We’ve got a line on immig issues
Can you get a green card despite being here without papers? Do you qualify for U.S. citizenship? Get the answers at the 15th annual CUNY/Daily News Citizenship Now! Call-in, June 1923, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Due to anticipated increased demand for information on all aspects of citizenship and immigration law, we will have more phone lines and more volunteers to answer your questions than in previous years. If you have a path to permanent residence or U.S. citizenship, we’ll refer you to someone who can help you prepare your application. To prepare you for the call-in, this month I’ll answer some of your most common questions about getting U.S. citizenship or a green card.
Most permanent residents (green card holders) need five years in that status to become a U.S. citizen. You qualify after only three years if you have been married to, and living with, the same U.S. citizen for the last three years while a permanent resident.
You may submit your application three months before you have the necessary five or three years’ requirement. If you apply under the rules for the spouse of a U.S. citizen, you must have been married to, and living with, the same U.S. citizen spouse while a permanent resident, before submitting your application Special rules benefit asylum seekers and refugees. An asylee can become a U.S. citizen four years from the day U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approves the permanent residence application.
For refugees, USCIS should backdate the green card to the day the refugee arrived in the United States.