Anyone apply for citizenship without a lawyer?

su7kids

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 9:32 am

chocolate moose wrote:

nylon wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

As far as I know, it's going to depend on where you are from and the quotas for that country.

That's for a visa, nto for citizenship. Once you have your green card and have been here the right amount of time (spouses don't need as long), you can file.

That's actually not true. I knew someone born in Mexico who grew up here, whou couldn't get us citizenship. His paretns were citizens, though. His parents paid lawyers for years and years to no avail.

Was he married to an American?

su7kids

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 9:37 am

We did our Green card application, from oustide the country, without a lawyer. We were told there was no way to do it. We proved them wrong, and it didn't take long. We did come from a country where quotas were an issue.

But the citizenship application is a breeze. once you have the green card the rest is technicalities. It didn't take us long to get an interview, but the interview was when my last child was 8 days old. Luckily it was a girl!! Usually they don't take spouses in together, but because we had a baby, they had rachmonos on us, and when they asked a question, my pregnancy and post partum brain could not hold any information, I said "I just had a baby, ask my husband!" and the guy was really nice.

Also, the "sentence" that you write stays in your records at Washington forever, and I couldn't think of anything profound to write, so I wrote "The sky is blue and its a lovely day". They just want to see that you can write in English.

Go for it, just do the paperwork. It could take up to a year to hear back from them.

que hago aca?

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 10:18 am

I applied on September 14th, interview Feb 3rd, oath scheduled for Feb. 24th. I forgot to mention that in youtube.com you can find videos that guide you through the whole process.
I've found this series interesting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....lated

Pickle Lady

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 10:41 am

su7kids- my husband is from the same country as you. Did you come to the US around the same time most people fleed that country, around 20 years ago? Were you married to an american also? I didn't know that there was a qouta for the country.

I was also wondering if a qouta would be applicable to someone married to american. We had no problem getting a green card. It doesn't sound like getting citizenship is as hard as green card.

su7kids

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 11:58 am

Pickle Lady wrote:

I don't think the quota counts for a married person. I am married to someone from the same country as me.

Once you have a green card, citizenship is a slam dunk. It was the green card that was an issue.

brooklyn

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 12:09 pm

If you have no issues, like arrests or orders of removal then there is no need for a lawyer. All they will do is charge you large sums of money to fill out forms for you.

chocolate moose

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 12:11 pm

su7kids wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

nylon wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

As far as I know, it's going to depend on where you are from and the quotas for that country.

That's for a visa, nto for citizenship. Once you have your green card and have been here the right amount of time (spouses don't need as long), you can file.

Was he married to an American?

He was born in Mexico to parents who were not American citizens at that time, iirc. I think he did marry an American.

su7kids

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 12:22 pm

I do know that some of the marriage rules changed, and you had to be married a minimum of two years and subject to checking up (by asking you and the spouse questions separately, I.e. which side of the bed does he sleep in, to verify that they really ARE married) to be given a green card, but not citizenship. once you've done the green card, the citizenship is a slam dunk, unless you've been "naughty" between getting the green card and applying for citizenship.

Peanut2

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 2:04 pm

Any advice about getting a green card?
We are starting to think of getting a green card for my dh while here in the UK. He's an EU citizen but not a British one. I read up a bit online and it actually doesn't seem as complicated as I expected. Any advice? How easy/difficult is it and how long does it take?
I just don't feel like starting such an expensive process if we're just going to mess it up and need a lawyer in the end...

Pickle Lady

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 6:09 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

su7kids wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

nylon wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

As far as I know, it's going to depend on where you are from and the quotas for that country.

That's for a visa, nto for citizenship. Once you have your green card and have been here the right amount of time (spouses don't need as long), you can file.

Was he married to an American?

He was born in Mexico to parents who were not American citizens at that time, iirc. I think he did marry an American.

CM what your saying is extremely helpful since I met my husband as he was running accross the mexican -US border. Rolling Eyes

chocolate moose

Thu, Feb 04 2010, 9:34 pm

Pickle Lady wrote:

CM what your saying is extremely helpful since I met my husband as he was running accross the mexican -US border. Rolling Eyes

Sometimes these things are a judgment call.

Whereas theoretically you might be able to do this on your own, if you use a lawyer (or in real estate a broker, or for tax issues an accountant) you might be able to save time, money, etc.

cindy324

Fri, Feb 05 2010, 11:58 am

Pickle Lad, I'm also planning on applying for citizenship sometime this year (that $695 application fee hurts!)

I used a lawyer for the green card, but I plan on doing the citizenship myself, seems pretty straightforward, no reason to pay big $$ to a lawyer.

CM re your Mexican friends: Just because the parents are citizens doesn't mean the child will automatically be approved for citizenship, especially if the child was over 18 at the time they tried to apply for him. If the parents were granted citizenship during the time he was a minor, there should have been no problems.

Even if he's married to an American citizen, if he entered the US illegally (jumped the border, no visa) it's extremely difficult to get a greencard.

chocolate moose

Fri, Feb 05 2010, 1:19 pm

cindy324 wrote:

CM re your Mexican friends: Just because the parents are citizens doesn't mean the child will automatically be approved for citizenship, especially if the child was over 18 at the time they tried to apply for him. If the parents were granted citizenship during the time he was a minor, there should have been no problems.

Even if he's married to an American citizen, if he entered the US illegally (jumped the border, no visa) it's extremely difficult to get a greencard.

I don't know all the details but the parents weren't citizens either and they foght for citizenship for them all, for many years. They never got his because, iirc, the quotas fror Mexicancitizenship were always full.

Pickle Lady

Fri, Feb 05 2010, 2:51 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

cindy324 wrote:

I am confused. Scratching Head

Why are you writing about your mexican friend? I asked if anyone has done the citizenship process without a lawyer. Not..does anyone know a mexican who had a hard time getting citizenship.

nylon

Sun, Feb 07 2010, 3:09 pm

Peanut2 wrote:

I did this, though DH was a UK citizen. Are you a US citizen? If so, the process depends on how long you have been resident in the UK. If it's at least 2 years, you can apply through the embassy. This takes 6-8 months. We sent our initial petition in at New Years and DH got his approval in August. IF you are good at paperwork, you can do it all yourself.

If you have not established residency abroad (from USCIS' POV) then you have to do it through the USA, and I don't know how long it takes--I know it's longer.

Spouses are not subject to quotas.

jemappelle

Thu, Feb 18 2010, 12:24 am

TriesToBePerfectMom wrote:

We're in the middle of the process of citizenship and have been doing everything without a lawyer. I'm sorry for changing the topic but if anyone has any tips about the Citizenship test, that would be wonderful.

We applied for green card and then citizenship for my husband without a lawyer as well. Documents were pretty straightforward as everyone had mentioned. Regarding the test- its pretty commical, when you go for biometrics, they will give you a booklet with 100 questions. at the test they will orally ask you only 10 and you need to get 6 correct! they will also ask you to read and write in english. questions were about the constitution, ammendments, president, congress/house of representatives, pledge of allegiance, flag etc. simple stuff. my husband read through it the night before...
Regarding listing every time you left the country- its only I believe during the five (? it says the number on the application) years prior to application of citizenship