As a green card holder, you are no doubt painfully familiar with the number and scope of documents needed in connection with most types of immigration applications. Fortunately, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will accept your application for naturalization (U.S. citizenship) with a minimal amount of documents to begin with.
Be prepared, however, to bring other documents to your interview.
This article describes the application package sent by mail to USCIS. For applications filed electronically, document submission procedure is different. Follow the instructions given to you in USCIS’s online filing system.
First and foremost, your mailed application package should contain a completed and signed USCIS Form N-400. Include every page of the form, even if you wrote or typed nothing on a page.
If some information you were requested to give did not fit in the space provided on the form, attach supplement sheets to the end of the N-400. Each supplement sheet should have your name and alien registration number on it.
You must include either the N-400 filing fee (check or money order) or a Form I-912 request for fee waiver. If you request a fee waiver, include the documentation supporting your request. The necessary supporting documentation is described in the Form I-912 instructions.
The most important other document that everyone must include is a copy of the front and back of your current permanent resident card (green card).
Any other document you are required to send will be because of special circumstances particular to you.
First, if you have ever been married, send a copy of the document proving your current marital status. That would be your marriage certificate if you are currently married. If you are divorced, had your marriage annulled, or your marriage ended because your spouse died, send a copy of the document proving how your marriage ended (judgment of divorce, annulment decree, or death certificate).
If you are currently a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, provide a completed and certified Form N-426. If you are separated from the military, the N-426 does not have to be certified. If you are currently serving in an active duty status anywhere in the world, also submit a copy of your official military orders.
If you served in the U.S. Armed Forces in the past at any time, send a DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, for all periods of service.
If you are requesting an exception to the English language and/or civics tests based on a physical or developmental disability or mental impairment, submit a completed Form N-648, Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions, signed by you and your doctor.
If you live outside the United States, provide two identical passport-style color photographs of yourself, taken recently.
If any document you are submitting is not in the English language, submit an English translation and a translator’s certificate. Make sure the certificate complies with USCIS’s requirements for translation certificates.
Finally, if you have hired an immigration lawyer or other legal representative to represent you in the naturalization application process, include the Form G-28 signed by both of you, so that USCIS knows who your lawyer or other representative is and how to communicate with him or her. Place the G-28 on top of the stack of papers you are submitting.
You have the option of submitting other documentation to prove your eligibility when you send your N-400, but you can wait until your naturalization interview to show it to USCIS. The N-400 instructions contain a list of documents you must bring to your interview.
