PRACTICE AREA
Naturalization: the last application you will ever file
For most of our clients, the N-400 is the final step of a journey that took years — and the first filing where the goal is not another status, but the end of filings altogether. We prepare it so that it lands the way it should: once, cleanly, and for good.
Naturalization is the one application in immigration law that closes the file instead of opening a new one. It is also the one the government reads against your entire history — every entry, every absence, every answer on every past form. Most applications sail through. Our work is making sure yours is one of them, and that nothing from the years behind you complicates the year ahead.
Who qualifies, and when
Most permanent residents may apply after five years with a green card, or after three years when married to and living with a U.S. citizen. You must also show continuous residence and physical presence in the United States, good moral character during the qualifying period, and the ability to pass the English and civics requirements — with exemptions and accommodations available based on age, time as a resident, and disability. The residence math is where careful applicants stumble most often: extended trips abroad can break continuity even when the green card itself was never in question, and the count is less forgiving than people assume.
The record review — the part most people skip
Before we file anything, we go through your history the way an officer will: every trip and its dates, any arrest or citation however old or minor, your tax filings, your selective service registration if it applies, and every answer on the forms that got you your green card. We are looking for two kinds of problems — things that could delay or deny the application, and the rarer things that could put the green card itself at risk if raised. If we find something, you hear about it before the government does, along with what it means and what to do about it.
The right time to find a problem in your record is across a desk from your own lawyer — with time to fix it — and the wrong time is across a desk from an officer, under oath.
Old arrests and the criminal record question
This is where our practice has a specific advantage. Before focusing on immigration law, Yuliya spent several years working in the field of criminal law, and she reads criminal records the way immigration officers read them — knowing that the immigration consequences of a disposition are often different from what the criminal outcome suggests. A dismissed charge, an expunged conviction, a decades-old citation: each still has to be disclosed, each is evaluated under immigration rules rather than criminal ones, and each is far better addressed in the application than discovered at the interview. If your history includes anything at all, bring it to the consultation — including the paperwork, if you have it.
The interview and the tests
The naturalization interview covers your application line by line, under oath, along with the English test and the civics test. We prepare you for all of it: the study materials for the civics questions, what the officer will ask about your file, and how to answer accurately about anything sensitive we identified in the review. Applicants who qualify for age-based or disability-based exemptions from the testing requirements should raise it early — the exemptions are real, and we file for them properly in advance.
Citizenship for your children
When a parent naturalizes, children under eighteen who are permanent residents and living in that parent’s custody generally become citizens automatically by law — what remains is proving it, usually with a certificate of citizenship or a U.S. passport. Families often either miss this entirely or file applications the child never needed. Tell us about every child at the consultation, wherever they were born, and we will tell you which documents each one actually requires.
QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
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Three years if you are married to and living with a U.S. citizen and got your green card at least three years ago; five years for most everyone else. The application can be filed up to ninety days before the anniversary. The count runs from the date on your green card — check the card, then let us verify the residence and presence math before you rely on it.
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Do not file before someone has looked at it — and do not assume it disqualifies you either. Most old, minor matters do not prevent naturalization, but every arrest must be disclosed regardless of outcome, and a small number of issues are serious enough that filing could put your green card at risk. This is exactly what our record review is for. Bring the paperwork if you have it; if you do not, we can help you obtain it.
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Trips of six months or longer can raise a presumption that you broke continuous residence, and trips of a year or longer generally do break it, with limited exceptions. Shorter trips count against your physical presence total. If you travel often or spent long stretches abroad, bring your passport stamps and travel dates — the math decides more of these cases than anything else.
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The civics test draws from a published list of study questions, and the interview tests basic English reading, writing, and speaking. Exemptions and accommodations exist based on age plus years of residence, and based on medical disability. If either might apply to you, tell us at the consultation — qualifying for an exemption changes how we prepare you.
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An expiring card and an eligible naturalization application often overlap, and whether you need to renew the card while the N-400 is pending depends on timing and current policy. We advise on the sequencing at the consultation so you keep valid proof of status throughout — do not simply let the card lapse.
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Many people genuinely do not, and if your history is clean we will say so. Where a record includes an arrest, long absences, tax complications, or anything you were unsure how to answer on a past application, the review costs far less than a denied naturalization application — or than the rare, worse outcome of a filing that reopens your green card.
CITIZENSHIP · SAN DIEGO
Finish it properly
Consultations in English or Russian, by phone or video. Bring your travel dates and any record paperwork — one careful review now, and the next document after this one is a certificate.