Wife needs more time & patience to naturalize

My wife has been a permanent resident for two years. Once I naturalize, can she naturalize after just three years of permanent residence rather than the usual five years?

Henry, Lakeland, Fla. No, your wife must wait until she’s had five years of permanent residence. She can submit her form N-400, Application for Naturalization, three months before the fifth anniversary of her becoming a permanent resident. The date is on her green card.

To qualify under the special rule for the spouse of a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident must be married to and living with a person who is already a U.S. citizen for three years while in permanent resident status. Though your wife will have three years of permanent residence when you naturalize, she won’t have the necessary “three years living with a U.S. citizen spouse.”

I was granted asylum in 2011 but never applied for a green card because I couldn’t afford the filing fee. What is the process for getting permanent residence? How long after I become a permanent resident can I become a U.S. citizen?

Name withheld, Washington, D.C. To become a permanent resident, you file USCIS form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust of Status. You can apply for permanent residence one year after getting asylum. Unlike most adjustment-of-status applicants, asylee adjustment applicants can get fee waivers. To qualify, you must be receiving a public benefit, have a household income no more than 150% of the federal poverty guidelines or have a financial emergency.

To apply for a fee waiver, file USCIS form I-912 Request for Fee Waiver with your adjustment of status application. As for naturalizing, you qualify four years after becoming a permanent resident — USCIS will backdate your green card one year.

Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New York’s Citizenship Now! project. Send questions and comments to questions@allanwernick. com. Follow him on Twitter @awernick.