Menu
Important Changes to the N-400 Application for Naturalization
On February 4, 2014, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service released a new N-400 Application for Naturalization form. The old form may still be used until May 5, 2014. After that date, only the new form may be used.
Why is the new form so much longer?
The most noticeable change to the N-400 is that the new form is much longer: 21 pages instead of 10. The increased length is due to a number of things:
- Bar codes have been added to make processing easier.
- Instructions are longer, better, and more clear.
- There are more questions, especially about family members and about moral character.
- There is more space to provide information.
How have the questions changed?
Many of the questions have changed to provide clearer or more specific information. While some of the more detailed questions are designed to help the applicant determine if s/he may already be a citizen, other questions were added to alert USCIS to potential problems which may deem an applicant ineligible for citizenship. Some important changes include:
Family Members
- Questions about parents are designed to help determine whether you may have acquired or derived citizenship status from your parents without realizing it.
- Questions about marital history now allow you to say whether you are married to a member of the U.S. armed forces. For previous marriages that have ended, "annulment" has been added as a choice as to how the marriage ended.
- The section about your children lets you add biographical information about additional children on additional sheets of paper. Also, the new form requires you describe your relationship to the child as biological parent, adoptive parent, or stepparent.
Selective Service
- If you were required to register for the United States Selective Service but did not do so, the new N-400, like the old one, requires you to explain why. In addition, the new form requires you to provide a status information letter from the Selective Service.
Military Service
- Some questions are intended to determine if you are a member of the United States Armed Forces and if so, if you are eligible for certain benefits.
- Some questions relate to whether your conduct while in the United States Armed Forces might bar you from certain benefits, including citizenship.
Travel Outside the United States
- On the old N-400, you had to report all trips of 24 hours or longer that you took outside the United States since you became a legal permanent resident. On the new N-400, you need only report all such trips you have taken in the last five years. However, during the last stakeholder meeting, USCIS indicated that applicants should still report all absences of 24 hours or longer beyond the 5-year period. This will require further clarification from USCIS. Until such clarification, you should consult with an attorney if prolonged absence from the United States may be an issue.
Membership in Organizations
- The new N-400, like the old one, asks the names of groups you belonged to. However, the new form also asks the purpose of the groups and your dates of membership. This is in order to determine if you have relationships to organizations that might raise security concerns. You should include every organization you belonged to, no matter how harmless.
Moral Character
- The old N-400 form asked questions about whether you were a member of certain categories. Belonging to those categories meant you were not eligible for citizenship. The new N-400 asks much more detailed and specific questions, including questions about such things as participating in genocide, torture, sexual assault or violations of religious freedom. The specific facts relating to your actions are very important on the new form.
Criminal History
- The old form asked if you have committed a crime for which you were not arrested or been charged with committing a crime. The new N-400 asks those questions, as well as if you ever attempted to commit a crime or assisted in committing a crime for which you were not arrested, of if you were charged with attempting or assisting to commit a crime.
- The new form also asks if you have ever been given probation or parole, AND if you have completed your probation or parole. If you have not completed it, you should wait until you have successfully completed the terms of your probation or parole before applying for naturalization.
- The new N-400 also asks, if you were jailed or imprisoned for a crime, how many years, months and days your imprisonment lasted.
What Hasn't Changed
Despite the many additions and changes to the new N-400 form, the underlying eligibility requirements have not changed, nor have the filing fees associated with the application.
Contact the Law Offices of Van T. Doan for more information regarding the changes to the N-400 application for naturalization and how they may affect you.
Categories: Immigration Law
