency is going to cost me around 400$ and citizenship is 700$. I was just hoping to pay only the citizenship fee, which is still outrageous, but now I am told to stack on another 400$ for my residency, which I wont need anymore after I get the citizenship.. My husband got a job and we had 2 weeks to move everything to a new state, It's not like we planned it right around my residency expiration deadline on purpose. Is there something I can do to maybe wave the fee of residency renewal?

Thanks

[Americ@ 34]

If your GC is conditional ( 2 years ) than you will have to remove conditions . If your GC has 10 year validity date than you can apply for citizenship after 3 months of residency of any state you have moved to .

[luciea 0]

If your GC is conditional ( 2 years ) than you will have to remove conditions . If your GC has 10 year validity date than you can apply for citizenship after 3 months of residency of any state you have moved to .

Thanks, mine is 10 years, but if I wait 3 months, my "deadline" to apply for citizenship is already pasted. Since you have to apply 6 months prior to expiration of the residency card, which in my case is March 2017, I have to apply by September 2016, which will be only one month and half that I have resided here

[NigeriaorBust 4,092]

It just means you may have to apply for a new green card in addition to citizenship

[JimmyHou 616]

Hi everyone,

So here is my question,

I have a permanent residency card which expires in March 2017. I am eligible to apply for citizenship. My problem is, we just moved to a new state, North Carolina, on June 13th 2016. So I would have to wait until September 13th 2016 before trying to apply for citizenship , since there is the 90 days rule. But I was told to apply for citizenship 6 months prior to the expiration of my permanent residency. (which should be no later than September 15th 2016) I called immigration services and was told to first renew my residency, since the time frame is way too small, and then apply to citizenship.

Is there a way around that ? because residency is going to cost me around 400$ and citizenship is 700$. I was just hoping to pay only the citizenship fee, which is still outrageous, but now I am told to stack on another 400$ for my residency, which I wont need anymore after I get the citizenship.. My husband got a job and we had 2 weeks to move everything to a new state, It's not like we planned it right around my residency expiration deadline on purpose. Is there something I can do to maybe wave the fee of residency renewal?

Thanks

1) You have to be a resident for 3 months in your new state... there's no way around that. If you apply before that you may make it all the way to the interview before your application is denied.

2) Although the older version of the naturalization guide stated that you had to apply for naturalization 6 months before your green card expired; this was not regularly enforced. In fact, I've read about many cases where people applied with green cards about to expire or already expired. The newer version of the naturalization guide does not include 6 month stipulation.

3) To be on the safe side, you can renew your green card first. I personally don't think this is necessary, but this is based on cases I have read.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,448]

If you moved the middle of June then in the middle of September you will have been living there for 3 months already, so you can file.

[luciea 0]

1) You have to be a resident for 3 months in your new state... there's no way around that. If you apply before that you may make it all the way to the interview before your application is denied.

2) Although the older version of the naturalization guide stated that you had to apply for naturalization 6 months before your green card expired; this was not regularly enforced. In fact, I've read about many cases where people applied with green cards about to expire or already expired. The newer version of the naturalization guide does not include 6 month stipulation.

3) To be on the safe side, you can renew your green card first. I personally don't think this is necessary, but this is based on cases I have read.

Thanks so much, I looked more into it and it seems the 6 months rule does not apply anymore, it used to be because I know someone who was rejected when he tried applying less than 6 months left on his residency card. But it seems they have changed it so that will def help me a lot , thanks again

[luciea 0]

If you moved the middle of June then in the middle of September you will have been living there for 3 months already, so you can file.

I thought the same thing but what kind of proof can you show for residency of a new state? We did our new driver license in August, we technically moved into our house on August 1st, we were staying in an airbnb for the month of July so I dont know if that counts as being resident or not ? I was told the driver license date is the one they check as the "first residency day" but could be wrong

[JimmyHou 616]

I thought the same thing but what kind of proof can you show for residency of a new state? We did our new driver license in August, we technically moved into our house on August 1st, we were staying in an airbnb for the month of July so I dont know if that counts as being resident or not ? I was told the driver license date is the one they check as the "first residency day" but could be wrong

Some people have never had drivers licenses... it's not a requirement for naturalization.

Here's my opinion: if you're not sure whether the time before you moved into your house counts as residency, then the interviewer won't be sure either; he'll just use his judgement, which means the decision could go either way.

If you want to be on the safe side, wait 90 days after you moved into your house. If you're in a hurry, make sure you have other proof (moving information, flights, letter from work, termination of old lease, etc.).