By Herald News

You can apply for citizenship two years and nine months after you became a permanent resident. The date should be on your permanent-residence card. The law allows the spouse of a U.S. citizen to naturalize two years and nine months after the USCIS granted the person permanent residence.

Normally, a naturalization applicant can't apply until he or she has been a permanent resident for four years and nine months.

To qualify under the three-year rule, a permanent resident must have been married to and living with the same U.S.-citizen spouse for at least three years.

Note that the USCIS view -- disputed by some scholars -- is that you must have been married to the U.S.-citizen spouse for a full three years before filing your application.

So, a person must have been married to a U.S. citizen for three years and have been a permanent resident for at least two years and nine months to apply for naturalization.

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