US Citizenship (N-400) Eligibility & Early Filing Calculator

About the US Citizenship (N-400) Eligibility & Early Filing Calculator

Work out the first day a permanent resident can file Form N-400: after 5 years as a permanent resident, or 3 years when married to and living with a US citizen, with the 90-day early filing window counted the way USCIS counts it. Each trip you list is checked against both residence rules: physical presence of at least 913 days in the 5 years before filing (548 days in 3 years), and continuous residence, where an absence of more than 6 months is presumed to break it and an absence of a year or more breaks it, with the waiting periods the USCIS Policy Manual gives (4 years and 1 day, or 4 years and 6 months, after returning).

Trips can be typed, pasted or imported from a CSV file, and kept in this browser if you choose. The page also checks the 3 months in your state or USCIS district, a filing date you have in mind, and gives a trip log in the N-400’s columns with the whole days abroad USCIS counts. The free preview shows the residence warnings and the first trips of the trip log, with your earliest filing date and the day counts hidden; a Pro pass unlocks them, the full trip log, its CSV and the print.

Common uses

• Finding the first day to send Form N-400, with the 90-day early window.
• Checking whether a long trip abroad delays your application and by how much.
• Planning trips before filing so you keep enough days of physical presence.
• Preparing the list of trips the N-400 asks for, with the days abroad of each.

How the dates are counted

For a filing date, the statutory period is the 5 years (or 3 years) that end on that date. USCIS does not count the day you leave or the day you come back as days abroad (USCIS Policy Manual: continuous residence), so a trip from March 1 to March 5 is 3 days abroad. An absence counts only for the part of it inside the period, which is why a long trip stops mattering once enough of it has moved out of the 5 years. If your earliest date has already passed, the calculator leads with the first date from today: a long trip taken since then counts in the 5 years before any filing now, so it can push the date later again.

• More than 6 months (more than 180 days) but less than a year: a break is presumed; you can rebut it with evidence that you kept your US job, home and family.
• 1 year or more (365 days or more): continuity is broken unless an approved Form N-470 preserved it. You can then file 4 years and 1 day after coming back (2 years and 1 day on the 3-year path) if you can rebut the presumption for what is left of the absence, or after 4 years and 6 months (2 years and 6 months) without it.

Physical presence and early filing

You must have been physically present in the US for at least 30 months (913 days) of the 5 years before filing, or 18 months (548 days) of the 3 years on the marriage path (USCIS Policy Manual: physical presence). You may file up to 90 days before you first meet the continuous residence requirement: USCIS counts back 90 days from the day before, so the earliest date is the anniversary minus 90 days (Policy Manual: early filing, 8 CFR 334.2(b)). On the 3-year path, the 3 years of marriage and living together with a spouse who was a citizen all that time must be complete when you file (Policy Manual: spouses of US citizens). If you became a permanent resident on arrival with an immigrant visa, the days before that arrival inside the period count as days abroad.

Before you file

You must also have lived in your state or USCIS district for 3 months before filing (an early filing may complete them within its 90 days), keep living in the US until the Oath, and meet the good moral character, English and civics requirements. USCIS’s study materials for the civics and English test cover the interview, and the N-400 page has the form, the fee and how to file online.

Limitations

• Not legal advice: USCIS decides, and a presumed break depends on the evidence you give.
• The 6 months are counted as 180 days, as the Policy Manual defines them; if your date falls within a few days of a limit, allow a margin or ask an immigration attorney.
• Military service, an approved Form N-470, INA 319(b) spouses abroad and other special provisions are not covered.

Privacy

Everything is worked out in your browser. Your dates and trips are never uploaded; they are kept in this browser only if you tick “Keep my trips in this browser”, and unticking removes them.