An application for naturalization is a test of arithmetic before it is a test of anything else. Five years as a permanent resident, or three if married to a citizen; thirty months physically in the country out of the five, or eighteen out of the three; three months in the state where you file. Get them right and the case turns on character, two tests, and a fee the government is now trying to nearly double.
Who is eligible, and when to file
The general rule is section 316(a) of the INA: five years of continuous residence as a permanent resident immediately before filing, physical presence for at least half of that time, residence in the state or USCIS district for three months, and good moral character throughout. USCIS translates the fraction into 30 months of physical presence within the five years, and for the spouse of a citizen, 18 months within three years.
The three-year route requires more than a marriage certificate. The applicant must remain the spouse of a U.S. citizen from filing through the oath and, where the provision requires it, must be living in marital union with that spouse. The N-400 checklist asks for proof of the spouse's citizenship for the last three years and proof that every earlier marriage of either spouse ended. An abused spouse who obtained residence under VAWA may use the three-year rule without still being married.
Filing can come early. Under INA 334(a) an applicant may file up to 90 days before first completing the five-year or three-year residence period. USCIS counts the 90 days back from the day before the requirement would be met. Early filing does not shorten anything else; the other requirements must be satisfied on their own timetable.
The absence rules
Continuous residence is where applications die quietly. The Policy Manual sets three tiers. An absence of six months or less does nothing. An absence of more than six months but less than a year is presumed to break continuity, and the applicant's intent is irrelevant; only the length counts. The presumption can be rebutted with evidence that the applicant kept a home, a job, a family and tax filings here, and the N-400 checklist lists what USCIS expects: rent or mortgage statements, pay statements, bank records, car registration, passport stamps, IRS transcripts.
An absence of one year or more breaks continuity automatically, whether it happened before or after filing. USCIS must deny. The applicant then waits: under the five-year rule, four years and one day after returning if prepared to rebut the six-month presumption, or four years and six months to avoid it. Under the three-year rule the figures are two years and one day, or two years and six months.
The one exception is Form N-470, which preserves residence for an LPR who must spend a year or more abroad in qualifying employment: the U.S. government or its contractors, a USCIS-recognized American institution of research, an American firm developing U.S. foreign trade, a public international organization, or religious work. The applicant must have spent an uninterrupted year in the country as an LPR first, must file before a continuous year abroad has passed, and pays $420. An approved N-470 does not protect against a finding that the green card itself was abandoned, and it is not a travel document.
Physical presence is counted in days, and USCIS counts the day of departure and the day of return as days present. A green card held for five years proves nothing about presence; the applicant documents it.
Good moral character
The statutory period is the five years before filing, or three for spouses, running through the oath, and an application cannot be approved while the applicant is on probation, parole or a suspended sentence. Conduct outside the period may be considered. Since August 2025 the assessment has been holistic rather than a checklist, a change this site explained in Good Moral Character, Redefined, and since the same month USCIS has been free to investigate the applicant's neighborhood and workplace, described in The Return of Neighborhood Investigations.
The second of those developments hardened on August 25, 2026, when Policy Alert PA-2026-10 wrote the investigations into Volume 12 of the Policy Manual and retitled Part B "Investigation and Examination of Alien." The Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate decides whether to investigate or waive. Applicants may volunteer character reference letters, preferably from U.S. citizens who are not relatives, and USCIS says it weighs them in deciding whether to waive. That is the one lever the applicant controls.
The checklist on the N-400 page shows how far the record must reach: every arrest anywhere in the world, with the report and disposition; every conviction, with the sentencing record and proof the sentence was completed; every vacated or expunged record, with the court order; traffic incidents only if they involved alcohol or drugs, an arrest, or serious injury; a signed payment agreement for any tax owed; proof of child support paid.
The fee, the waiver and the proposed rule
The fee schedule, edition of May 29, 2026, lists the N-400 at $760 on paper and $710 online, with no separate biometrics fee. An applicant whose household income is not more than 400 percent of the poverty guidelines pays a reduced fee of $380, on paper only, by completing Part 10 of the N-400 and attaching each household member's latest tax return. Form I-942, the old reduced fee request, is archived. An applicant receiving a means-tested benefit, with income at or below 150 percent of the guidelines, or in extreme financial hardship, may seek a full waiver on Form I-912. The N-400 carries no H.R. 1 fee, so the waiver still covers the whole amount. Military applicants under sections 328 and 329 pay nothing. A request for a hearing on a denial, Form N-336, costs $830 on paper and $780 online.
On June 23, 2026 DHS published a proposed rule, 91 FR 37500, that would raise the paper fee to $1,330 and the online fee to $1,280, raise the N-336 to $1,475 and $1,425, eliminate the reduced fee, and end fee waiver eligibility for both forms. Military applicants would stay exempt. The department's stated reason is that naturalization has been subsidized by every other applicant, and that ending waivers alone would move roughly $196 million a year from applicants to the agency. Comments closed August 24. No final rule had appeared by September 6. The 2026 inflation adjustment described in The 2026 Fee Schedule did not touch the N-400, which carries no H.R. 1 fee.
The interview and the tests
At the examination the officer places the applicant under oath and goes through the N-400 line by line, confirms that the investigation was completed or waived, and hands over a notice of results. A failed English or civics test brings a second examination no earlier than 60 days later.
Anyone who filed on or after October 20, 2025 takes the 2025 civics test: 128 questions in the bank, 20 asked, 12 to pass, covered in The 2025 Civics Test. The English test is unchanged: speaking judged during the interview, one of three sentences read correctly, one of three written correctly.
The exemptions survive. An applicant aged 50 with 20 years as a permanent resident, or 55 with 15, is excused from English and takes civics in their own language with an interpreter. An applicant aged 65 with 20 years answers 10 questions from a designated bank of 20, in the language of their choice, with 6 correct to pass. A physical or developmental disability or mental impairment that prevents compliance is certified on Form N-648 by a licensed medical doctor, osteopath or clinical psychologist, at no filing fee; the certifier must attest that the condition has lasted or will last at least 12 months, and since June 13, 2025 must explain how it prevents the applicant from meeting the requirement.
The oath is administered in English even for those excused from the English test; an interpreter may attend.
How long it takes
USCIS's historical data show the national median for a non-military N-400 at 5.0 months in fiscal 2024, 5.6 in fiscal 2025 and 7.1 in fiscal 2026 through June 30. The direction has reversed. Two smaller changes push the same way: on December 19, 2025 USCIS rescinded the expedite for SSI recipients approaching the seven-year benefit limit, and since August 5, 2026 an application that omits required initial evidence may be denied without a request for evidence.
A filed N-400 does at least extend the green card. The receipt notice extends the card for two years past its printed expiry, a rule in place since December 12, 2022, provided the notice is carried with the card.
What a denial can trigger
Under the February 28, 2025 NTA memorandum, explained in Notices to Appear from USCIS, a denied N-400 leads to removal proceedings in two named situations: where USCIS concludes the applicant was inadmissible when adjusting or entering as a permanent resident, and so is deportable and barred by INA 318; and where the applicant has been arrested, charged or convicted and the application is denied or withdrawn. Discretion not to issue the notice is reserved for "very limited and compelling instances." The Third Circuit, under Garcia v. Attorney General, bars the first theory once five years have passed since adjustment; nowhere else does. An applicant with an old arrest, or a green card obtained on facts that would not survive a second look, is filing an application that can become a charging document.
What to do
- Do the arithmetic before anything else. List every trip for the five (or three) years: dates out, dates back. Total the days present and flag any trip over 180 days.
- Assemble the character record. Certified dispositions for every arrest, proof that every sentence and every tax debt was resolved, and reference letters from citizens who are not family.
- Decide on the fee now. If the waiver or the $380 reduced fee applies, file on paper before the proposed rule is finalized.
- Use the exemptions. Check the 50/20, 55/15 and 65/20 dates against the filing date, and have any N-648 completed by the doctor with the June 2025 standard in mind.
- Get an opinion on the risk of a denial before filing if there is any criminal history or any doubt about how the green card was obtained. A denial now has consequences beyond the fee.
Naturalization was for years the safest filing in immigration law. In 2026 it is a filing like any other, and a denial can end in immigration court.