Some U.S. permanent residents leave the United States to live with a U.S. citizen spouse who is serving in the military overseas. Without some special rules in place, this could disrupt the continuous residence and physical presence periods usually required for them to become naturalized U.S. citizens. Fortunately, the U.S. government wants to make it easier for its military service members to live with spouses overseas, so it does provide some special rules that immigrant spouses can take advantage of.
There are several different paths for foreign-born spouses of U.S. citizen military members who are serving overseas to take in becoming U.S. citizens.
One is to simply apply under the rules that apply to everyone else. The two other ways, however, involve taking advantage of special rules that can make getting citizenship quicker and easier. One is for spouses of servicepeople who have special orders allowing their spouse to live with them overseas, and the other is for spouses who go overseas with or without such orders.
The benefits of these two paths are different, so read on to learn which one might be best for you.
Usually, a permanent resident has to have five years of continuous residence in the United States before applying for citizenship, half of which is spent physically inside the United States. The five-year period is reduced to three years for spouses of U.S. citizens who are living with their spouses. Any period of one continuous year spent outside the United States usually breaks the period of continuous residence, causing the person to have to wait longer to apply. Also, obviously under the usual rule, none of the time spent outside the United States will count toward the necessary period of physical presence within the United States.
For spouses of U.S. citizen servicepeople who have official orders allowing their spouse to live with them overseas, however, all the time spent overseas can be treated as if it were spent in the United States.
The other big benefit for people whose spouses have orders is that they don’t have to return to the United States to apply for citizenship—their interview and oath ceremony can be done overseas.
To take advantage of the special rule for spouses of servicepeople with orders, you need to show only four things:
You can also show that these circumstances existed together in the past and get credit for the time you spent overseas. (If you’re no longer married and living with your spouse, however, you won’t be able to apply for citizenship after just three years of having a green card—you’ll have to wait the full five years.)
“Official orders” means the Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders issued to a service member for a permanent tour of duty overseas that specifically name the spouse who is applying for citizenship.
If the PCS orders just say “spouse” or “dependent,” you’ll need to fill out Form DD-1278 (Certificate of Overseas Assignment to Support Application to File Petition for Naturalization) and Form DD 1172 (Application for Uniformed Services Identification Card DEERS Enrollment) completed by the service member, naming the immigrant spouse.
You apply for citizenship in the usual way, using USCIS Form N-400. In the section where you choose the basis for your eligibility, select either the five-year or three-year option, whichever applies to you. Do not select any of the other options, as much as they might sound like they apply to you.
If your military spouse was never a U.S. citizen, you won’t be able to take advantage of the three-year rule. You’ll have to have five continuous years of residence with two and a half years of physical presence, including your time overseas under the orders.
With the other required documents, send a copy of the PCS orders and, if you’re not specifically named in them, a DD-1278 and DD 1172.
If you’re applying from overseas, you must have your fingerprints taken at a U.S. military base, an overseas field office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or an American embassy or consulate. Submit two completed fingerprint cards (FD-258) with your application. You file the N-400 package with the USCIS overseas office having jurisdiction over your overseas residence.
Spouses of U.S. citizens employed by the military can, if they wish and if they qualify, take advantage of a special rule applicable to spouses of certain U.S. citizen employees of the U.S. government who are or will be working abroad.
That rule applies if the U.S. citizen spouse will be “regular stationed” abroad for at least a year after the permanent resident applies for citizenship, and the permanent resident spouse goes to live with the government employee spouse. For spouses of military members, there can be official orders or not.
The main advantage to choosing this route is that no continuous residence or physical presence requirements apply at all, so it could be a quicker way to get citizenship. The downside could be that it requires the permanent resident spouse to attend the citizenship interview and oath ceremony in the United States.
For more on this path to citizenship, see U.S. Citizenship for Spouses of U.S. Citizens Working Overseas.
Just because you will qualify for special treatment of your time overseas when you apply for citizenship does not mean that you can leave to join your spouse overseas without worrying about abandoning your permanent resident status. Any period of one year of more spent outside the United States can be seen as an abandonment of your U.S. permanent residency. To prevent problems reentering the United States or potential loss of your permanent resident status, you should file for a reentry permit using USCIS Form I-131, preferably before you go.
