Citizenship Lawyer Denver

Most applicants must have been a lawful permanent resident for at least 5 years before filing the N-400. If you are married to — and living in marital union with — a U.S. citizen, that window generally drops to 3 years, provided your spouse has been a U.S. citizen for the entire period. This is the path many of our Denver clients use. The shorter timeline does not make the rest of the requirements easier; it only shortens the residence clock. The continuous-residence, physical-presence, good-moral-character, and English/civics requirements still apply.

Two related but distinct requirements live here. Continuous residence generally means you have kept your home in the United States throughout the statutory period — 5 years, or 3 years for the spousal path. Physical presence generally means you were actually inside the country for at least half of that period (roughly 30 months out of 5 years, or 18 months out of 3 years). You also generally need to have lived in the state or USCIS district where you file for at least 3 months. Long trips abroad can break continuous residence: under the governing regulations, an absence of more than 6 months can raise a rebuttable presumption that you broke it, and an absence of a year or more can break it outright. If you travel for work, family, or any other reason, this is worth reviewing before you file.

USCIS must find that you have been a person of good moral character during the statutory period. This is not a vague vibe check. Federal law — INA § 101(f) / 8 U.S.C. § 1101(f) and the regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 316.10 — lists specific conduct that can bar a finding of good moral character. Some bars are permanent (for example, a murder conviction, or an aggravated-felony conviction on or after November 29, 1990). Others are conditional and tied to the statutory period — including certain crimes involving moral turpitude, controlled-substance offenses, false testimony to obtain an immigration benefit, and a broad catch-all for unlawful acts that reflect adversely on moral character. This is the single most important section on this page to take seriously. Even old, sealed, expunged, or seemingly minor matters can surface at the naturalization interview — and the good-moral-character review is exactly where a routine application can go wrong.

Most applicants must show they can speak, read, and write basic English and must pass a civics test on U.S. history and government. The number of questions and the passing score are set by USCIS policy and have changed in recent years; we confirm the current version with you and prepare you against the exact question set USCIS is using at the time of your interview. There are also real exceptions. Applicants who are 50 or older with 20 years as a permanent resident (the "50/20" rule), or 55 or older with 15 years (the "55/15" rule), may generally take the civics test in their preferred language. Applicants 65 or older with 20 years as a permanent resident may be eligible for a simplified set of civics questions. And applicants with a qualifying physical, developmental, or mental disability may seek an exception to the English and/or civics requirement with a medical certification (Form N-648). If English is a worry for you, you are not alone — and you may have more options than you think.

After USCIS accepts the application, most applicants are scheduled for a biometrics appointment — fingerprints and a photo — so the agency can run background checks. Under the current USCIS fee rule, the biometrics fee is generally bundled into the N-400 filing fee rather than charged separately. We deliberately keep specific dollar figures off this page where USCIS could change them; we confirm the current fee with you in the consultation.

The interview is the heart of the process. A USCIS officer reviews your N-400 with you under oath, asks about your background and eligibility, and administers the English and civics tests (unless you qualify for an exception). This is also where good-moral-character questions get asked directly — which is exactly why we want to know about anything in your history before you walk into that room. Preparation matters here. We prepare clients for the questions the officer is likely to ask, in English or in Spanish, so the interview is a confirmation of work already done rather than a surprise.

If the application is approved, the final step is the oath of allegiance. In the Denver area, oath ceremonies are typically administered by USCIS at the field office that serves the Denver metro; in some cases applicants are scheduled for a judicial ceremony at the U.S. District Court in Denver. Both are legally valid. USCIS notifies you of the time and place on a written ceremony notice. When you take the oath, you become a U.S. citizen — and that status is yours.

This is the big one. A criminal record does not automatically end your path to citizenship — but it changes everything about how the case should be handled. The good-moral-character review reaches old conduct, dismissed cases, deferred judgments, and matters you may believe are sealed or expunged. Worse, an undisclosed or mishandled criminal issue at the N-400 stage can do more than get the application denied: it can in some cases put you in front of USCIS as a removable noncitizen and trigger a referral to immigration court. If you have any criminal history — anything at all — talk to an immigration attorney before you file. This is exactly the situation where a denied citizenship application can become a deportation case. We screen for it first. Learn how criminal charges interact with immigration status on our DUI and immigration consequences page and our deportation defense page.

If you have spent significant time outside the United States during your statutory period — caring for family overseas, working abroad, or for any other reason — your continuous residence may be in question. As noted above, an absence of more than 6 months can raise a presumption that you broke continuous residence, and a year or more can break it outright. These cases are often winnable with the right documentation showing you maintained your U.S. home and ties, but they need to be set up correctly before filing.

Two quiet tripwires. Failing to file required tax returns — or claiming to be a "non-resident" on a tax return while holding a green card — can raise good-moral-character questions at the interview. So can a failure to register for the Selective Service when it was required. Neither is necessarily fatal, but both are the kind of thing you want identified and addressed before USCIS raises it.

The 3-year spousal path requires that you be living in marital union with your U.S.-citizen spouse through the statutory period and up to the time you naturalize. If the marriage is strained, separated, or in transition, the 3-year path can become complicated — and in some situations the safer route is the standard 5-year path instead. These are sensitive, fact-specific decisions that deserve a real conversation with an attorney, not a guess on a form.

It depends, and the honest answer is that timelines move. USCIS publishes processing times by field office and updates them regularly, and individual cases vary widely based on complexity, background checks, and whether the agency issues requests for additional evidence. Rather than quote a number that could be wrong by the time you read it, we give you a realistic estimate for your specific case at the consultation and update it as USCIS data changes.

It can, and this is the most important question on the page to take seriously. The good-moral-character review reaches old conduct, dismissed cases, deferred judgments, and matters you may believe are sealed or expunged. Depending on what the offense was and when it happened, it could be a conditional bar, a permanent bar, or no bar at all — but you generally cannot know which without an attorney reviewing the actual record. And here is the part people miss: an undisclosed or mishandled criminal issue at the N-400 stage can do more than get you denied. It can in some cases put you in front of USCIS as a removable noncitizen and trigger a referral to immigration court. If you have any criminal history, talk to an immigration attorney before you file. We screen for exactly this.

Usually yes — most applicants must show basic English and pass a civics test — but there are real exceptions. If you are 50 or older with 20 years as a permanent resident, or 55 or older with 15 years, you may generally take the civics test in your preferred language. At 65 or older with 20 years, you may be eligible for a simplified civics question set. And a qualifying disability may exempt you from the English and/or civics requirement with a medical certification. If English is your worry, do not let it stop you from asking — you may have more options than you think, and we will walk through them with you in Spanish if that is easier.

It is USCIS's assessment of whether you have been a person of good moral character during the statutory period, measured against specific conduct that federal law treats as disqualifying — some of it permanently, some of it only during the relevant years. It covers far more than criminal convictions: false statements to obtain immigration benefits, certain unpaid obligations, and a broad catch-all for unlawful acts that reflect adversely on character can all come up. It is the part of the process where seemingly small things in your history matter, which is why we review the whole picture before you file.

This is the fear we hear most, and it deserves a straight answer: a denial alone does not erase your green card, but in some cases — particularly where a criminal or immigration-history issue surfaces during the process — a naturalization application can expose problems that lead USCIS to refer you to removal proceedings. That is not most cases. But it is a real risk for anyone with a complicated history, and it is precisely why we screen before filing. For applicants with a clean record and solid eligibility, applying is generally lower-risk — but whether that describes your situation is exactly what a consultation is for. If it is not, the time to find out is before you file, not after. We will tell you straight which situation you are in.