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Change of citizenship while on Green Card
Anonymous2 views3 answers
I have green card and am planning to go for US citizenship. I have last five years continuous residency and have filed all my taxes. I was out of US for a while (before the five year continuous residence) but maintained re-entry permits (3 in all). During that time I got UK passport (had Indian citizenship before). I have traveled many times out of US since then using UK passport and Green card.
My wife got her GC for marriage to me (had Indian citizenship during GC application process). She got her UK passport after receiving her GC. But since then she also (along with me) stayed in US for five continuous years.
Does change of citizenship after receiving a GC cause any issue? Can the above cause any problem for our US citizenship application?
The use of 3 2-year re-entry permits and the fact that you applied for citizenship in the UK does have me concerned ... this can be viewed as acts 'against' your US residence.
Meet with an attorney.
As long as you have enough evidence to support maintenance of your US lawful permanent resident status, acquiring another foreign citizenship will bear no effect on your condition as a resident of the United States (this would looked at differently if you had already naturalized as a U.S. Citizen).
You should consult with an experienced licensed immigration attorney like myself or any of my colleagues before proceeding with your naturalization application to make sure you meet all of the other minimum requirements.
I agree that there is nothing in the statute that makes a change of foreign citizenship, on its own, a disqualifying event for U.S. naturalization.
The issue, as my colleague has suggested, is whether or not you can be deemed to have abandoned your residency in the U.S. during the process of getting another foreign citizenship. One would have to take a more detailed look at the underlying facts before making any reasoned assessment of the possible risks in moving forward on a naturalization application.
