Naturalization & Citizenship

Citizenship is the most consequential immigration benefit a person can receive. It is the difference between a status that can be revoked and a status that, in almost every practical sense, cannot. It opens the right to vote, the right to petition for parents and siblings, the right to federal employment and security clearances, the right to travel without re-entry concerns, the right to remain in the United States after any criminal conviction or change in immigration policy.

The danger is that filing the wrong N-400 is worse than not filing at all. USCIS reviews the entire A-file at the naturalization interview. If the underlying green card was obtained through a marriage USCIS now believes was not bona fide, through a misrepresentation, or before a ground of inadmissibility was triggered, the N-400 can produce rescission of permanent residence under INA § 246 or placement in removal proceedings under INA § 240 for inadmissibility-at-time-of-adjustment grounds. We have inherited cases from clients whose previous attorney filed N-400 without screening. The result was deportation.

Consider Esperanza, an LPR for fifteen years who got her green card through her mother. She has a single misdemeanor petty theft from twelve years ago, dismissed under a deferred-judgment statute. Her last lawyer told her it was no problem. The plea was a CIMT under the immigration definition. The N-400 was denied for failure to show good moral character — and ICE issued a Notice to Appear at the interview window, three days later. The case became a removal-defense matter overnight.

Consider Tomás, a 19-year-old who has lived in the U.S. as an LPR since age 4. His father naturalized when Tomás was 17 and they were living together. Tomás does not need to file N-400 — he automatically acquired U.S. citizenship under INA § 320 the day his father was sworn in. He just needs an N-600 to document it. Most of his peers do not know this rule.

Consider Beatriz, an LPR married to a U.S. citizen for three years and ready to naturalize early under INA § 319. She has an old DUI from before adjustment. Was the DUI a CIMT? Was it disclosed at adjustment? Will USCIS find that she lacked good moral character during the relevant statutory period? These are not paperwork questions. They are written-brief questions.

The naturalization statute

Two main pathways:

• INA § 316 (general naturalization) — requires (1) lawful permanent resident status for at least 5 years, (2) continuous residence in the U.S. for that period, (3) physical presence for at least half of it, (4) residence in the state or USCIS district for 3 months, (5) good moral character throughout the statutory period, (6) attachment to the U.S. Constitution, and (7) the English and civics tests.
• INA § 319(a) (spouse of U.S. citizen) — reduces (1) and (3) to 3 years for an LPR who has been married to and living with the same U.S. citizen spouse during that period.

Special rules cover military service (INA §§ 328 and 329), spouses of U.S. citizens working abroad (INA § 319(b)), children of U.S. citizens (INA §§ 320, 322), and applicants who have lost their physical-presence accrual through statutory abandonment of residence.

What "continuous residence" actually means

A trip outside the U.S. of more than six months is presumed to break continuous residence — and a trip of more than one year does so by statute (INA § 316(b)). The presumption can be rebutted; the one-year break cannot, except by the rare INA § 316(b) preserved-residence application filed before the trip. Many denials come from clients whose immigration journey involved a long trip home for a sick parent, a job posting abroad, or a family emergency. The case has to be timed.

Good moral character

GMC under INA § 101(f) and 8 C.F.R. § 316.10 is the single most litigated issue in N-400 practice. Statutory bars include controlled-substance offenses, two or more gambling offenses, conviction of a CIMT or aggregate sentence of 5+ years, false testimony to obtain immigration benefits, and habitual drunkenness. Discretionary GMC denials reach further: arrests not resulting in conviction, unpaid taxes, failure to register for the Selective Service, child-support arrears, and "any other unlawful acts."

Prior-removal and inadmissibility traps

USCIS reviews the entire immigration history at the naturalization interview. If adjustment of status was granted at a time the applicant was inadmissible, the agency can place the applicant in removal proceedings for the original inadmissibility — Matter of Koloamatangi. We screen for this in every case before filing.

Acquisition and derivation of citizenship

Under INA § 320, a child under 18 who is an LPR and is residing in the legal and physical custody of a U.S. citizen parent acquires U.S. citizenship automatically. Under INA § 301, a child born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent (or parents) may have been a U.S. citizen at birth, depending on the parent's prior physical presence in the U.S. Filing N-600 documents the citizenship; it does not confer it. Many of our acquired-citizenship clients have lived as LPRs for years not knowing they were already U.S. citizens.

The Mendoza Immigration approach

We do not file N-400 without first ordering the A-file via G-639 FOIA. The A-file shows what USCIS actually has — the prior immigration history, the inadmissibility issues that may have been waived (or not), the prior interviews, and the prior testimony. Without the A-file, we are guessing about what the officer will see at the interview. We do not guess.

We then run a good-moral-character audit. Every traffic infraction, every contact with police, every tax filing, every Selective Service registration, every prior immigration filing. We pull the certified court records from every state and county where the client has lived. We do not rely on the client's memory. We rely on the documents.

For applicants with criminal history or prior immigration issues, we will recommend a post-conviction relief strategy before filing N-400 if the underlying conviction is vacatable on legal grounds (Penal Code § 1473.7 in California, similar mechanisms in Arizona and other states). The right vacatur eliminates the conviction for immigration purposes. The wrong vacatur (a "rehabilitative" vacatur) does not.

For acquired and derived citizenship cases, we draft an N-600 evidentiary memorandum that walks USCIS through the chain: the parent's birth or naturalization, the parent's physical presence in the U.S. in the relevant period, the legitimation, the legal and physical custody, and the LPR admission. Done right, N-600s are routinely approved without an interview.

Finally, we prepare every client for the interview. We do mock interviews. We rehearse the civics questions. We rehearse the harder good-moral-character questions. We do not show up and hope the officer is in a good mood.

How we build for a discretionary decision <!-- pm-602-0199 -->

PM-602-0199 (May 21, 2026) is an adjustment-of-status memo, not a naturalization memo — but it lives downstream of every N-400 we file, because the good moral character (GMC) analysis under INA § 101(f) and 8 C.F.R. § 316.10 already incorporates the same totality-of-circumstances factors the memo emphasizes: family ties, employment history, tax compliance, community service, evidence of rehabilitation, and the absence of conduct that reflects adversely on character.

Our N-400 prep mirrors a discretionary AOS file: complete arrest-and-citation history (even dismissed and expunged), every tax return for the statutory period, selective-service compliance documentation, character-reference letters, and where any adverse factor exists, the cure — vacatur of a conviction under post-conviction relief, an INA § 212(h) analysis where the underlying conduct intersects with admissibility, restitution receipts, completion certificates. (Naturalization adjustment is governed by its own framework — there is no I-601A pathway in this context.)

For the broader read on the May 2026 memo, see the explainer. To review your N-400 readiness and GMC record, schedule a consultation.