Naturalization with spouse, but need it to be on separate days

[Rockdeman]

Hi all, me and my spouse are approaching 5 years of Continuous Residence (and Physical Presence).

We would very much like to keep our original (EU based-) nationalities.
Due to restrictive (and rather outdated 19th century) legislation in my country of birth, we need to make sure that my spouse naturalizes as US citizen at least 1 day after I do.

(I won't go into details as to how the law works back in the old country, but I have researched this extensively. My nation of birth basically hates dual citizens, nevermind that the Queen herself is a dual citizen, and the USA really does not care how many passports you hold - so this really is all just about exploiting a legal loophole in a dumb 19th century law)


The most simple way to achieve a separation of 1 day would be to have my wife file her N-400 after I have successfully naturalized. However, as things stand today, the processing time for a form N-400 (Naturalization) takes in the NYC area 11.5 to 19 months.
Therefor, we would like to file her N-400 sooner.

I am hoping that the naturalization process works in such a way that we essentially file the N-400 at the same time, and my assumption is that you'll be invited for interviews and eventually a ceremonial day where the naturalization actually formally happens. In an ideal situation, we would be allowed to push her naturalization day back to be at least 24hrs after mine.

What are our options?

Thanks so much for all your help!

[aashraffali]

She can file few days once you filed yours. In Many cases, though husband/wife file at the same time, they schedule everything on a different day and in some cases, they relate both cases and schedule it on the same day. Nobody has a accurate answer for this question, everything is based on assumption and past history only. If this route doesnt work, you can reschedule her interview date but again that will delay the process too. All you can do is, just start step 1 and you can file the application this week and she can file it by next week. All the best

[Lina123]

I would wait at least 3 months apart. But even that is not a guarantee. Every officer works at a different pace. Some might want to haunt your case for some reason while your wife’s officer may just move her along with no delays.

another way is to explain the situation during the interview. They’d listen and most likely accommodate.