Apply now or do we have to wait?

[MaghrebiSun 0]

Before you all bite my head off because I am sure this has been asked a million times-hear me out. I got married to my best friend back in 2015 legally and had a religious marriage two years prior (2013). He entered the US legally in 2013 under the DV visa. Since he has been here we have lived together and share a son born in 2015. We want to know the legalities surrounding filing for his citizenship since he has lived here more than 3 years-and been with me the entire time. The state we reside in currently recognizes common law marriage but the previous state does not. Do we need to wait until 2018 to file? At that point it'd be a moot point to apply through marriage vs under 5 year as it would only be a few months difference and I've heard that under the 3 year plan is a lot more work. Yes, I've also asked an attorney for advice but I haven't gotten a straight answer yet. Hopefully someone who has been in a similar situation can chime in. Thanks for reading!

[Penguin_ie 5,984]

You need to be legally married for 3 years; common law marriage doesn't count, so I'm afraid he will have to wait.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Looks like USCIS recognises common law marriage, so long as:

"USCIS ​recognizes common law marriages ​for ​purposes of ​naturalization if the marriage was valid ​and recognized by the state​ in which ​the marriage​ was established​.​ [17] This applies ​even if the ​naturalization ​application is filed in a jurisdiction that does not recognize or has never recognized the principle of common law marriage.​"

via: https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartG-Chapter2.html

But, it seems confusing and based on where you were at the time of the forming the marriage. Did you ever get any paperwork?

Since he seems to prefer the idea of filing under the 5 year rule, anyway - why not just wait til 2018 and forget about it for now? He'll definitely be eligible then, and his LPR status doesn't expire so long as he's maintaining his residency - it's indefinitely renewable.

[MaghrebiSun 0]

Well he'd actually like to apply as soon as possible as would I. The confusion lays in whether or not we can have a successful application using the common law marriage. We have had joint accounts and what not probably a little over two years and filed one joint tax return. Does anyone have any experience using this method? Thanks!

Edited September 8, 2016 by MaghrebiSun