N648-Filing the waiver for my mom, US citizen civic test waiver

[lifegoeson123 5]

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

Has anyone here successfully applied for Form N-648 (medical certification for disability exceptions) without an attorney? We were quoted $5,000–$7,000 by an attorney, which is quite expensive for our family.

If you’ve gone through this process, could you please share:

 

• How long it took from submission and payment until approval and interview scheduling? Or how long does the whole process take?

• Whether you felt an attorney was truly necessary?

• Will she need to be in the US all the time for this process?

A little background:

My mom currently holds a 10-year green card. She is living in Vietnam now but plans to return to the U.S. in April. She is 61 years old.

Medically, she suffers from insomnia, sleep apnea, depression, and anxiety. Her depression began after my father tragically committed suicide several years ago. In Vietnam, she has been treated by multiple doctors, formally diagnosed, and prescribed medication. However, she has never been formally diagnosed with depression in the U.S.

 

We are considering pursuing the N-648 medical waiver so she can eventually become a U.S. citizen. That said, she does not truly want to live permanently in the U.S. at this time—she does not drive and does not speak English well. I am her only daughter in the U.S. My brother and his family still live in Vietnam, and she has much stronger ties there.

 

Our main concern is her immigration status. With the current climate, we worry that she could be considered to have abandoned her green card due to extended stays abroad. A tourist visa feels risky and offers no health insurance coverage, which is especially concerning given her medical conditions.

 

Our hope is to maintain her lawful status so she can travel back and forth, visit me and her grandchildren, and have access to health insurance and potential senior benefits if she eventually decides to live in the U.S. In the longer term (perhaps in 10 years), my brother’s family may immigrate through an I-130, and she may then choose to relocate permanently.

 

If anyone has experience with N-648, similar medical situations, or navigating this without an attorney, I would deeply appreciate your guidance and support.

 

Thank you so much 🙏

[Rhema1 529]

13 minutes ago, lifegoeson123 said:

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

Has anyone here successfully applied for Form N-648 (medical certification for disability exceptions) without an attorney? We were quoted $5,000–$7,000 by an attorney, which is quite expensive for our family.

If you’ve gone through this process, could you please share:

 

• How long it took from submission and payment until approval and interview scheduling? Or how long does the whole process take?

• Whether you felt an attorney was truly necessary?

• Will she need to be in the US all the time for this process?

A little background:

My mom currently holds a 10-year green card. She is living in Vietnam now but plans to return to the U.S. in April. She is 61 years old.

Medically, she suffers from insomnia, sleep apnea, depression, and anxiety. Her depression began after my father tragically committed suicide several years ago. In Vietnam, she has been treated by multiple doctors, formally diagnosed, and prescribed medication. However, she has never been formally diagnosed with depression in the U.S.

 

We are considering pursuing the N-648 medical waiver so she can eventually become a U.S. citizen. That said, she does not truly want to live permanently in the U.S. at this time—she does not drive and does not speak English well. I am her only daughter in the U.S. My brother and his family still live in Vietnam, and she has much stronger ties there.

 

Our main concern is her immigration status. With the current climate, we worry that she could be considered to have abandoned her green card due to extended stays abroad. A tourist visa feels risky and offers no health insurance coverage, which is especially concerning given her medical conditions.

 

Our hope is to maintain her lawful status so she can travel back and forth, visit me and her grandchildren, and have access to health insurance and potential senior benefits if she eventually decides to live in the U.S. In the longer term (perhaps in 10 years), my brother’s family may immigrate through an I-130, and she may then choose to relocate permanently.

 

If anyone has experience with N-648, similar medical situations, or navigating this without an attorney, I would deeply appreciate your guidance and support.

 

Thank you so much 🙏

I greatly understand your concern.

You should soon get some precious insight from our experienced members on this forum 

[OldUser 11,172]

1) How much time did she spend outside the US on her current trip?

2) Did she have any trip in the last 5 year that was longer than 6 month?

3) How many days did she spend in the US in the last 5 years?

4) How long did she have GC for?

 

 

The reason I am asking these questions, you are focusing on exam etc, but she may be not even eligible to get citizenship as of today based on her travel.

 

On a side note, getting N-648 approved is not simple, even with a lawyer. You need a lot of medical proof over extended period of time. It is a lot easier getting exceptions listed below for English language part:

 

- Age 50 or older at the time of filing for naturalization and have lived as a permanent resident (Green Card holder) in the United States for 20 years (commonly referred to as the “50/20” exception).

OR

- Age 55 or older at the time of filing for naturalization and have lived as a permanent resident in the United States for 15 years (commonly referred to as the “55/15” exception).

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by OldUser

[appleblossom 5,605]

1 hour ago, lifegoeson123 said:

In the longer term (perhaps in 10 years), my brother’s family may immigrate through an I-130, and she may then choose to relocate permanently.

I think she needs to make a decision sooner than that. She can’t keep bouncing between the two countries and not making the US her proper permanent home, at some point she’ll be at risk of losing her LPR status. What ties does she have to the US other than you? House, job, filing tax returns etc? As @OldUser asked, how much time has she spent in the US since getting her green card? 
 

As for your brother, has somebody already petitioned him? Not sure who ‘and family’ is but if he’s married and he’s not been petitioned already there’s no way he’ll be moving in 10 years. It would be a lot longer, and the quickest route would be for your mother to petition him - but if he’s married she’d need to be a citizen first to do so. 

[lifegoeson123 5]

@OldUser, @appleblossom Thank you for being so kind and asking me the thoughtful questions.

 

My mother has held a 10-year green card since 2022. She lived in the United States from Oct 2022 to July 2023, then returned to Vietnam when my brother and his family—including his wife and two children—came to visit us in the U.S. She came back to the US on July 2024 and left to Vietnam in Jan 2025.

 

Because she has not lived in the U.S. long enough, she is not eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship through the standard naturalization process.

 

I applied for a re-entry permit on her behalf, which was approved. Since Jan 2025, she has been residing in Vietnam. Her re-entry permit will expire at the end of April 2026, which is why she plans to return to the United States before that date. I fully understand and agree that she cannot continue traveling back and forth between the two countries, even every six months, as excessive travel could lead to issues at the port of entry.

 

My children and I are her only ties to the United States. She does not own a home here and lives with us, but she files U.S. tax returns every year, even when her income is zero.

 

I also filed an I-130 petition for my brother in 2019. Based on current processing times, I understand that the wait may be approximately 15 to 17 years.

 

I have been considering whether to hire an immigration attorney to explore the possibility of applying for her citizenship through a waiver-based approach.

 

Another option would be apply for a tourist visa when she visits us in the future in case, although that would mean she would not have access to U.S. health insurance benefits.

She truly enjoys living in Vietnam, and as you know, many elderly people find it difficult to adjust to life in the United States. However, I also worry that if my brother and his family eventually move away, or as her siblings and friends grow older and pass on, she may become very lonely there. If that happens, I would need to file an I-130 petition for her again. I'm not sure how it goes  

 

Edited 1 hour ago by lifegoeson123

[Marieke H 2,602]

Before worrying about a waiver, your mother needs to meet the continuous residence and physical presence requirements to even be eligible to apply for naturalization. From your post history, it looks like she is living in Vietnam and only visiting the US occasionally, which does not make her eligible for naturalization.

 

Also, the medical issues you listed are very common issues. It is unlikely that those can be seen as impairments that affect her ability to study for the civics test.

[lifegoeson123 5]

@Marieke H You meant she needs to live in the US for at least 5 years to be qualified for a basic naturalization process. And then if she doesn't wanna take the civic questions in English, she must prove that she has medical conditions diagnosed by the psychiatrist that prevent her from understanding and answering any questions in English, right?

 

If so, you are right!  I don't think she has lived in the US longer than 2 years. I think it has been only 15 months in total so far. 

[appleblossom 5,605]

11 minutes ago, lifegoeson123 said:

@Marieke H You meant she needs to live in the US for at least 5 years to be qualified for a basic naturalization process. And then if she doesn't wanna take the civic questions in English, she must prove that she has medical conditions diagnosed by the psychiatrist that prevent her from understanding and answering any questions in English, right?

 

If so, you are right!  I don't think she has lived in the US longer than 2 years. I think it has been only 15 months in total so far. 

It’s 2.5 years out of the previous 5, but also any absence over 6 months can reset the continuous residency clock - so sounds like that might be the case for her. If so, she’s a way off naturalisation eligibility and worrying about waivers. 
 

If she’s got a re-entry permit that helps preserve her status though so that’s good. 
 

I agree your brother is probably at least 17 years away from getting a visa, not 10. So if that may be the catalyst for her wanting to move permanently to the US then maybe it’s better for her to relinquish her LPR status for now and you can apply again for her when the time comes. If she gets a tourist visa then travel insurance would cover the medical side of things when she visits. 
 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by appleblossom