james1980

Can you help with these N400 questions? (I am applying for citizenship based on bona fide marriage to a USC and being permanent resident for 3 years.......and I entered the country in 10/2000 legally with a valid 10 year b2 visitor visa I was given in 1995.)

Question 1
Part 6a where have you lived for the past 5 years?
I entered the US on 10/31/2000. I based myself at the residence of my future wife, and during that time I traveled around visiting various National Parks. [note that I did not know we would get married at the time... we were just friends and she offered me a place to stay while I traveled here in US. We only fell in love a while later and then I proposed to her and married her 5 and half months after I arrived here on 10/2000] I returned from my travels and moved in with her permanently in 03/2001 and we then got married. When I applied for my I485, my attorney filled in my g325 biographic background like this;

xxxxxx Columbus OH --- 3/2001 to present
xxxxxxx Home country---- 1985 to 10/2000.....so there is a gap of 4 months wherein there is no address listed on g325.
My question is; how shall I fill in my N400? Shall I just put my wife's address from 10/2000 to show where I have lived past 5 years?
xxxxxx Columbus OH 10/2000 to present? or will USCIS say that I came here in 2000 with the soul purpose of marrying a USC???

Does my N400 info have to be 100% consistent with the g325 biographic info from I485?

Question 2
part 6 B where have you been employed for last 5 years?
On my g325 my attorney put ---- xxx company 1/1996 to 1/2000, but he didn't put in my employment from 1/2000 until 10/2000. He made an error of ommission on the form, because I was self employed as a free lance travel writer from 2/2000 to 10/2000, and he didn't list that. That is what I put on my arrival form too. Then I stopped writing while I was travelling here, got married and didn't work until I got my employment authorization....so I am thinking that I don't want INS officer to say that I was unemployed when I entered US in 10/2000 and then deny my application by saying that I lied about being employed on my entry form upon entry. I did not lie. I said I was self employed travel writer at the time of entry. But my attorney didn't take that into account and didn't put it on the G325 biographic info. Am I in trouble? What shall I put as employment from 02/2000 to 10/2000? Just that I was a free lance travel writer? Or shall I put unemployed since I entered the US on 10/31/2000 and did not work from then until I got employment authorization from INS.

Thanks gurus, I'm in great need of your wise and expert advice.....

ian-mstm

This is really easy... you should complete the N-400 as truthfully as possible... whether or not it agrees with the G325. If the examiner has a question, you can explain it then. I seriously doubt he'll even look at the G325.

Ian

NC Penguin

If you are applying for N-400 on the basis of marriage to a USC, all answers should be based on the three year period, not five.

i.e. where you have lived in the three years since marrying and having a GC would be correct, I believe. It would be three years from the date printed on your GC.

james1980

Thanks Penguin, but on the form N400 it says 5 years???

ian-mstm

Yes, but you're not applying on the basis of a 5-year eligibility! The form is the same but the specific conditions are different when you apply on the basis of a 3-year marriage to a USC. Penguin is correct.

Ian

james1980

Thanks that form is confusing. So I just list employement and addresses for last 3 years and they won't send me a request for more evidense?

ian-mstm

You can put down more info if it'll make you feel better but, as I said earlier, whether or not this info matches the G325 doesn't matter. You are not trying to prove your eligibility based on 5 years as a PR, you're trying to prove your eligibility based on 3 years as a PR and a viable, ongoing marriage to a USC.

Ian

james1980

Ian, I posted this on another forum too, and I got an answer that scared me sh!tless.....
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http://www.immigrationportal.com/sho...d.php?t=187116
Somebody said :-On N-400, you should try to be consistent as much as possible about ALL the information that you provided at the time of filing green card application. But if a grave mistake was previously made, then you should try to correct them by providing accurate information at this time. It won’t hold against you, especially for your type of information. But if you don’t correct them up, then it MIGHT jeopardize your Permanent Residency. For example: At the time of green card, your attorney made a grave mistake on Form-G-325 by not providing accurate information about some of your place of residence and work information. It was good that officer did not pay attention to that information as carefully as s/he should have. But that doesn’t mean they will not know those mistakes at this time. Just imagine that this time if somehow officer would find out that you lied/hided some information on your green card application, then officer MAY revoke your green card as well, even if you might say that attorney made those mistakes. Always remember: No matter who helped you or who filed application on your behalf, so long your signature is there, you are the only one responsible for every single information therein. And, you should also know the consequences of concealing a fact or lying to them. If in case you don’t know the consequences then let me tell you-Denial of an application and a LIFETIME bar to enter into US. So, it is my suggestion to try to tell the truth this time.

Nevertheless, it is VERY IMPORTANT for you to be damn consistent about your job what you had told them until you set your foot on US soil even if it might have been a lie; otherwise they might cancel your green card by checking all the records like Visa Application, and Entry form and other applications. And then you will be accused for lying (misrepresenting) to them in order to obtain US visa.

For everyone: Even if someone files N-400 based upon being married to a US citizen under 3 yrs rule after being a LPR, yet still such applicant MUST need to disclose the information about their residences and employment for the last 5 yrs and not 3 yrs only.
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Should I hire a decent immigration attorney even though the last one #$@!ed up? I am scared sh!tless man......

ian-mstm

Well, you can choose who to listen to... but the person who answered you is incorrect on one important point - your GC is not at risk here. The person sounds like an alarmist and you can choose to listen or not. If it'll make you feel better, as I said, go ahead and fill in the employment and residency part and include the last 5 years and, as I've said many times before, regardless of whether or not this is correct on the G325. For the N-400, do not lie or mislead or otherwise make stuff up to agree with other stuff.

I'll close by saying only this... if you're going to play one answer off another in two different forums, you're going to end up going mad and will likely implode. Okay... I'm done now.

Ian

Hypertweeky

G-325 is an oldie form.. I am not saying it is not important.. just be honest!
Good luck!

james1980

thank you all for your help....i have never lied about anything on g325.

Rete

But, James, that is not what you said. You said your attorney completed the G-325A for you and it was incomplete and therefore a lie by omission. You signed the form so, therefore, you lied.

The G-325A is a form as Mr. Folinskyinla (immigration attorney at law) has said many times in the past and will say again in the future, I am sure, the G-325 is an oldie form that the CIS has yet to do away with. The "omissions" on it and/or the incorrect information is not enough to consider your previous I-485 application fraudulent.

Actually when you look at what you attorney completed, there are no lies there nor omissions. While your gf, now wife's address was your home base, you did not live there. You traveled. You cannot, of course, place all the cities, towns, motels, hotels and forests you visited and/or stayed in while traveling. So I believe you are worrying for nothing.

The N-400 when completed for a GC holder married to a USC needs only concern itself with the last three years. It is a dual purpose petition which can be used by both a GC Holder seeking naturalization under the 5 year criteria or the GC Holder seeking naturalizaiton under the 3 year criteria. You fit the second.

If you were married and filed for AOS before your 26th birthday, I do hope you registered for the selective service. If you had not and now are over 26, you will have delayed your eligibility for naturalization until after your 29th birthday regardless of the length of your marriage.

james1980

But Rete I made a mistake, I did not lie. English is my second language, and I could barely understand all the forms that were filled in. I know this is no excuse but it's taken me 5 long years to learn to speak the language fluently. I unfortunately did not go through the forms as carefully as I should that were completed by the attorney and just signed them. yes, I made a mistake and i trusted my attorney to give the correct information that I gave him. I will never make a mistake like that again.....and when I go for my interveiw I will tell the officer that there was a mistake made. Good God man, we are all only human and we all make mistakes!!! Have you never made a mistake filling out a form? It was not intentional at all...and yes I registered for selective service. I came here to ask for advice and not to be called a liar!! I pay my taxes, hold down a job and volunteer with parks board....I am not understanding what is meant by that I must only fill in the N400 for three years because the form says five years. Please can you just explane this to me. I am barely making ends meet and can't really afford attorney but will use my credit card if I have to get attorney. I am feeling hopeless and afraid now.......please can you help explane to me how to answer question 6 a and b for 3 or 5 years. What does it mean that G325 is oldie? Is it not relevant anymore?

Rete

First, I'm a woman, not a man. Second, no I have not made a mistake on any of my forms. Third the mistakes are minor issues and will not be a problem. The G-325A is not so much worried about accuracy as you might think. The omission of a few months of work will not jepordize your eligiblity for naturalization nor will it negate your residency status. I do believe you are making too much of it. Make your N-400 as accurate as possible. That is all you can do.

I did explain it. You are eligible to apply for naturalization because on three years of marriage to a US citizen and having residency status (green card) for three years. What is there not to understand about that.

The N-400 is used by people like youself and others who are NOT married to USC who are eligible under the 5 year rule.

Since you qualify under the 3 year rule, your answers are based on the last three years of your life. Not on the last 5 years of your life.

PS I did not call you a liar. I merely pointed out that a lie can be one of omission as you, yourself, said.

james1980

Lady I am sorry for mistaking you for a man, please forgive me. I am feeling afraid and hopeless...I have worked so hard to get here and did not know there were these things on g325 until I started filling in n400. We have two small children from marriage, boy and girl and my whole future depends on this....so that is why I am needing help, because I am doing filing myself as Attorney is so expensive and I am trying to save the money. Can you answer me that for question 6 a and b I only fill in information for last three years then? Thank you for all your help, and I am sorry for being so stupid.