I-9 reverification - when to reverify, when not to, and when asking becomes a violation
9 mins read | Oct 27, 2026
Form N-400, the Application for Naturalization, is the filing that turns a green card into U.S. citizenship. Most permanent residents who are clearly eligible and have a clean record file it themselves, and that is a reasonable choice. What decides whether you need legal help is rarely the form. It is what sits in your own history. At the naturalization interview an officer has your full immigration file, including the application that got you the green card. A six-month trip, a citation from 2009, or a tax year that was never filed can all come up. What follows is a self-check you can run against your own record.
Talk to Tukki's attorneys about whether your naturalization case needs legal help
Most eligible permanent residents file Form N-400 without a lawyer
Form N-400 was designed to be filed by the applicant. If you meet the residence rules, have filed your taxes, and have no arrest record, you can complete and submit it yourself. Plenty of people do, and the result is the same certificate. Hiring a citizenship lawyer on a clean case buys review and representation at the interview. The answer turns on what USCIS will find when an officer re-reads your file. Naturalization moves you from permanent residence to citizenship, and our comparison of a green card and a visa sets out how those statuses differ. The general version of this decision, across every case type, sits in our guide on whether you need an immigration lawyer.
What the naturalization interview reopens in your immigration file
The naturalization interview is the first time since your green card was approved that an officer opens the whole file. Under INA 318, naturalization requires that you were lawfully admitted for permanent residence in accordance with all applicable provisions. The officer can therefore examine how you got the card. USCIS can find an applicant ineligible where permanent residence resulted from non-compliance with the immigration laws, regardless of fraud or willful misrepresentation. For a marriage-based green card, the officer may look at whether the couple intended to build a life together at the inception of the marriage. Our list of green card interview questions covers the earlier stage.
The interview is also the English test and the civics test
At the same appointment you take the English test and the civics test. The English portion covers speaking, judged from your interview answers, reading one of three sentences, and writing one of three dictated sentences. For applications filed on or after October 20, 2025, the civics test requires at least 12 correct answers out of 20. Form N-648, Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions, carries the medical disability exception to both tests for applicants with a disability or a mental impairment. A licensed medical doctor, doctor of osteopathy, or clinical psychologist completes it, and USCIS charges no fee. Passing clears the way to the oath ceremony.
What will your citizenship case cost?Get a personalized price and timeline estimate based on your case and nationality.
Run your history against these triggers, from an arrest record to long absences
Naturalization is the case type where filing alone is most common, and the exceptions are specific enough to list. Each item below is something an officer can ask about at the interview. A yes does not bar you from citizenship; it means the item needs documents or an explanation before Form N-400 goes in.
Triggers in your record and your travel
- Any arrest, citation or charge. The Form N-400 instructions require you to report offenses that were expunged or pardoned, and offenses from before you turned 18. An expungement does not end the duty to disclose.
- A trip abroad of six months or more. Under INA 316(b) and 8 CFR 316.5(c)(1), an absence of more than six months but less than one year creates a rebuttable presumption that you broke continuous residence.
- An absence of one year or more. Any absence of 365 days or more breaks continuous residence outright, unless USCIS approved Form N-470 before you left.
- Time spent mostly outside the United States. Physical presence is counted separately, and long cumulative absences can support a finding of abandonment of residence.
Triggers in taxes, registration and support
- Unfiled or amended tax years. Failure to file or pay taxes falls under the unlawful acts provision at 8 CFR 316.10(b)(3)(iii), and a tax filing history with gaps draws a request for evidence.
- Selective service. Men who lived in the United States between 18 and 25 were required to register. Applicants aged 26 to 31 must explain the gap in writing and send a status information letter.
- Child support arrears. Willful failure or refusal to support dependents, absent extenuating circumstances, is a conditional bar under 8 CFR 316.10(b)(3)(i).
Triggers in how you got the green card
- Anything on the original application that is no longer accurate. The officer has it at the interview and can compare it with your answers.
- A marriage-based card where the marriage has ended. The officer may revisit whether the marriage was bona fide at its inception, and a divorce moves you from the three-year rule to the five-year rule.
- A prior immigration violation or removal order. Raise these with counsel before filing, because a naturalization application does not resolve them. Tukki does not handle removal defense, which needs a lawyer who does that work. If none of these apply, your case is the common one. If one or more does, the next step is a review of the record with a citizenship lawyer before anything is filed. For most of these items the work is documentation gathered in advance. That is what an immigration lawyer on a citizenship case spends the first week doing.
What a lawyer does before Form N-400 is filed
A naturalization lawyer starts with the record rather than the form. That means ordering certified court dispositions for every arrest, pulling IRS transcripts to confirm the tax filing history, and rebuilding the travel history out of your passport stamps. The absences get mapped against the continuous residence rule before a single page is signed. The second piece is the eligibility decision. A citizenship attorney confirms whether the three-year rule under INA 319(a) or the five-year rule under INA 316(a) applies, and whether your physical presence clears the bar. Where a long trip is in the way, the advice is often to wait. Third is the disclosure itself, which a citizenship lawyer drafts from the documents rather than from memory. An arrest record gets written up once, with a certified disposition attached. If the arrest was sealed or expunged, the instructions ask for the motion and court order, or a statement that no record exists. Fourth is representation. Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative, makes the lawyer your attorney of record. USCIS notices then go to them, and they can attend the interview with you. Our guide to Form G-28 covers the rest, and the form has no fee. Hiring an immigration lawyer on a citizenship case also leaves room to change counsel later, which our post on switching immigration lawyers explains.
When filing Form N-400 alone is the right call
Filing on your own fits when the record is clean on every item above. That means no arrests at any age, no trip of six months or more since the card was issued, and taxes filed for every required year. It also means nothing on the original green card application has since changed. Eligibility then comes down to dates and documents, and filing without a citizenship lawyer is a common route. A reader who does not need a lawyer still has free resources. The USCIS Citizenship Resource Center publishes the official study materials for the civics test and the English test, including the question bank, flash cards and vocabulary lists. The Department of Justice keeps a national list of pro bono legal service providers. Accredited representatives at recognized organizations can also prepare and file Form N-400 and appear before USCIS. Both rosters are searchable by state. Confirm that anyone you pay is a licensed attorney or an accredited representative.
What it costs either way: the Form N-400 fee and legal help
The government fee comes first. Filing Form N-400 costs $710 online and $760 on paper, and there is no separate biometric services fee for this form. Households at or below 400% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines can file the paper form at a reduced fee of $380, and Form I-912 requests a full waiver. These amounts are current as of October 2026 on the USCIS fee schedule. Hire an N-400 lawyer and the cost is usually quoted as a flat fee rather than an hourly rate. Flat fees for a clean naturalization filing commonly run from about $1,000 to $2,500, and cases with an arrest record or long absences sit above that. Our breakdowns of immigration lawyer cost and immigration services cost show how firms price the work. What matters when you compare an N-400 lawyer cost against another quote is the scope. Ask the naturalization lawyer whether the fee covers the interview, a response if USCIS issues a request for evidence, and the government filing fee itself. Pricing for an I-90 card renewal covers different work, so it does not transfer.
What a denial means for your green card, and the Form N-336 hearing
A denial of Form N-400 does not take away your permanent residence. You keep your green card and can file again once the ground for the denial is resolved, which for a residence problem often means waiting. A denial resting on good moral character, or on how you obtained the card, belongs with a lawyer. The appeal route is an administrative hearing. You request it on Form N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings. The deadline is 30 calendar days after you receive the denial, or 33 days if it arrived by mail. A Form N-336 hearing costs $780 online and $830 on paper, with no fee for certain military service denials. A citizenship attorney can read the denial notice against the record before that deadline runs.
Not sure whether your case needs a lawyer?Book a free intro call and have an attorney look at the history behind your application.
How Tukki handles a naturalization case, from the file review to the interview
At Tukki the attorneys read the history before recommending anything, because the triggers above are what decide whether a case is simple. The review covers the travel record, the tax years, any arrest, and the original application. Our process page sets out the steps from that first review to the oath ceremony. Tukki quotes one end price that already includes the USCIS fees and any request for evidence the case needs. Firms that bill per service price each of those separately. You can see the figure for your own situation in the pricing tool before you speak to anyone, and the intro call is free. If one of the triggers above matches your record, a citizenship lawyer is worth an hour of your time before Form N-400 is filed.