Get Form N-470

Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, is an application to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. If your biological or legal adoptive mother or father is a U.S. citizen by birth, or was naturalized before you reached your 18th birthday, you may already be a U.S. citizen.

You will no longer need your Permanent Resident Card because you will receive your Certificate of Naturalization after you take the Oath of Allegiance. You are not a U.S. citizen until you take the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony.

WASHINGTON U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that petitioners can now complete and file Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, online. Online filing allows aliens to submit forms electronically, check the status of their case, and receive notices from USCIS.

As mentioned above, a lawful permanent resident with a disruption of continuous residence of 1 year or more only needs to wait 4 years and 1 day (or 2 years and 1 day if applying as the spouse of a United States citizen) after the date she returns to the United States to file her naturalization application.

N-470, Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes. Use this form if you are a lawful permanent resident who must leave the United States for a period of one year or longer for certain employment purposes and you want to preserve your status as an immigrant to pursue naturalization.

The applicant must have been physically present in the United States as an LPR for an uninterrupted period of at least 1 year prior to working abroad. The application may be filed either before or after the applicant's employment begins, but before the applicant has been abroad for a continuous period of 1 year.

Proving Continuous Residence One important document will be your Permanent Resident Card. But you'll also want to use other documents to boost your case. These may include tax returns, property tax records, proof of employment, receipts from rent payments, and university transcripts, and credit card statements.

Effect on Naturalization Extensive travel outside the United States, with or without a reentry permit, can affect a permanent resident's eligibility for naturalization. There are tremendous benefits to U.S. citizenship. In particular, you'll never need a reentry permit or green card again!

USCIS conducts an investigation of the applicant upon his or her filing for naturalization. The investigation consists of certain criminal background and security checks. The background and security checks include collecting fingerprints and requesting a name check from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).