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US Citizenship Eligibility Requirements

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U.S. citizenship requirements states that, you can obtain U.S. citizenship either by birth or by law. You acquire U.S. citizenship by birth, if you were born in the U.S. or if your parents are U.S. citizens. Obtaining U.S. citizenship by law is through naturalization.

Per USCIS, you must meet the U.S. citizenship requirements to apply for citizenship. The U.S. citizenship requirements include the continuous physical presence requirements and certain general requirements.

U.S. citizenship requirements

To be eligible for U.S. citizenship, the following U.S. citizenship requirements should be satisfied:

  • You should be at least 18 years old.
  • You should be a lawful permanent resident of the United States.
  • You should have resided in the U.S. for at least three to five years and half of the time should be spent in the U.S.
  • The U.S. citizenship requirements states that, if you are married to a U.S. citizen, you can apply for U.S. citizenship after three years of residence in the United States. All others can apply for citizenship only after five years.
  • You have resided in the U.S. from the time you filed your application for U.S. citizenship.
  • You should take an oath, that you are attached to the U.S. constitution.
  • You should have proficient knowledge and fluency in English.
  • You should have knowledge concerning the history, role and functioning of the U.S. government including answering 10 of the 100 possible Citizenship Test Questions
  • You should not be involved in any crime.
  • You should meet the continuous physical presence requirements

Continuous physical presence requirements

If you are married to a U.S. citizen, the following continuous physical presence requirements should be met:

  • You should live physically with your spouse.
  • You should have lived together with your spouse for at least three years before you apply for U.S. citizenship and take the naturalization examination.
  • You should have been physically present in the U.S. for at least 18 months.
  • You should have been residing continuously for the past three months in the state from where you will apply for U.S. citizenship.
  • Your spouse should be a U.S. citizen during the period you have applied for citizenship till the date of examination.

The following are the continuous physical presence requirements for those who are not married to a U.S. citizen:

  • You should have been physically present in the U.S. for at least 30 months.
  • You should have been residing continuously for the past three months in the state from where you will apply for U.S. citizenship.

Physical presence is different from Continuous residence. Physical presence is the number of days you were physically present in the U.S. Continuous residence is the time you resided lawfully in the U.S. without any long absence. If you are physically absent from the United States for one year, you will lose your continuous residence requirement, unless the absence is excused. The U.S. citizenship process is not easy, you have to meet the above requirements to be eligible to apply for citizenship.


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EB-2 or EB-3 Green Card (PERM) Concurrent Filing

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The stage 2 in an Employment based green card application process is filing an immigrant petition Form I-140 on behalf of the beneficiary. As per the new rule by USCIS the green card application can be filed simultaneously with I-140 petition. The process of filing Form I-140 and Form I-485 at the same time is called concurrent filing.

On Form I-140 one has the option to choose between consular processing and adjustment of status for green card application. Concurrent filing on Form I-140 and Form I-485 can be made only if the employee is currently inside the United States. Concurrent filing on Form I-140 and I-485 is not applicable if the employee wishes for a consular processing outside the United States.

The Form I-140 and Form I-485 can be filed together only when a visa number is immediately available. First one needs to determine if an visa number is immediately available. In case of employment based first preferences category the immigrant visa number is usually current, so one can apply for green card application while filing I-140. Concurrent filing of green card application based on other preference category usually depends upon the the date the labor certification application was accepted by the Department of Labor for processing when a labor certification is required. The Visa Bulletin is available using which one can check their place in the immigrant visa queue. The cutoff dates for all the categories of employment based green card application is provided by the Visa Bulletin.

If there is not much demand than the visas in a given preference category and based on country of birth or it may be the country of changeability, then immigrant visas becomes current. If the Chart shows “C” then it means the visas is immediately or it is current and one is eligible for both filing both the Form I-140 and Form I-485 simultaneously.

When Form I-140 and Form I-485 are concurrently filed one has lots of benefits like filing the green card application earlier along with it one will be filing Employment Authorization Documents and Travel Document, so one can work legally and also can travel outside the United States.

USCIS will issue separate Receipt Notices for the Form I-140 Immigrant Petition and the Form I-485, Application to Adjust Status to Permanent Resident. The Receipt Notices will be issued on Form I-797. You can expect to receive the Form I-140 Receipt Notices within 30 days. The Form I-485 Receipt Notice will be issued to also within 30 days. The Form I-797 Receipt Notices are confirmation that USCIS has received the petition and application, and accepted them for processing.

One must wait for USCIS to complete processing of this case. Generally, an interview is not required. However, if an interview is required, USCIS will be issue an appointment notice to complete processing. If an appointment is not required, decision via mail will be sent. USCIS will most likely issue a decision on the Form I-140, Immigrant Petition before it issues a decision on the Application to Adjust Status to Permanent Resident. If I-140 is approved USCIS will process the I-485 application. If USCIS denies I-140 then I-485 will also not be processed.


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