Do I have to move to my husband to get citizenship?

[Violet00]

Hello everyone! Me and my husband have been married for over 2 years and have just went though our first interview. I recieved a permanent 10 green card.yay!!!currently we live in different states. The main reason being I have more career opportunities in New York I also have higher income here. He lives in Boston and has a good career of his own in research. Our relationship is going great we are able to see each other frequently, talk on the phone etc. I worked extremely hard to switch careers and I feel that just recently my efforts started paying off I’m meeting the right people and getting great opportunities. We planned on me moving to Boston prior to our interview because we thought it would make our immigration process easier. Now that I recieved my unconditional green card I was relieved that I don’t have to move to Boston right away because it would make it hard for me job wise. My husband thinks I have to move to Boston ASAP because it will be harder for us when I apply for citizenship in 3 years and we don’t live together for the whole time or that my residence can eve be revoked now if I don’t move right away( Uscis is aware that we live in different states and we even spoke about this in our interview). We lived separately the whole time during our marriage ( we know each other 6+ years, dated for 3.5 married for over 2) and I still received my unconditional green card. He tends to be anxious and worry a lot and I think that maybe this is the case of that. Can this be a problem when I apply for citizenship in 3 years? Should I wait 5 and apply not through marriage? But more importantly can I loose my permanent residency if I don’t move to ASAP( within a year). If you have been in long distance relationships please let me know how it affected your immigration process! Thank you! )

[Amember]

Do I have to move to my husband to get citizenship?

At this point USCIS doesn't even care whether you are still married or not, much less for whether you are staying in the same state. This will not in any way affect you.

[abumiqdad]

If you already have a 10 year GC, then you can apply for naturalization after 5 years being a GC holder.

If you want to apply using the 3 year rule, USCIS would want to see proofs that you are still in a marital relationship with your spouse that you are claiming the 3 year rule with. So it would be upon you to show that you are indeed are still married - living far away from each other and meeting one another once a year, would not show a strong case of being in a marital relationship.

Also, when applying for citizenship, USCIS will revisit the stuff you submitted when you first applied for your Immigrant visa/AoS - to check if there were anomalies that they had not caught back then.

[inadmissible]

from https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/H...pter2.html#S-D

[3 year expedited naturalization] require[s] that the applicant “live in marital union” with his or her citizen spouse prior to filing the Application for Naturalization. USCIS considers an applicant to “live in marital union” with his or her citizen spouse if the applicant and the citizen actually reside together.

An applicant under the special provisions for spouses is ineligible for naturalization if:
•The applicant is not residing with his or her United States citizen spouse at the time of filing or during the time in which the applicant is required to be living in marital union with the citizen spouse; or
•If at any time prior to taking the Oath of Allegiance, the spousal relationship is terminated or altered to such an extent that neither the applicant nor the U.S. citizen spouse can be considered to be residing together as husband and wife.

There are limited circumstances where an applicant may be able to establish that he or she is living in marital union with his or her citizen spouse even though the applicant does not actually reside with the citizen spouse. In all cases where it is applicable, the burden is on the applicant to establish that he or she has lived in marital union with his or her U.S. citizen spouse for the required period of time.

Under very limited circumstances and where there is no indication of marital disunity, an applicant may be able to establish that he or she is living in marital union with his or her U.S. citizen spouse even though the applicant does not actually reside with citizen spouse. An applicant is not made ineligible for naturalization for not living in marital union if the separation is due to circumstances beyond his or her control, such as:
•Service in the U.S. armed forces; or
•Required travel or relocation for employment.

USCIS does not consider incarceration during the time of required living in marital union to be an involuntary separation.

If you fail to persuade the adjudicating officer that you live in marital union, you can always apply for naturalization 2 years later, at which point they won't care

[Violet00]

Thank you just to clarify

Thank you so much to everyone for responding! I should have mentioned that we obviously see each other at least once- twice (weekends, vacations etc) a month and we spend all major holidays together, frequently at his family’s house. However this does make me think that maybe I should apply in five years just to be safe. He plans to go to graduate school in about a year and he is not sure which state he would go to thefore we might not end up living in the same state permanently for some time again even if I move to Boston later on.
If anyone else has some perspective or experience with this please chime in.