Lakersdarge

Wondering if anyone can answer this for me. I am a UK citizen with the 10 year permanent resident card- spouse is US born citizen. I am thinking of applying for citizenship soon, and noticed that my British passport will expire in a bit over a year from now.

My question is when you apply for citizenship, do you have to have a valid passport from your original country? I am pretty sure I needed my passport for when I applied for the permanent resident card a few years ago, but I know that is a different situation than naturalization. If I do need a passport, then I guess I have two choices, either apply very soon and hope it gets processed by the time my passport expires, or send off for a new UK passport and only after I receive it do my application for citzenship. Any suggestions from folks who have been in this situation?

By the way I am not planning on travelling anywhere anytime soon, and cannot think of anything else I would need my UK passport for- unless someone here can think of a good reason to keep one anyway? Also, can you actually apply for a new UK passport from outside the UK (within the US)? And about how long could it take to get a new one?

Apologies if any of these are silly questions, I am not really an expert on these things. Thanks very much for any helpful replies.

meauxna

Hello

When you apply for citizenship, you're not required to have an unexpired foreign passport.
But, it's a good idea to always have a valid passport on hand when you're living in a foreign country. The good news is, US naturalization generally takes much less than a year to complete so you might be able to do both anyway.

There are many reasons why it's a good idea to keep a valid passport, even if you don't have any travel planned, and you can renew your passport (you're not applying for a 'new' one) from within the US. It does take significantly longer than from within the UK though. Check the wiki and the USA forum for several articles & threads on how to renew from the US, and give yourself plenty of time. You can also apply to renew in advance of expiration, and the UK will add the remaining time onto your updated pp.

When are you eligible to send in your N-400?

Lakersdarge

Meauxna, thanks so much for the great response.

It's a relief to know that I don't HAVE to have a valid passport for the citizenship application. Since you think it's a good idea to have a UK passport, I will probably renew it later in the year just to have it, but at least I know I don't have to worry about needing it for the citizenship application. Thanks again for all that info!

And as for the "N-400" question, if that is the technical term for the citizenship application, then we have actually been married for over 5 years now (seems like a lot less than that though!), so from my basic understanding I have been eligible to apply for a while now. At least I think that's how it works. I have to read up on some of the basic information at this site, lots of great useful information here.

Noorah101

This USCIS document has everything you'll need to know about applying for US Citizenship:

USCIS Guide to Naturalization
http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

Rene

Rete

When you have been naturalized you need to remember that you should enter the UK as a UK Citizen so you will need that passport and you will return to the US using your US Passport. Having both you can then pick and choose which passport you wish to use when you visit a non-EU foreign country. The issue is that you will still not be able to visit Cuba on either passport.

jeffreyhy

L,

How long have you been a LPR?

Regards, JEff

meauxna

Glad to help.
Based on what I have read in the Passport Delays thread in the USA forum, I encourage you to start renewing your passport now. You won't lose anything, but will gain the extra elbow room.

As for N-400, yes, it is the application for naturalization. Read carefully at the link Rene posted and double & triple check your eligibility. The dates you're looking for concern how long you have been a PR, then how long you have been married.
We've got several N-400 threads running for you to compare what others have sent and how their study and timeline are going, and what you should expect.

Nice to meet you & welcome aboard.

Lakersdarge

Hi Rene, thanks for the naturalization link, looks like the perfect place to start.



I didn't know that I would still need the UK pp after naturalization here. Good to know.





Hi Jeff and Meauxna,

According to my 10 year permanent resident card that I just looked at, I have been a resident for a little over 4 and a half years. And we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary just last year. So I will go from there and try to figure out (and triple check ) if I am indeed eligible to apply for naturalization. The timelines and similar cases that people have posted in other threads here should prove very useful.

And Meauxna, applying soon for that pp renewal sounds like the smart thing to do, so I'll go ahead and do that. Thanks.

Thanks to all who replied, you're good people.

JAJ

You can visit the UK as a tourist using a US passport ... but many people choose to keep a British passport up to date.