Fitzgerald, GA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

The immigration statutes specify the period of time one must be a Permanent Resident before becoming eligible to apply to become a naturalized citizen - generally 5 years for most people, and 3 years for most people married to U.S. citizens. The application itself may be filed 90 days before reaching the 5-year or 3-year mark. Those time periods are not flexible or subject to discretion. In order to become a naturalized citizen at the earliest possible time, it is important to have an application that is properly prepared and fully documented. Errors in completing the application and/or the submission of insufficient documentation can cause significant delays (or even denials). Some immigration law firms, including mine, offer legal services on a "flat fee" basis so that a client will know the total expense from the very beginning, and a few immigration law firms, including mine, offer an initial consultation free of charge.

Generally a Permanent Resident's divorce will not impact his/her eligibility for naturalization, although (1) he/she will need to wait 5 years rather than 3 years after becoming a Permanent Resident to become eligible for naturalization; and (2) depending upon such circumstances as whether the Permanent Resident attained that status through marriage and whether the divorce took place fairly soon after becoming a Permanent Resident, the naturalization applicant may need to be prepared to provide satisfactory evidence of the bona fide nature of the marriage notwithstanding that it ended in divorce.

When an eligible applicant files properly prepared I-130 and I-485 applications and pays the USCIS filing fees for those applications, there is no additional filing fee to concurrently file an I-131 application (or an I-765 application). Errors in preparing these applications or failures to provide full sets of supporting documents can cause significant delays or even more harsh consequences. Especially since you are less than fully familiar with family-based immigration application processes, it would be wise for you to work with an immigration attorney.