Citizenship: crossing the finish line
It’s the last step to becoming a United States Citizen and as I write this, I’ll spoil the ending: I did it! ‘MURICA!
As of August 5th, 2025, a little over 15 years after entering the United States on a B1 student visa, I am now a dual citizen. Here’s the details and tips on how to make it through the last leg of this journey:
As everyone is aware from my previous articles, I did marry a United States Citizen a little over five years ago, which was also within 2 years of my H1b visa expiring. When I married my husband, I was issued a Conditional Green Card in June of 2022. This green card was valid for 2 years and I had to then apply for an extension of that green card (see Removal of Conditional Green card). After 3 years of marriage, in accordance with current United States immigration laws, I am eligible to apply for Citizenship through Naturalization.
The extension of my green card through form I-751 as mentioned before had a very long wait time for approval (the 10-year Green Card) and I was given a 4-year extension. I began the N-400 naturalization application in February 2025 and was able to file within 90 days in advance of my original Green Card approval which was approved June 2022. I filed in mid-March of 2025, and I was told that applications for Naturalization could take between 6-8 months to get an interview, so I was not expecting any movement until Fall.
Very shortly after filing (approximately one month), I received a “Notice of Action” from the government indicating that I had a biometric screening appointment to attend. This is like what I had described in previous articles where your fingerprints are taken and resubmitted to USCIS. This process was initially eliminated from the Citizenship application process as it is a duplicate step; however, with the current administration, it was reinstated. The time it took to complete this process was around an hour; however, the drive time took an hour one way, but my husband and I made a nice day of it, enjoying delicious Hispanic food.
When it was time for my lawyer to file my application, despite having an online account, apparently someone else in the United States had filed with the same name and thus, submitting my application via paper was the only option, which cost an extra $50. What is the cost of applying for Citizenship you ask? Plan to allocate around $3710 to cover lawyer/government and other expenses (and each year, these fees increase). Typically, filing by paper slows down the application process as well.
I received another “Notice of Action” in the mail through the government in July, approximately one month prior to my Citizenship Interview on August 5, 2025. This notice indicated that my application for a 10-year green card (I-751) and my N-400 naturalization application would be addressed for approval/denial.
PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW:
Certain originals need to be brought with you, including your marriage certificate, your spouse’s original birth certificate, your passport, driver’s license, the application form itself and anything else that pertains to your situation (there is a checklist of documents, both copies and originals written on the “Notice of Action”).
Additionally, you’ll need to provide a continuation of the documents you submitted for your green card extension (I-751) from the original submission. For example, if you submitted continuous mortgage payment documents during the time you and your spouse were married from April 2021 to April 2023, print those monthly documents from May 2023 onward to current. I tend to over prepare, so I found every document possible that had mine and my spouse’s name on it:
1. Mortgage payments
2. Home Insurance
3. Car Insurance
4. Umbrella Insurance
5. Title and Deed to our house
6. Joint bank account statements
7. Marriage certificate
8. Tax transcripts if you filed your taxes as married
9. Updated pictures of you and your family
I agree, you will end up ruining a small forest for your efforts, but in the end, it’ll be worth it.
You’ll also need to prepare for your Civics test (oral exam), written test and reading test.
If you’re a native English speaker, the reading and writing test will be easy as you are asked to read a sentence off the screen of a small tablet and write a sentence that the Officer verbally tells you to write (e.g. “The first President of the United States is George Washington”).
The Civics test is simply a memory game. There are 100 questions provided on the USCIS government website. You can order flash cards online through Amazon or make them yourself via online applications and there are plenty of YouTube videos with the ability to test yourself on these questions. During the interview, you will be asked 6 questions and if you get all 6 correct, you pass. If you happen to get any of them wrong, the officer will ask you up to 10 questions total out of that 100-question pool. I studied quite a bit during that last month and intermittently studied since January of 2025.
GAME DAY:
On the day of the interview, I strongly advise you to dress the same way that you had dressed for your green card: business casual/professional. You do have the option to have your lawyer present, but since my lawyer practices in Tennessee and I had a straightforward case, I opted to not have my lawyer present. When you enter the building, you must go through an x-ray machine, much like an airport for security purposes. If you are going through the naturalization process because of your spouse, you must bring your spouse with you! The advice given to me by my lawyer was that once you check in to the USCIS interview site, and your name is called, both you and your spouse get up. The Officer will tell you if they need only you as the applicant and have your spouse sit for later or you may be asked to come in together. In my situation, my husband was asked to remain seated while I went through the N-400 application. He was then called for the I-751 application but was not asked any difficult questions, just how he felt about the marriage and how he was feeling that day. It was also nice to hear from the Officer that I was her easiest case of the day!
During the N-400 interview, pleasantries were exchanged between the Officer and me. She asked me basic questions (my name, date of birth) and then I got thrown through a loop when I was asked for my birth certificate. This was the one document I stared at in my house for an additional few moments thinking: “bring your life with you” and said “…. nah, it’s not on the checklist”. I did not have this document and let the officer know very calmly. She said it was not a problem because it was submitted with the I-751 and she can pull that document to verify my birth date. This was the only minor hitch in my interview and even my lawyers were surprised that I was asked for my original birth certificate (case and point: take your life with you!!).
After that mini heart attack, the conversation very abruptly transitioned into the Civics test. I passed all 6 questions, and I was told that I had passed. I then had to read an English sentence from the tablet and wrote out an English sentence that she dictated to me. She then went through my N-400 application, including all the “yes” and “no” questions from the end of the N-400 (so make sure you look over them again before your interview because if you say, for example, that you are not willing to bear arms to defend the USA, your application can be rejected). In addition to the questions in the N-400, the Officer asked me if the marriage was going well, if I got along with my stepchildren and asked where my husband worked. For this last question, since my husband retired in April 2025, I had let the Officer know that he retired but worked at the location that I reported in the N-400. From that point forward, it became very conversational about my husband’s retirement and what I did for a living. As I am a Medical Examiner, one can imagine that my profession fascinated the Officer and the conversation felt like getting to know someone you just met at a coffee shop.
Overall, the experience was stressful leading up to the interview; however, during the interview there was no feeling of pressure or untoward harshness of the Officer towards me (even when I did not produce my original birth certificate). I was scheduled to be interviewed at 7:30am and the interview took about 30 minutes total. By the end of that interview, I was congratulated for becoming a US. Citizen. I was also approved for my I-751 (10-year green card application); however, since I became a Naturalized Citizen, the updated 10-year green card was cancelled.
POST-INTERVIEW:
There is a ceremony that is mandatory to attend after you pass your interview which can be attended by family and friends. A piece of paper indicating that I had passed was given to me by the Officer after the interview. This ceremony can happen approximately one-month post-interview, or, as in my case, the same day at 2:30 pm (I had a lot of time to kill and went to an exotic bird store and a mall and told by my husband I was not allowed to buy more birds…*sigh, no celebratory cockatoo). The ceremony was very small, perhaps around 30 people celebrating their new status in the United States. A nice, patriotic video (that I did tear up a little at the end) and a message from the President was shown on a big screen, and the ceremony lasted about 30 minutes to an hour. I was handed my Naturalization Certificate and information on how to apply for a passport and register to vote.
IMPORTANT TRAVEL NOTE:
You will be handing in your Green Card during the ceremony. What does this mean? It means that if you plan on travelling INTERNATIONALLY a week later, you will NOT be able to return into the United States. Apply for your passport as soon as possible so you can travel Internationally. Domestic flights are not affected so you can fly with accepted government ID (I am currently flying with my Canadian Passport). Additionally, you will have to apply in person if this is your first passport and if you have not yet applied for your REAL ID, you can apply for a Passport card AND a passport book at the same time. The Passport card allows domestic travel and some international travel to certain Caribbean Islands.
IN A NUTSHELL:
To sum up my blog, with the hope that I de-coded the alphabet soup for those who were following along and for those who are reading this article first, go back to the beginning:
B1 student visa (2 years)—>J1 training visa (5 years)—>J1-waiver (1.5 years)—>H1b visa (3 years) —>Green Card (3 years)—>Citizenship
*Not included in this timeline is my 10 months of unemployment (8 months post fellowship and 2 months between Wisconsin and New Jersey during my return of service)
EPILOGUE:
I hope this blog has helped everyone understand how to navigate US Citizenship from the perspective of an applicant. It’s a long, frustrating and expensive pathway, but what a relief that I reached the end of this journey. The upshot of this blog and my presentations at the National Association of Medical Examiners Conference have brought physician immigration to the forefront and these terminologies have become common language among the Medical Examiner Community. At the start of my journey, there were only 3 states that recognized Forensic Pathology as a needed specialty and now there are countless more Medical Examiner Offices that offer J1 and H1b visas.
I want to thank my friends, my chosen family, my lawyer and paralegal, medical examiners and administrators that have helped move my career forward, and you, the reader, for supporting me through the tough times, cheering for me during times of celebration and crossing the finish line with me.
If you have an immigration story that you would like to share on my blog, please reach out to me and I would be happy to post it. There are many variations of immigration that can help others navigate different situations. You never know who you may help, and my mission is to lay the trail markers and knowledge needed for both the applicant and the employer.
Good luck, continue to push, the path is laid and the prize is waiting for you!
