Time to process for naturalization from MN

[blitzg27606]

I have a GC since the last .5 years and meet the eligibility criteria for US citizenship. I am in Minnesota and wondering how long the whole process takes if I apply now for citizenship. Also can I leave the country for vacation ( 3-4 weeks) while the N 400 form is being processed.

My Indian passport expires in Oct 2019. Should I wait till I renew my Indian passport, to be on the safe side or should I apply for the citizenship anyway. Also if the processing gets delayed, am I allowed to renew my Indian passport while the US naturalization process is ongoing.

thanks in advance for any insight

[scientist2016]

I have a GC since the last .5 years and meet the eligibility criteria for US citizenship. I am in Minnesota and wondering how long the whole process takes if I apply now for citizenship. Also can I leave the country for vacation ( 3-4 weeks) while the N 400 form is being processed.

My Indian passport expires in Oct 2019. Should I wait till I renew my Indian passport, to be on the safe side or should I apply for the citizenship anyway. Also if the processing gets delayed, am I allowed to renew my Indian passport while the US naturalization process is ongoing.

thanks in advance for any insight

US citizens are allowed to have dual citizenship. but Indian citizens are not. Until you complete the oath ceremony you will not be a US citizen. So you can renew your Indian passport as long as you haven't completed the naturalization process, i.e., renewal is allowed even during the process.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

I have a GC since the last .5 years and meet the eligibility criteria for US citizenship. I am in Minnesota and wondering how long the whole process takes if I apply now for citizenship. Also can I leave the country for vacation ( 3-4 weeks) while the N 400 form is being processed.

My Indian passport expires in Oct 2019. Should I wait till I renew my Indian passport, to be on the safe side or should I apply for the citizenship anyway. Also if the processing gets delayed, am I allowed to renew my Indian passport while the US naturalization process is ongoing.

thanks in advance for any insight

I just wanted to clarify the concept of dual nationality. U.S. law does not mention dual nationality or require a person to choose one nationality or another. A U.S. citizen may naturalize in a foreign state without any risk to his or her U.S. citizenship. I have two passports and supposedly, I am required to enter my country of origin with that passport. Well, at one point, I didn't know where it was and I traveled to my country of origin with my US passport which states my country of origin without any issues. For all they know you could have been adopted at the time of your birth, etc. My country of origin is not on the ESTA waiver list. Thus, airlines get fuzzy about you leaving the country without a valid US visa on it. In the mean time, you have your US passport in your back pocket.

While the US does not recognize or prohibit being a national of two countries, the US does not care. No one is going to ask you to surrender your Indian passport during your citizenship ceremony. Neither USCIS or the Department of State forward a list of newly naturalized citizens to their embassies. There is literally no way for anyone to know unless you want them to.

My field office is Minneapolis, MN, as well. It's the 3rd slowest for family based AOS. Here's where you can check processing times: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

For N-400, MSP reports it takes 13 Months to process 50% of cases from application to oath and 20.5 Months to process 93% of the cases. Case inquiry date is August 07, 2016. I would ignore that inquiry date.

Focus on submitting an error free N-400. The nice thing is that if you're missing anything, they'll issue a courtesy letter asking you to bring it to the interview; instead of giving you a RFE and delaying your processing.

All the best.