lovinglive

OK, yes I do think there's a lot of possibility for them to get confused. From the cases that you've seen, when the person files N-400 from abroad, how does USCIS then obtain their fingerprints? I've seen some people say that USCIS arranges for them to submit it in the US before their interview, but not sure what triggers that. As I said, I have doubts about whether we will be able to get it while we are here as the Embassy may just refuse to do it. For a local police station, I strongly guess USCIS would reject the work of local police, or again the police may just refuse to do it. By the way, we submitted our form online. We may add some additional documentation to the profile related to bona fide relationship. Will keep you all posted on what happens, Thanks for all your hep Qian!

Hi, I haven't been in that situation where I received an RFE for a manually filed (not online) application. Hopefully some others can answer your question.

Thanks Qian, that's great. I think you're right we should file it that way. Where we live its practically impossible to get fingerprints except from the Embassy. The Embassy probably wouldn't entertain doing the fingerprints before we have submitted the N-400 and perhaps get an RFE. On section 5 it will list our current address overseas, but as mentioned soon my wife will return to the US. Is there any way to indicate this to them so they can consider setting up an appointment for the fingerprinting? Perhaps in a cover letter? Or is there some way to add a comment on the N-400 form? Or perhaps she should file a change of address when she arrives in the US.

Thank you very much Qian, that's good to have someone else confirm what I already thought. At this point, we are planning to complete the N-400 in the next two days, and then she will return to the US soon, well before the 6 month timeframe. It seems unlikely that the re-entry permit will be finished any time soon, and I'm also not clear how departing the country under a re-entry permit would affect the N-400 application. On the N-400 itself, I wonder if you could provide input with this issue: On Part 5, info about your residence, it asks where you have lived. Since we left the US, we have lived in two different places for about two months each. My initial reaction is that we need to list these for the form. On the other hand, I've previously read, for normal, non-319b applicants, if you set up residence overseas, that could be a reason to consider that you have abandoned your GC. By submitting that info on the N-400 form you are, in a way, declaring a residence overseas. On the other hand, continuing to list an address in the US, while we were actually overseas would not seem accurate, and USCIS probably wouldn't look favorably on that if they find out later. Do you have any idea or suggestion on how to fill out Part 5 considering these factors?

When you say you listed out what readily available documentation you have, do you mean "In regards to the proof of bona fide marriage, we filed joint 2022 taxes and both have our names on our lease as well as a utility bill before we moved end of last year, is that sufficient? I could add an affidavit from family and have pictures of us together at family events and whatnot." In my view, many members of this website put too much emphasis on things like rental contracts, utility bills, etc. for proof of relationship. In my case, my wife and I were together many years before we were married. Even though we lived together her name was never on the rental contract. But I had tons of evidence in the form of photos, proof of travels together, other proof that we lived together... I would add it all together and make a very clear and convincing case. It seems like you filed online- you can upload almost as much proof as you want since it won't be a bulky package to be mailed somewhere. On your second point about your citizenship, I read the letter to mean: "You must have a bona fide relationship AND you must be a US citizen." I don't see in your RFE that they say that you didn't prove you are a US citizen. Maybe you already submitted that info. But there is no harm in submitting it again. If you are a citizen by birth, I would upload your passport and your birth certificate.

Are you ignoring the question about whether the marriage was bona fide? That seems to be the major issue for you and your spouse.

Your type of problem has been addressed in this post https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/704649-expeditious-naturalization-ina319b-a-complete-experience-report/#comments You wrote "I don’t think I’m able to file N-400 because you’re supposed to have over one year left on your contract overseas at the time of naturalization. We barely have a year left now so if naturalization takes around 9 months at least, that would only leave us with 3 months." That is not correct. You are supposed to have 1 year remaining on your spouse's contract at the time of submitting your 319b. You can be naturalized with less than one year remaining on your spouse's contract. However, you said your spouse has barely one year left so if you want to pursue this path, you had better move quickly. I have not heard a clear answer yet about whether the 6 months per year requirement is waived or on hold while your N-400 under 319b is being processed. If you don't file N-400, you can search around VisaJourney to collect info but I've been told that 1) you should never be absent from the US for longer than 6 months, and 2) You should spend at least 6 months of every year in the US in order to maintain the minimum amount of time required to apply for naturalization at the end of 3 years. Based on that, I would recommend to relocate to the US and spend time there away from your spouse to maintain 6 months per year in the US.

Replying to Qian but others are welcome to respond as well. In fact, encouraged. This process of filing the N-400 was on hold for us since it took a while for all aspects of my job offer to materialize. We have to file soon, and I may have more specific questions about that later. But I'm confused about the relationship between the amount of time green card holders are allowed to spend overseas, re-entry permit, and conditions for applicants filing for 319b. My wife received her green card in October, and had been in the US for nearly a year at that point. We filed for a re-entry permit in later November, as we knew that I would like to work overseas. Then in December, we went abroad for my wife to see her family. Later in December, I received my job offer. At this point, since starting my work has been so delayed, my wife has already been overseas for about 4 months. Usually the advice given is that a GC holder should not stay abroad longer than 6 months, and needs to spend at least six months in the US each year. Meanwhile, we haven't seen any progress on the re-renty permit in MyUSCIS online system other than saying that her existing biometrics have been re-used for the re-entry permit. But we also haven't made any attempt to reach out to them about this (I've never talked to a real person on the USCIS number yet). So, at this point, we are planning to file the N-400 under 319b very very soon, but meanwhile we believe my wife has to return to the US in order to avoid losing her green card status. I'll have to stay overseas to do my work. Since the N-400 hasn't been approved yet (and may not be approved) she can't afford to risk that her existing green card would be considered abandoned due to spending too long overseas. Does this match your understanding, Qian, or any others who may be reading this? In other words, is it correct that filing the N-400 does not entitle a GC holder to spend longer overseas? (typically not longer than 6 months). Thanks for any thoughts on this.

Thank you very much for your reply MeliCat! It's good to learn from others' experiences. It would be easiest to apply to the relevant office where we were living in the US, but I also read several posts where it said the Washington DC office is the best for this. It would seem that is the best choice if they are familiar with this type of application. Sorry to hear about how long you have been waiting with the Newark office! Thank you also for your advice about filing online. That's good to know and it will be much easier and immediate. That is strange about your case with the fingerprints and the biometrics fee! Have you heard of any case where USCIS just used the existing biometrics for the N-400?

Thank you Qian, and please excuse the delay in replying as I am adapting to being in a new country and also recovering from New Years! I hope we can get fingerprints but it's just that it relies on the Embassy being willing to provide the service. There was also some discussion of a letter stating intention to reside together after the completion of the employment contract. Since my wife had her green card approved very quickly we did not actually set up that much of her documentation in the US (she actually received a SSN right at the same time as the green card). However we do have a lot of documentation of our long term relationship that was submitted with I-130. I wonder if that will suffice? Thank you again for your advice and help to others on this process!

Dear Qian and others who shared their experiences, Thank you for sharing your experience with this little discussed part of the citizenship process. Your comprehensive information was very helpful in explaining how this procedure works. I have a few questions before we submit an application for my wife based on 319b. My wife received her green card in October, and then she wanted to see her family so we went overseas. We applied for a re-entry permit at the end of November. Recently I received a job offer overseas for one year with the possibility of extensions. Since it is only for one year, I believe we basically have to apply at the right moment- just before I start working- since the law says that the US Citizen spouse has to have one year remaining on their contract. This leaves us with a limited timeframe, so the first question I have is: how long does it take or how difficult is it to fie the N-400 and relevant attachments? Second, as I mentioned, we are already overseas. Can we file the N-400 online or does it have to be sent by mail? (I am concerned mail is unreliable or delayed). Regarding the fingerprints, do they have to be sent at the time of filing the N-400, or can they be sent later? Is it possible this requirement will be waived if my wife's biometrics have been taken recently? Thank you in advance for any information on these questions!

Telling someone that they should file an I-407 when they have just succeeded in getting LPR status is not a comment made in good faith. Especially when the premise of the whole thread was that my wife wants to visit her family and we are considering spending three months abroad, and you yourself advised getting a re-entry permit. I see no reason why I should not be allowed to comment on the immigration system, if that's what triggered your remark.

Huh. No idea about that. I added the info to the timeline app. Thanks for sharing the link.

Yes, I read about that before. Should be able to research it from here. Thanks again for all your responses!

Sarcastic remarks aside, thanks for the reply about returning abroad if she has a re-entry permit.

Hi Old User, yeah I had this discussion with some forum members back in June, I think. I don't think you were online at that time. Basically they also said a solution is for my wife to become a US citizen. We'll have to go through the process at some point and now may be the time. Or it could be a little later. We'll have to see. By the way, do you think studying at a US university, even if it an online course, would be considered a tie to the US? And as you mentioned "it wouldn't be hard to prove...", who would be doing the proving and under what circumstances?

Yes, I believe someone has said that already. I don't want to get into a long discussion about this now, (way off topic) but the system doesn't work very well for US citizens that have foreign spouses and live overseas. And there are more people in this situation than you would think!

OK, well our full timeline is in my signature.

Yeah it was crazy fast! I am still trying to figure out how that happened. By the way, I don't really get why some users on here put the "confused" emoji on other people's posts. If we all had al the answers and knew everything, there would probably be no reason to ask questions on here.

Hi, thanks again for sharing your knowledge. I guess my question wasn't clear enough. What I meant was, once she has returned before 179 days, is there a specific length of time that my wife should remain in the US? Or is even like a week sufficient? That makes sense about the N-400. Good to know. This is all very hypothetical at this point, but I agree that the re-entry permit is a good idea with the only drawback being the $575 price tag.

Great, that's very helpful. I will save that list of criteria.

Great, thank you for the additional information. When you say that she should return to the US, every 179 days, is there a specific length of time that you recommend? What do you mean by a clean N-400?

Ok, so even though the residence period is three years, it will take 1/2 to one year after that to actually become a citizen? What are the eligibility factors that you are referring to? Thanks again! You've been very helpful!

Thank you again for your advice and information. I still think it would be better to complete the naturalization process now, but as I am looking for work it's hard to predict what will happen. We'll try to set up all these ties to the US.

Thanks that is great advice. Actually the concern is more related to my employment - as I used to work overseas there is a possibility I will find work overseas again. So if we file I-131 to get a re-entry permit, we don't have to wait for it to be processed before we depart, right? We only have to wait until we receive the notice of receipt? Or what is the factor that determines that time that one can depart. Also, a re-entry permit is "multiple entry", right? I.e. it doesn't expire if you return to the US during its "validity".