By: Jennifer Fabian-Verzosa, Esq.

MILITARY SPOUSES ARE THE HEART AND HANDS OF A FAMILY WHEN THE SERVICE MEMBER IS AWAY.

With USCIS international offices reportedly closing later this year —-offices that historically provided essential immigration services to U.S. Citizens and military overseas–there is a growing concern among military families of a need to organize and process their immigration paperwork ASAP.

There are a few different ways for military spouses who have green cards or are lawful permanent residents to naturalize. If your service member spouse is stationed abroad or will be deployed soon, you may be eligible for expedited or overseas naturalization if you meet certain criteria. Expedited naturalization requires the naturalization interview to be conducted in the United States, while with overseas naturalization the entire process is performed abroad.

No. The benefit of overseas naturalization is that the entire process, interview and oath ceremony, is performed abroad. However, you should file your Form N-400 Naturalization Application in the United States (check the USCIS website for current filing addresses for overseas military, here ), or contact your nearest overseas USCIS International Office and ask whether you can file your Form N-400 with them. An experienced immigration attorney can also assist you with this process.

It is important that you indicate the type of naturalization process (overseas or expedited) that you are applying for in your cover letter and application, or else you might end up having to come to the U.S. for an interview when you could have done it overseas. When selecting overseas naturalization, you should also specify which USCIS International Office is nearest to you or which office you are requesting to complete the in-person processes with.

For overseas naturalization, a military spouse’s time living abroad married to a service member when authorized to accompany the service member on official military orders can be used to satisfy the requirements of continuous residency and physical presence in the United States . For expedited naturalization, continuous residency and physical presence in the United States are not required. A military spouse must still meet all other naturalization requirements (listed on the USCIS website, here) and pay the filing fee.

Military spouses may also be able to submit fingerprint cards that satisfy specific criteria in lieu of attending a biometrics appointment.

Hiring an immigration attorney in the United States can help make applying for naturalization a lot easier, especially when you are far away and have many questions. An attorney can receive immigration notices on your behalf, help monitor your case from abroad, and contact USCIS for any issues that arise.

Our  IMMIGRATION LAW OFFICE  assists military families both in the United States and those stationed abroad all over the world! We provide remote immigration legal services and easy Skype meetings . Contact us for assistance by calling   +1(619) 431-2407 | 1-888-623-5444   (Toll-Free Nationwide), or email:   contact@law-jf.com .

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