How to Apply for U.S. Citizenship After a Green Card

To apply for U.S. citizenship after getting a green card, you file Form N-400 with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services once you have held permanent resident status for five years, or three years if you are married to and living with a U.S. citizen. From there, USCIS collects your biometrics, calls you in for an interview and English and civics tests, and, if you’re approved, schedules you for the Oath of Allegiance ceremony where you receive your Certificate of Naturalization.

Here’s what each step involves and how to prepare for it.

When You’re Eligible to File

The core requirement is time as a lawful permanent resident. Five years is the standard wait; three years applies if you have been married to a U.S. citizen for that full period and your spouse has been a citizen the whole time.¹²

During that period, you also need to have been physically inside the United States for at least half the time: 30 months out of five years, or 18 months out of three. You must have lived in the state or USCIS district where you file for the last three months, and you have to be at least 18.¹

You can file up to 90 days before you hit the five- or three-year mark, but USCIS will not approve the case until you actually meet it.³

USCIS also has to find that you had good moral character throughout the statutory period and up to the moment you take the oath. It reviews your criminal history, tax record, and other conduct. Offenses involving dishonesty, fraud, or controlled substances can bar a finding of good moral character even without a formal conviction, and older conduct can matter if USCIS decides it still reflects on who you are today.⁴

How Trips Abroad Can Reset the Clock

Long trips outside the country can disrupt the residency clock in a way many green card holders don’t expect. Any single absence of more than six months but less than a year raises a legal presumption that you broke your continuous residence. You can rebut it by showing you kept your U.S. job, your immediate family stayed here, and you maintained a home, but the burden is on you.⁵ An absence of a year or more generally breaks continuous residence outright, and you may have to start over.

Even shorter trips count against your physical presence total. If you travel often, add up your days abroad before filing.

Filing Form N-400

The application itself is Form N-400. You can file online through a USCIS account or mail in a paper version.⁶ The form is detailed. It asks for every address you’ve lived at, every employer and the dates you worked, and every trip you took outside the U.S. with the exact departure and return dates during the statutory period. Pull together that history before you sit down to fill it out.

Documents you’ll typically send with the application:

A clear photocopy of both sides of your green card.
Two passport-style photos if you file on paper (online filers upload one).
Your marriage certificate and proof of your spouse’s U.S. citizenship, if you’re applying under the three-year spousal rule.
Copies of your tax returns from the past three to five years.
Court records for any arrests, criminal dispositions, or divorces, if applicable.

Having these ready avoids Requests for Evidence later, which slow the case down.

Fees, Waivers, and Reduced Fees

The filing fee is $710 online or $760 by paper, and both amounts include biometrics.⁷

If those numbers are out of reach, there are two options:

A full fee waiver using Form I-912, if your household income is at or below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines. For a single-person household in most of the country, that’s $23,940 in 2026. Fee-waiver requests require a paper N-400.⁸⁶
A reduced fee of $380 if your household income is above 150% but at or below 400% of the guidelines — $63,840 for a single-person household in most states.⁸

Alaska and Hawaii use higher thresholds. The guidelines update each January.

Biometrics and the Wait

After USCIS accepts the filing, you’ll get a Form I-797C receipt notice and, separately, an appointment to visit an application support center for fingerprints, a photo, and a digital signature.⁹ Those results feed background checks.

Then you wait. Processing times vary widely by field office and can run from several months to more than a year. Track your case status online and update your address through your USCIS account if you move.

The Interview and the Tests

Your interview is in person at a USCIS field office. An officer goes through your N-400 with you, asking questions to confirm the answers and gauge your honesty. That conversation doubles as the speaking portion of your English test. You’ll also read one sentence aloud and write one sentence in English.¹⁰

The civics test is oral. If you filed your N-400 on or after October 20, 2025, you take the 2025 version: the officer draws up to 20 questions from a published list of 128, and you need 12 correct to pass. The full study list is on the USCIS website.¹¹

The officer can approve you on the spot, continue the case if something is missing, or deny it. If you fail one part of the tests, you generally get a second try within 60 to 90 days before the case is denied.

Age-Based Exemptions and Disability Accommodations

Older long-term residents don’t always take the tests in the standard form:¹²

Age 50 or older with 20 years as a permanent resident: no English test; the civics test can be taken in your native language with an interpreter.
Age 55 or older with 15 years: same English exemption.
Age 65 or older with 20 years: English exemption, and a shorter civics list of 20 questions instead of 128.¹³

If a physical or developmental disability or mental impairment prevents you from learning English or civics, a licensed medical doctor, doctor of osteopathy, or clinical psychologist can certify Form N-648 requesting an exception. There’s no filing fee for the form itself, though the doctor may charge for the exam.¹⁴

The Oath Ceremony

Some field offices swear applicants in on the same day as the interview. Otherwise, USCIS mails Form N-445, Notice of Naturalization Oath Ceremony, with the date and location.¹⁵

At the ceremony, you first answer questions on Form N-445 about anything that has changed since the interview, including new arrests, trips abroad, or a change in marital status.¹⁶ Then you recite the Oath of Allegiance publicly, which commits you to support the Constitution, renounce allegiance to any foreign government, and bear arms or perform civilian service when required by law. A modified oath is available if you have a sincere religious objection to bearing arms.¹⁷

You surrender your green card and receive a Certificate of Naturalization. That certificate is what you’ll use to apply for a U.S. passport, register to vote in federal elections, and update your record with the Social Security Administration.

If USCIS Denies Your Application

A denial doesn’t have to be final. Within 30 days of the denial notice (33 if it was mailed), you can file Form N-336 to request a hearing before a different USCIS officer.¹⁸ If that hearing also ends in denial, you can ask the federal district court where you live to review the case, and the court makes its own fresh findings rather than deferring to USCIS.¹⁹

If the reason for denial is something that will resolve with time, such as not yet meeting the physical presence requirement, you can simply refile once you qualify.

A Faster Path if You’ve Served in the Military

If you are a current or former member of the U.S. armed forces, separate rules can shorten or eliminate the residency requirements. One year of honorable peacetime service opens a path with reduced residency and physical presence requirements. Service during a designated period of hostilities, which includes the period that began on September 11, 2001 and remains in effect, removes the continuous residence and physical presence requirements entirely.²⁰²¹

Active service members file Form N-426 with their N-400; veterans submit a DD Form 214 or equivalent discharge document. There is no filing fee for either group.²²²³ One caution: if you naturalize under the wartime provision and are later separated under other-than-honorable conditions before completing five years of honorable service, your citizenship can be revoked.²¹

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1427 – Requirements of Naturalization
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1430 – Married Persons and Employees of Certain Nonprofit Organizations
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 6 – Jurisdiction, Place of Residence, and Early Filing
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 3 – Continuous Residence
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. N-400, Application for Naturalization
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Fact Sheet – Form N-400, Application for Naturalization Filing Fees
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Poverty Guidelines
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797C, Notice of Action
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1423 – Requirements as to Understanding the English Language, History, Principles and Form of Government of the United States
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2025 Civics Test
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 2 – English and Civics Testing
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Civics Questions for the 65/20 Exemption
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Naturalization Ceremonies
16
Federal Register. Agency Information Collection Activities – Notice of Naturalization Oath Ceremony, Form Number N-445
17
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1448 – Oath of Renunciation and Allegiance
18
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1421 – Naturalization Authority
20
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Naturalization Through Military Service
21
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1440 – Naturalization Through Active-Duty Service During Periods of Military Hostilities
22
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Request for Certification of Military or Naval Service
23
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Citizenship Information for Soldiers