U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today released a new 21 page N-400 form that must be completed to naturalize as a U.S. citizen. The old form was only 10 pages. This is the most significant change to the format in a long, long time.
The Government’s official statement on the revision says:
The revised Form N-400 contains:
• Clearer and more comprehensive instructions which highlight general eligibility requirements and specific instructions on how to complete the application;
• 2D barcode technology used for each page on the revised Form N-400, which will enhance our ability to quickly and accurately process the application; and
• New questions based on legal requirements related to national security and good moral character.
Although USCIS revised the Form N-400, it is important to note that:
• The naturalization eligibility requirements have not changed; and
• The filing fee remains the same where applicable.
USCIS will continue to accept previous versions of Form N-400 for a period of 90 days until May 5, 2014. After May 5, USCIS will only accept the revised version of the Form N-400.
A brief comparison of the old and new forms shows many differences:
• The new form calls out the legal basis for requesting exemption from the English Language Test.
• A more detailed personal contact information section, separate from the residence section.
• A new, full section on parentage, presumably for better examination of existing claims to citizenship.
• More exhaustive questioning about past employment, education, and residences in the new form. Gathering the information will provide headaches on occasion, I’m sure.
• The new form also goes to greater lengths to investigate marital and children history. For example, the new form specifically calls out the need to list all children, including children alive, missing, deceased; born in and outside the U.S.; married and unmarried; living with you or not; current stepchildren; legally adopted children; and children born out of wedlock. The old form did not get into this level of detail in explaining information needed.
• Additional new questions regarding hereditary titles and orders of nobility.
• “Have you ever called yourself a “non-U.S. resident” on a Federal, State or local tax return since you became a Permanent Resident?” is a new question.
• The new form seeks more information about any Group an applicant has been a member of, including the “Purpose of the Group” and the “Dates of Membership.”
• Many, many more questions with specificity regarding being involved or attached to terrorist activities and human rights violations (e.g. “Were you ever involved in any way with any of the following: “badly hurting, or trying to hurt, a person on purpose?”
• The new form requests more information concerning arrests, and specifically asks for a year/month/day count on served jail or prison time.
• Other new questions on the new form include, “Have you ever married someone in order to obtain an immigration benefit?”; “Have you ever made any misrepresentation to obtain any public benefit in the U.S.?”; and “Have you ever given any U.S. Government official(s) any information or documentation that was false, fraudulent or misleading?”
• The new form adds and modifies questions regarding U.S. armed service.
On the one hand, the new form provide adjudicators more information about each applicant. On the other, I expect it will take longer to prepare and adjudicate, and there will most certainly be some questions that end up creating issues of interpretation. The current fee to naturalize is $680 for most applicants. I hope that USCIS is not creating a basis for asking even higher fees to adjudicate the same form, as a raised fee would make it all the tougher for long-time residents to apply.