Obtaining a Green Card

• To be eligible for Expeditious Naturalization, you must first establish LPR by getting a Green Card. This process starts by obtaining an immigrant visa. Immigrant visa's are issued to foreign nationals who wish to become permanent residents of the US. You must meet certain conditions in order to get a visa such as being married or related to a US citizen. Work visas are sometimes issued to foreign citizens if they have special skills or qualifications for a job that no US Citizen possesses. Once you have been admitted into the US, you then receive a Green Card, which establishes your LPR.
  
  

Qualifications

• Expeditious naturalization is only issued in specific cases. You must either be accompanying your spouse to a foreign assignment or already be stationed at a foreign post to apply. If you are scheduled to leave for an overseas assignment, you cannot begin the naturalization process any earlier than 45 days before your departure. If you are already living in a foreign country with your spouse, you must have at least a year left of your assignment once the Expeditious Naturalization process is complete. Expeditious Naturalization takes between five to seven months. So, make sure you have at least eighteen months left at your post before beginning to process so that you can meet the one year requirement comfortably.
  
  

Background Check

• USCIS conducts a series of extensive background tests on anyone seeking naturalization. You will be required to submit fingerprints either before leaving the US or during your time at your foreign assignment. The FBI runs the fingerprints through their system. The USCIS also does a FBI and Interagency Border Inspection System name check. The purpose of these checks is to see if the person seeking citizenship has a criminal history that poses a threat to the US. If you have anything that you feel is questionable in your background, even an expunged offense, make sure to disclose it the USCIS at the time of filing your application.
  
  

Interview

• Once the background check is done, a Naturalization Specialist contacts you for an interview. First the interviewer will test to make sure you can speak, read and write English adequately. The final step of the interview is a series of ten civics questions. An example of a possible question is: What is freedom of religion? You must get six of the ten questions right for a passing score.