Apply for Citizenship instead of Renew GC / I551??

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Apr 6th 2007, 7:57 am

cabritpop

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Apply for Citizenship instead of Renew GC / I551??

I started a thread about my GC expiring last year. But now my situation has changed. Also I did search this site and USCIS + google results and I am hoping someone here can set me straight. (I found 1 user has similar situation I will send them a PM also)
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My GC/I551 just expired and I was wondering if I could just go ahead and apply for citizenship with an expired GC?

Can I also leave the country for about a month (UK and back) and still get back in (with expired status) while it is in process? (Either renewing GC or Citizenship)

Thanks in advance.

Apr 6th 2007, 12:02 pm

ian-mstm

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Location: Kentucky

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Re: Apply for Citizenship instead of Renew GC / I551??

Quote:

Originally Posted by cabritpop

I was wondering if I could just go ahead and apply for citizenship with an expired GC?

Yes.

Quote:

Can I also leave the country for about a month (UK and back) and still get back in (with expired status) while it is in process? (Either renewing GC or Citizenship)

Yes... probably. The worse that will happen is that you will have to go to secondary while they verify proof of your GC status. The card expired, your status didn't. All of this, of course, on the assumption that you have a 10-yr GC. If you have a 2-yr GC and it's expired and you didn't apply to remove the conditions on your status, then you'd best not leave the US for a while.

Ian