Form N-400 asks for two different sets of documents, and confusing them is the fastest way to stall a naturalization case. One set goes in the envelope or the online upload when you file. A second, larger set travels with you to the naturalization interview months later. USCIS never merges the two lists, and the agency’s own interview handout warns that missing paperwork “could delay your case.”
The filing package itself is short. Every applicant sends Form N-400, a copy of both sides of the Permanent Resident Card, and the fee. USCIS charges $760 to file Form N-400 on paper and $710 to file online, a $50 discount for using a USCIS online account. Applicants who qualify for a reduced fee pay $380 and must file on paper, because the online system does not accept reduced-fee or fee-waiver requests.
What you add to that core package depends entirely on which statute you are naturalizing under. A lawful permanent resident filing under the general five-year rule sends a different evidence set than a spouse filing after three years under INA 319(a), and a service member filing under INA 328 or INA 329 sends military records instead and pays nothing at all. Getting the basis right first, then building the document list around it, is the order that works.
Free toolSubstantial Presence Test Calculator
The current edition of Form N-400 is dated 01/20/25, printed at the bottom of every page of the form and the instructions. USCIS rejects filings that mix pages from different editions or that are missing page numbers, so print the whole packet fresh rather than reusing an older download.
Timing matters as much as paperwork. You may file 90 calendar days before you complete the continuous residence requirement, which means a five-year applicant can file at four years and nine months. Filing earlier than that window gets the application denied on eligibility, not fixed by a request for evidence.
One more variable now sits on top of the document list. USCIS administers the 2025 naturalization civics test to anyone who filed Form N-400 on or after October 20, 2025. That test draws 20 questions from a bank of 128, and you must answer 12 correctly to pass. Applications filed before that date still get the older 2008 test, which asked up to 10 questions from a bank of 100 with 6 correct to pass. If you are filing today, plan for the 2025 version. Readers still deciding whether naturalization is the right route should start with the difference between citizenship and naturalization, then work through the full N-400 process.
The travel record is where most otherwise clean applications run into trouble. USCIS treats any single absence of more than 6 months but less than 1 year as a presumed break in continuous residence, and you must rebut that presumption with evidence. An absence of 1 year or more automatically breaks continuity unless you had an approved Form N-470. Every trip has to be listed, and the passports that prove them have to come to the interview.
The checklist below is organized the way USCIS actually adjudicates: the core package everyone files, then the extra evidence for each filing basis, then travel and good moral character records, and finally the separate list of what to carry into the interview room. Priority markers show what is mandatory, what strengthens the file, and what applies only if your situation matches.
Form N-400, Application for Naturalization (edition 01/20/25)
Signed and complete. USCIS rejects any unsigned form, and rejects packets whose pages come from different form editions or are missing the edition date and page numbers at the bottom.
Official USCIS page
Copy of your Permanent Resident Card, both sides
Photocopies of the front and back of
Form I-551. If you lost the card, attach a copy of another entry document or a receipt showing you filed
Form I-90 to replace it.
Filing fee: $760 by paper or $710 online
Pay the full fee and select “No” in Part 10, Item Number 1. Checks are made payable to “U.S. Department of Homeland Security” and are rejected if not dated within the previous 365 days. Credit card payments by mail use
Form G-1450.
Marriage, divorce, annulment, or death certificates
Your current marriage certificate plus any divorce decree, annulment decree, or death certificate showing that every prior marriage legally ended. This applies to all applicants with any marital history, not only those filing on a marriage basis.
Certified English translation of any foreign-language document
Every foreign-language document needs a full English translation plus a signed certification from the translator stating the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate.
Clip it to the first page of the packet to get an email or text the moment a USCIS lockbox accepts the filing. It costs nothing and confirms receipt weeks before the paper notice arrives.
Form G-1145 page
Only if an attorney or accredited representative is representing you. It can be filed with the N-400 or handed in at the interview.
Form G-28 page
Form N-648, Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions
Only if a physical or developmental disability or mental impairment prevents you from meeting the English or civics requirement. Submit it with the N-400. Filing it later at the interview is allowed but may delay the case.
Form N-648 page
Do not send originals
USCIS instructs applicants not to submit original documents unless the form instructions or regulations specifically request them. Send photocopies with the N-400 and keep the originals for the interview.
Green Card showing five years of permanent residence
The “Resident Since” date on the card establishes the start of the statutory period. You must show five years as a lawfully admitted permanent resident, continuous residence for those five years, and at least 30 months of physical presence inside the United States.
Proof of three months in your state or USCIS district
A lease, mortgage statement, utility bill, or state ID showing you lived at least three months in the state or USCIS district with jurisdiction over your address. Students financially dependent on parents may apply where they study or where family lives.
Certified IRS tax transcripts for the last five years
Not part of the mailed package for most applicants, but USCIS calls tax returns “very important proof” of eligibility and expects five years of certified returns at the interview. Order transcripts with IRS Form 4506-T.
IRS Form 4506-T
Form N-470 approval notice
Only if you were abroad for a year or more on qualifying employment. An approved N-470 preserves continuous residence. It requires one uninterrupted year of physical presence as an LPR beforehand and must be filed before the absence reaches one continuous year.
Form N-470 page
The 90-day rule
You may file 90 calendar days before completing the continuous residence requirement. Under the five-year rule that is four years and nine months as an LPR. The physical presence and state residence requirements still have to be met on the filing date.
Copy of your marriage certificate
Proves the marriage that supports the shortened three-year period. You must have lived in marital union with your U.S. citizen spouse for the full three years before filing and while USCIS adjudicates the case.
Evidence of your spouse’s U.S. citizenship for the last three years
Any one of these: a U.S. birth certificate, Certificate of Naturalization, Certificate of Citizenship, the biographical page of a current U.S. passport, or
Form FS-240, Report of Birth Abroad. The citizenship has to cover the full three-year period.
Evidence that all prior marriages ended, for both spouses
Divorce decrees, annulments, and death certificates for every earlier marriage of yours and of your U.S. citizen spouse. USCIS flags missing spousal termination evidence as a common cause of delay.
Certified IRS tax transcripts for the last three years
Three years rather than five for marriage-based filers. Joint returns also help document the marital union across the statutory period.
Evidence of a spouse’s qualifying employment abroad (INA 319(b))
Only if your U.S. citizen spouse is stationed abroad for at least one year with the U.S. government, a recognized American institution of research, a qualifying American firm, a public international organization, or a religious denomination. Include the employer’s name and business, the nature of the work, travel orders naming you, and a written statement of your intent to live abroad with your spouse and return to the United States when that employment ends.
Different math, same form
The marriage route cuts continuous residence from five years to three and physical presence from 30 months to 18 months. The three-month state residence requirement and the English and civics tests are identical. Applicants under INA 319(b) face no specific LPR, continuous residence, physical presence, or marital union period at all.
Form N-426, Request for Certification of Military or Naval Service
Required if you are currently serving when you file. Your chain of command must certify the honorable service on the form before it goes to USCIS.
Form N-426 page
DD Form 214, NGB Form 22, or other discharge document
Required instead of Form N-426 if you have separated. Submit a photocopy covering all periods of service, and show that any separation was under honorable conditions.
USCIS military naturalization
Copy of your official military orders
Include if applicable, particularly where the orders establish duty location or a period of service relevant to the filing basis.
Two passport-style photographs
Required only if you reside outside the United States. The same rule applies to spouses of service members filing from abroad.
Two completed FD-258 fingerprint cards
An option for service members stationed outside the United States, taken by military police or DHS officials at a U.S. embassy or consulate, submitted with two passport-style photos. Include your A-Number and show an unexpired military ID.
Military applicants pay no fee
There is no filing fee for naturalization under INA 328 or INA 329. INA 328 requires at least one year of honorable service at any time. INA 329 covers service during a designated period of hostilities, including September 11, 2001 to the present, and exempts the applicant from continuous residence and physical presence entirely. The USCIS Military Help Line is 877-247-4645.
A complete list of every trip outside the United States
Form N-400 asks for all absences during the statutory period, with dates. Officers question applicants directly about absences since becoming an LPR, so the list on the form and the stamps in the passport have to agree.
All valid and expired passports plus USCIS travel documents
USCIS asks for all foreign travel during the last five years and instructs applicants to bring every valid and expired passport and any USCIS-issued travel document to the interview, even applicants who never left the country.
Rent or mortgage statements, or pay statements
Required evidence if any single trip lasted more than 6 months but less than 1 year. These show your principal dwelling and income stayed in the United States during the absence.
Bank, credit card, or loan statements showing regular transactions
Continuous U.S. account activity across the months you were abroad is one of the strongest rebuttals to a presumed break in residence.
Proof of car registration and insurance
Registration and an active policy maintained through the absence support the claim that you kept a residence and did not relocate abroad.
IRS tax transcripts covering the years you were abroad
Filing as a resident matters. USCIS treats claiming “nonresident alien” status for tax exemptions, or not filing at all on that basis, as evidence of abandoned permanent residence.
USCIS Policy Manual on continuous residence
Any other document showing you maintained U.S. residence
USCIS keeps the category open. Employer letters confirming continued employment, school enrollment for children, and club or professional memberships all help build the picture.
The absence thresholds that decide the case
A trip of 6 months or less raises no presumption. More than 6 months but less than 1 year creates a rebuttable presumption that residence was broken, and intent is irrelevant, only the length counts. One year or more automatically breaks continuity without an approved Form N-470, and a five-year applicant must then wait 4 years and 6 months after returning to refile cleanly, or 2 years and 6 months on the three-year marriage basis.
Arrest report plus an official statement that no charges were filed
Required if you were ever arrested or detained anywhere in the world and no charges followed. The statement must come from the arresting agency or the court.
Complete court disposition for every arrest and charge
Arrest reports, charging documents, court dispositions, and sentencing reports for each incident where charges were filed, anywhere in the world.
Sentencing records and proof you completed the sentence
Covers convictions, suspended sentences, probation, parole, and alternative or rehabilitative programs such as diversion, deferred prosecution, withheld adjudication, or drug treatment. Include evidence the program or supervision was completed.
Court order vacating, sealing, or expunging a record, or a pardon
Submit the motion and the court order, or the pardon application and the final decision granting it. A statement from the court that no record exists also works. Expunged records still have to be disclosed.
Documentation of qualifying traffic incidents
Only traffic incidents that involved alcohol or drugs, led to an arrest, or seriously injured another person need documentation. Routine parking and speeding tickets do not.
Signed IRS or state tax payment agreement
If you owe taxes, provide a signed agreement from the IRS or the state or local tax office showing you filed the return and arranged to pay. Owing tax is not automatically disqualifying, but ignoring it is a good moral character problem.
Evidence of child support payments
Canceled checks or money order receipts, a court or agency document showing payments, evidence of wage garnishment, or a notarized letter from the parent or guardian caring for your child.
Selective Service status information letter and written statement
Needed if you were required to register before turning 26 and did not, and you are now over 26 but under 31, or under 29 if filing on marriage to a U.S. citizen. Provide the status information letter from the Selective Service System plus a written explanation of why you did not register.
Selective Service System
Photocopies are not enough here
USCIS states plainly that uncertified photocopies of court records are not acceptable, and that final-outcome documents are required for all arrests and detentions including expunged records and plea bargains. Order certified dispositions from the court clerk well before the interview.
Your interview appointment notice
The notice USCIS mails scheduling the in-person examination. Every naturalization applicant must appear in person before a USCIS officer after filing the N-400.
The naturalization interview and test
Your physical Permanent Resident Card
Bring the actual card, not just the copy you filed. Since December 12, 2022, the N-400 receipt notice automatically extends an expiring Green Card for 2 years from the “Card Expires” date, and that notice must be presented together with the card.
A state-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license
USCIS names this specifically alongside the Green Card as identity documents to carry into the interview.
All valid and expired passports and travel documents
Bring every passport and USCIS-issued travel document, including expired ones, so the officer can verify entry and exit stamps against the absences you listed. Leaving them at home can delay the case.
Certified tax returns for the last five years, or three years
Five years for standard applicants, three years for those filing on marriage to a U.S. citizen. Certified transcripts can be ordered with IRS Form 4506-T or by calling the IRS at 800-829-1040.
Certified court dispositions for every arrest or citation
Bring documents showing the final court disposition for anything on your record, plus proof you completed any probation. Required even for expunged records and plea bargains.
Marriage, divorce, death, or legal name-change records
Bring the originals if you have ever been married, divorced, widowed, or legally changed your name through a court, including evidence that a current spouse’s prior marriages ended.
Selective Service status letter and written explanation
Carry both documents to the interview if you were required to register and did not. The Selective Service System can be reached at 888-655-1825.
Biometrics come first
Most applicants must submit biometrics unless USCIS waives the requirement, and the appointment notice arrives before the interview. The photo taken at the application support center may appear on your Certificate of Naturalization, so dress accordingly. USCIS may also request physical passport photos separately after filing.
Two practical points close the gap between a filed application and a scheduled oath. The first is that the interview is a test as well as a document review. You must read one of three sentences aloud correctly and write one of three sentences correctly, and study material for the writing portion is worth working through in advance, as our breakdown of sample sentences for the citizenship writing test shows. If you fail either the English or the civics portion, USCIS retests you on the failed portion between 60 and 90 days after the initial interview under 8 CFR 312.5(a) and 335.3(b).
The second is that an approval is not the finish line. Naturalization is complete only when you take the Oath of Allegiance, and the ceremony has its own document requirements, which our guide to the checks before the naturalization oath ceremony covers. Afterward, the Certificate of Naturalization becomes the primary proof of status, and knowing how to prove U.S. citizenship after naturalization matters for passports, employment, and federal benefits.
Analysis by VisaVerge.com suggests the applicants who move fastest are the ones who assemble the interview file at the same time they assemble the filing package, then leave it untouched for the months in between. Certified court records and IRS transcripts both take weeks to arrive, and requesting them the week before an interview is how an otherwise approvable case turns into a continued one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What documents do I have to send with Form N-400?
The core package is short: the signed Form N-400 edition 01/20/25, photocopies of both sides of your Permanent Resident Card, the filing fee, and marriage or divorce records if you have any marital history. Foreign-language documents need a full English translation plus a translator certification.
How much is the Form N-400 filing fee?
USCIS charges $760 to file Form N-400 on paper and $710 to file online, a $50 saving for using a USCIS online account. Applicants who qualify for a reduced fee pay $380, and those requesting a reduced fee or a fee waiver must file on paper because the online system does not accept either request.
What do I need to bring to my naturalization interview?
Bring the appointment notice, your physical Green Card, a state-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license, and every valid and expired passport plus any USCIS travel document. Add certified tax returns, certified court dispositions for any arrest, and marriage or name-change records if they apply to you.
Do I need to submit tax returns with Form N-400?
Tax returns are not part of the mailed package for most applicants, but USCIS calls them very important proof of eligibility and expects certified returns at the interview. Bring five years of returns, or three years if you are filing on marriage to a U.S. citizen. Order transcripts with IRS Form 4506-T.
What evidence proves continuous residence if I traveled outside the US?
Any single absence of more than 6 months but less than 1 year is presumed to break continuous residence. To rebut it, provide rent or mortgage statements, pay statements, bank or credit card statements showing regular transactions, car registration and insurance, passport entry and exit stamps, and IRS tax transcripts.
What extra documents does the three-year marriage rule require?
Filing under INA 319(a) adds your marriage certificate, evidence of your spouse’s U.S. citizenship covering the full three years, and proof that all prior marriages ended for both of you. The marriage route also cuts physical presence from 30 months to 18 months.
Do military applicants pay the N-400 fee?
No. There is no filing fee for naturalization under INA 328 or INA 329. Current service members submit Form N-426 certified by their chain of command, while separated members send a photocopy of DD Form 214, NGB Form 22, or another official discharge document covering all periods of service.
Which civics test will I take in 2026?
Anyone who filed Form N-400 on or after October 20, 2025 takes the 2025 naturalization civics test, which draws 20 questions from a bank of 128 and requires 12 correct answers to pass. Applications filed before that date use the 2008 test: up to 10 questions from 100, with 6 correct to pass.
