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How many years after the green card until US citizenship?

Key answer

After 5 years as a permanent resident, after 3 for spouses of US citizens; the N-400 can be filed 90 days early. The chats describe a "combo case" - removal of conditions together with the N-400 - as a time saver, and at the interview the officer opens the whole immigration file, old DS-160 forms included.

Community answers

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

  • "By the 3-year mark from the wedding my permanent green card was still not approved; I filed for citizenship, and USCIS merges the two cases into a combo - faster than waiting for the conditions to be removed and then filing the N-400."

  • A divorce before two years of marriage does not close the road: citizenship then comes not after 3 years but on the general 5-year basis; at the interview one member could not recall her ex-husband's birthday - and still got citizenship.

  • At the interview the officer pulled the whole case from the very beginning; the chats warn that a lie in an old DS-160 surfaces precisely at naturalization - "they really do not like deception".

The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.

Sources

All questions on: Green card

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A reference page built from community experience, not legal advice. Requirements and practice change - verify on uscis.gov.

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