I-9 reverification - when to reverify, when not to, and when asking becomes a violation
9 mins read | Oct 27, 2026
Naturalization is the legal process that turns a lawful permanent resident into a U.S. citizen. The application is Form N-400, filed once you have held a green card long enough to meet the rules. No employer petitions for you, and no priority date controls when you file. Some readers do not need any of this. You are already a citizen if you were born in the United States, or if you acquired citizenship at birth through a U.S. citizen parent. The same is true of derived citizenship, which passes to a child when a parent naturalizes. Proving it takes Form N-600, the application for a Certificate of Citizenship, rather than Form N-400. Everyone else arrives here from a green card. That card could have come through an employer or a self-petition, or from a move off a work visa like H-1B, O-1, TN or L-1A. The citizenship rules from this point are the same either way. Permanent residence is the status that makes it possible, and it works differently from a nonimmigrant visa.
Talk through your citizenship timing
Who meets the naturalization requirements?
Naturalization eligibility is counted backwards from the day you file, not forwards from the day you got your green card. That catches people out. A permanent resident who has held the card for nine years can still be ineligible this month because of a trip taken in year four. USCIS works through the full list below:
- Age. You are 18 or older on the day you file Form N-400.
- Permanent resident status. Five years as a lawful permanent resident, or three years if you qualify as the spouse of a U.S. citizen.
- Physical presence. At least half of that period spent physically inside the United States.
- Continuous residence. No absence long enough to break it, or to break it presumptively.
- State residence. Three months in the state or USCIS district where you file.
- Good moral character. For the whole statutory period, with earlier conduct still open to review.
- English. You can read, write and speak ordinary English, unless an exemption applies.
- Civics. A passing score on the version of the civics test that matches your filing date.
- Attachment to the Constitution. Willingness to take the Oath of Allegiance and support the Constitution. The naturalization requirements above come from sections 316 and 319 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and USCIS applies them through its Policy Manual. The rules on how to become a U.S. citizen have been stable for years, with one exception. The civics test changed in October 2025. Fees, form editions and test versions current as of October 2026. Two of those rules trip up readers who have everything else in order. You must have lived in your state or USCIS district for at least three months before you file. You may also file up to 90 days before you complete the five-year or three-year residence period, and the other requirements still have to be met on the filing date.
The five-year rule and the three-year rule
Two routes lead to the same application. The five-year rule is the general one, and it asks for five years as a permanent resident. The three-year rule is for the spouse of a U.S. citizen, and it carries conditions the longer route does not.
| Five-year rule | Three-year rule | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | INA 316 | INA 319(a) |
| Time as a permanent resident | 5 years | 3 years |
| Physical presence required | 30 months, at least 913 days | 18 months, at least 548 days |
| Marriage condition | None | Living in marital union with the citizen spouse for all 3 years |
| Spouse's status | Not relevant | Must stay a U.S. citizen from filing through the oath |
The marital union condition is the one that surprises people. Living in marital union means living together as a married couple for the full three years before filing. A separation inside that window can move you onto the five-year route, and a divorce before the oath ends the three-year claim.
Continuous residence, physical presence, and why trips abroad matter
Continuous residence and physical presence measure two different things. Physical presence is arithmetic: add up the days you spent inside the United States across the qualifying period. Continuous residence asks whether you kept the United States as your home for that whole period. A long absence can break it even when your day count is fine. Two thresholds decide it. An absence of more than six months but less than one year is presumed to break continuous residence. That presumption can be rebutted with evidence that you kept your job, your home and your family in the United States. An absence of one year or more, meaning 365 days or more, breaks it automatically. If your travel history comes anywhere near those lines, build the record before you file rather than at the interview. Work the list of departures and returns out of your passport stamps, and keep every passport covering the qualifying period, including the expired ones. Residents posted abroad by a qualifying U.S. employer can file Form N-470 to preserve residence, and it has to go in before the absence reaches one year. A card that expires mid-process is a separate question. Filing Form N-400 does not extend a green card, so a resident whose card runs out still renews it on Form I-90 and pays the renewal cost. The two filings run alongside each other without interfering.
Not sure where your residence clock stands?Put dates to your travel history with an attorney before you file.
Good moral character
Good moral character is a statutory requirement, and the period USCIS reviews matches the route you file under. That is five years for most applicants and three years for the spouse of a U.S. citizen. Inside that window USCIS looks at your criminal record, your tax filings, your child support obligations and the answers you give on Form N-400. Conduct outside the window can still be weighed, because the statute lets the officer consider earlier acts when deciding present character. The officer reviews the record, the application and your testimony together. Selective service sits inside this requirement for men. Almost all men living in the United States between 18 and 25 are required to register with the Selective Service System. USCIS treats a knowing, willful refusal to register as evidence against good moral character. A record with arrests, unfiled taxes or a prior immigration case changes the shape of the application, and it is worth a review before anything reaches USCIS. Our post on whether you need an immigration lawyer covers how that call gets made. Tukki does not take removal defense, so a prior removal order or an open case in immigration court needs counsel who practices there.
The naturalization process, step by step
USCIS sets out how to become a U.S. citizen as ten steps, and six of them involve you doing something. The sequence below is the part you take an active role in.
- File Form N-400. The 01/20/25 edition is current. Online filing is available through a USCIS account, with paper filing required if you are asking for a reduced fee or a fee waiver.
- Attend the biometrics appointment. USCIS either schedules your fingerprints at an application support center or reuses prints already on file. The notice gives you a date, and it can be rescheduled before it passes.
- Go to the interview at your USCIS field office. An officer puts you under oath and goes through the application line by line.
- Take the English and civics tests. Both are administered in the same appointment, and the officer tells you the result before you leave.
- Receive the decision. USCIS grants, continues or denies the case. A continuation usually means a missing document or a test component to retake.
- Take the Oath of Allegiance. You attend a ceremony, swear the oath and receive your Certificate of Naturalization. You are a citizen from that moment and not before.
The English test and the civics test
The English test has three components, all on words in ordinary usage: reading, writing and speaking. The officer scores your speaking from the conversation during the interview itself, so no separate speaking exam gets scheduled. Which civics test you take depends on when you filed. Applicants who filed Form N-400 before October 20, 2025 take the 2008 test, which draws up to 10 questions from a bank of 100 and needs 6 correct. Applicants who filed on or after that date take the 2025 test, which asks 20 questions and needs 12 correct. USCIS publishes the official study materials for both. You get two attempts at each component. If you fail the English test or the civics test at your interview, USCIS schedules a second examination between 60 and 90 days later. Failing the same component twice results in a denial. Age and residence exemptions change what you sit. Applicants who are 50 or older with 20 years as a permanent resident are exempt from the English test, as are applicants 55 or older with 15 years. Both groups still take the civics test, in their own language if they bring their own interpreter. Applicants 65 or older with 20 years get a shorter civics test, drawn as 10 questions from a designated set of 20, with 6 needed to pass. A medical disability exception works differently from the age exemptions. Form N-648 is certified by a licensed medical doctor, osteopathic doctor or clinical psychologist, and the impairment has to have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 months. A disability on its own does not carry the exception, and USCIS will not grant one where an accommodation can be provided instead. Accommodations include extra time, breaks, a sign language interpreter, an oral exam, large print and braille.
What happens at the naturalization interview
The interview is a review of your whole file, not only of the form you filed. The officer has your green card application in front of them, so how you obtained permanent residence is open for questions, including the answers you gave then. Everything you say is under oath. Bring your green card, every passport covering the qualifying period including expired ones, and whatever your appointment notice listed. Applicants filing on the three-year rule bring proof the marriage is current. The questions cover much of the same ground as the green card interview, with your residence and travel history getting closer attention.
What Form N-400 costs
Form N-400 costs $760 filed on paper and $710 filed online, and USCIS charges no separate biometric services fee for it. Applicants with low household income can request a reduced fee or a full fee waiver, and either request has to be filed on paper. Those figures come from the USCIS fee schedule and are current as of October 2026, so check the Form N-400 page for the amount on the day you file.
How long it takes from filing to the oath ceremony
The national median for Form N-400 is 7.4 months, measured across fiscal year 2026 through August 30, 2026, for applications outside the military category. Half of all cases took longer than that. Processing times current as of October 2026. The wait splits into three legs. Receipt to the biometrics appointment is usually the shortest, running a few weeks from the notice. Biometrics to the interview is the longest and the most variable, because interviews are scheduled office by office and the backlog differs by city. Interview to the oath ceremony then depends on how often your field office holds ceremonies, which ranges from the same day to a few months. No single leg is the whole timeline, and a number quoted for one of them says nothing about the other two. USCIS publishes processing times by office, which tells you more than the national median once you know where your case sits.
If USCIS denies your Form N-400
A denial leaves your permanent resident status where it was. You keep the green card and the right to live and work in the United States, and you can file again once you meet the requirement you missed. Form N-336 requests a hearing on the denial before a different immigration officer. It has to be filed within 30 calendar days of receiving the decision, or 33 days if USCIS mailed it to you. The officer who hears it can reverse the denial or affirm it. Choosing between a hearing and a fresh filing turns on why the case was denied, which the decision notice sets out.
What changes once you have U.S. citizenship
U.S. citizenship changes a handful of concrete things. You can vote in federal elections and apply for a U.S. passport. You can petition for relatives, including parents, which permanent residents cannot do. Renewals stop, because the certificate you receive at the ceremony does not expire. Long absences stop putting your status at risk, since a citizen has no residence requirement to maintain. The United States permits dual citizenship. U.S. law does not require anyone to choose between nationalities, and the Department of State describes dual nationals as owing allegiance to both countries. Your other country may see it differently, and some treat citizenship elsewhere as giving up their own, so check its rules before the oath ceremony.
Ready to file for citizenship?Talk to the attorneys who will read your record against the residence rules.
How Tukki handles your citizenship case
The first thing the attorneys do is read the travel record and the immigration history against the residence rules. That reading decides whether the case is simple. A resident with clean dates has a short file. A resident with a nine-month absence in year three has a rebuttal to build, and that work belongs before filing rather than after USCIS asks for it. Our process page sets out how a case moves from the first call.
Where to start on your U.S. citizenship application
Most of the naturalization process is waiting, and the part you control is the record you hand USCIS on the filing date. Pull your travel history, count the days inside the United States, and get anything unusual in your immigration or criminal record reviewed before the application goes in. Tukki is an immigration law firm that runs cases end to end, with attorneys on the legal strategy and software that keeps documents, deadlines and case status in one place. On a citizenship case that means your travel record and your filing history get read against the residence rules before anything is submitted. More than 150 people have come through the firm, with a 95% approval rate.