Step by Step Instructions on Filling Out Form N-400

Form N-400 is used to apply for U.S. citizenship. If you are a Green Cardholder, you will have to file the application to apply for U.S. citizenship. However, all Green Card holders may not be eligible for U.S. citizenship, as they will have to wait for five years and satisfy the eligibility requirements for naturalization. You can check your eligibility for U.S. citizenship using our basic eligibility quiz. It is mandatory to avoid common mistakes while completing Form N-400 and you must carefully prepare your paperwork.

The USCIS Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, consists of 18 parts and it is mandatory to complete all those parts. Leaving important parts of the application blank may result in the denial of your application. Hence you must see that you fill out the form completely, without mistakes.

Note: Immigration Direct has been helping immigrants for more than a decade to prepare their citizenship applications and submit them successfully. You can also use our service today to prepare your citizenship application.

Part 1: Eligbility Information

Select only one box that applies to you which can be used to identify your eligibility to apply for citizenship.

Part 2: Personal Information

You will have to enter your legal name in item 1 on this part of the application based on your birth certificate unless it is changed after birth by any legal action. You should not enter any nickname.

You need to enter your name as it is printed on your Green Card in item 2.

In item 3 you can include your nicknames, aliases, and maiden name if applicable.

In item 4 if you wish to change your name, you may use this opportunity, as you can legally change your name while applying for U.S. citizenship. You will have to enter your chosen new name in the space that is provided.

In item 5 provide your social security number.

In item 6 provide your USCIS account number if you have created an online profile on USCIS.

In item 7 indicate your gender.

In item 8 enter your date of birth.

In item 9 enter the date when you became a lawful permanent resident.

In item 10 enter your country of birth.

In item 11 enter your country of citizenship or nationality.

In the second part, you need to enter information about your eligibility for naturalization.

The next part requires information about you and you will have to enter your date of birth, social security number, countries of birth and nationality, and marital status. Similarly, you will have to provide details about your disability, if any, and to request an accommodation, you need to check the right box, that applies to you.

Enter your home address and your mailing address in part four. Though the USCIS may not call you, you need to enter your phone number and your email address, in this part.

Information that you enter in part five, will be used by the FBI, to conduct background checks. Information about your height, weight, gender, race, eye, and hair colors, must be entered.

Enter details about your employment and residence, in the sixth part. Make sure that you list all your old addresses and names of all the companies where you had worked.

Details about your foreign trips must be provided in part 7 and you need to enter the number of days that you had spent outside the United States. This information will help you to prove that you meet the residency requirements for naturalization.

You will have to provide details about your spouse and children in parts eight and nine.

The tenth part of Form N-400 contains a few additional questions and you must answer honestly to these questions. These questions will help the USCIS officers to make sure that you are a person with good moral character and that you are eligible for US citizenship. You also need to provide details about your military service and deportation proceedings, in part 10.

You will have to sign your name in part 11. If you had not completed Form N-400 and if it was filled out by someone else, that person must sign in part 12.

Parts 13 and 14, must be completed at the time of your interview only after you are instructed to do so, by the USCIS immigration officer who conducts the interview.