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Comment by dotBen | Hacker News Reader

Green card holder via marriage, decided after 10 years it's time to naturalize. Nothing exotic in the situation - still happily married, started a family, no legal issues, citizen of Western country etc. Is it worth retaining an immigration attorney for this? Most of my friends who have done this did it themselves and say it's a paper-filing exercise, simple test and an interview - so they think I'm being overly cautious to consider retaining counsel. What would be the considerations here, please? Thanks!

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I naturalized just over a year ago. I found completing the application online easy enough. I used San Francisco's free immigration legal advice line for a question about how to account for speeding tickets (the wording on the naturalization form is slightly different to that on the green card form.) You may have something similar where you live. https://www.sfhsa.org/services/immigrants-benefits/free-lega...

Unless you have something unusual about your situation (e.g. criminal record, extensive stays outside the US, etc), it's dead simple.

And if you've been in the US for 10 years, don't apply under the marriage path of 3 years residency, apply under 5 years. They basically verify you've lived in the US for 5 years (you have records of all your international travel right?), aren't a criminal and boom approved.

The marriage route is a bit more complex as it can involve legitimacy of the marriage (although not much of a hurdle for most).

Naturalized citizen here: it's not hard at all. You've had the green card for 10 years so the marriage is not even a consideration. For once, you'll be on the "friendly" side of USCIS that wants you to succeed, not the one that wants an excuse to deny.

If there are no issues (that is, no criminal record and no extended absences), then it's a simple and straightforward process and we advise all our clients to handle on their applications on their own and save themselves the legal fees.

Not hard, lawyer not needed. If you want someone to hold your hand through it to allay some anxiety then feel free to hire a lawyer, but honestly they'd just be doing project management.

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