If you have a pending N-400 naturalization application, the environment you are filing in has shifted significantly from what applicants experienced even a year ago. Denials and Requests for Evidence in citizenship cases are increasing across the country, and the issues being raised are broader, more aggressive, and in some cases more arbitrary than what immigration attorneys have seen in prior administrations. The rules have not formally changed. The enforcement of those rules has.
What is driving the increase in citizenship denials and RFEs?
The Trump administration has made clear through its approach to immigration enforcement that it intends to apply existing immigration law more strictly across all case types, and naturalization is no exception. USCIS officers reviewing N-400 applications are being directed to scrutinize applications more carefully and to raise issues that would have been overlooked or handled more leniently in prior years. The result is a pattern of denials and Requests for Evidence that is hitting applicants across a wide range of circumstances and backgrounds.
This is not a change in the law. Congress has not passed new restrictions on who can become a citizen. The good moral character standard, the continuous residence requirement, the English and civics requirements, and the other eligibility criteria are the same as they have always been. What has changed is how strictly and how broadly those standards are being applied, and what kinds of issues USCIS officers are choosing to flag and pursue.
What specific issues are being raised in citizenship RFEs and denials?
The categories of issues being raised in recent N-400 cases cover a wide and sometimes surprising range.
Tax history is one of the most active areas. Officers are sending RFEs asking about taxes that were filed late, even by a short period. They are asking why an applicant chose to file a tax extension rather than filing on time, which is a particularly aggressive inquiry given that tax extensions are a completely legal and commonly used mechanism that millions of Americans use every year. The suggestion that filing an extension reflects negatively on good moral character would have been viewed as an overreach in prior administrations. Under the current one it is appearing in actual RFE notices.
Travel history and absences abroad are another active area. Applicants with significant travel outside the United States during the statutory period are receiving requests for detailed explanations of those absences even when the individual trips did not exceed the thresholds that formally break continuous residence. The expectation that applicants will document and justify their travel patterns in detail has intensified.
Errors and seemingly arbitrary issues are also appearing. Cases have been seen where the RFE or denial notice raises issues that simply do not apply to the applicant. One example that has appeared in practice involves a notice asking an applicant to explain why they committed marital infidelity when there was no indication of that for a happily married couple. This kind of generic or incorrectly applied notice suggests that some of the increased volume of RFEs may involve errors on the government’s part rather than genuine issues with the applications.
What is the situation for applicants who have already had their interview approved?
This is one of the most concerning developments in the current environment. An interview approval is not a guarantee of eventual naturalization. Applicants who have already attended their N-400 interview, had the interview go well, and received what appeared to be an approval at the interview are still not guaranteed to receive their oath ceremony scheduling without complications.
If a naturalization application has been pending for a year or more, even with an interview that appeared to go favorably, anything is possible under the current administration. Post-interview RFEs, notices of intent to deny, and delays in oath ceremony scheduling are all being reported with greater frequency. The period between a positive interview and the oath ceremony, which historically was a relatively brief formality, has become a period of genuine uncertainty in some cases.
What should you do if your case is pending and you receive an RFE or denial notice?
The first and most important thing is to respond to any RFE promptly and thoroughly. As discussed in prior guides, the RFE response window is now 30 days and missing it results in automatic denial. Do not assume that a notice raising an issue that seems wrong or inapplicable to your situation means you can ignore it. Address it directly and document your response thoroughly.
If the RFE raises an issue that genuinely does not apply to you, as in the marital infidelity example described above, your response should clearly and directly establish why the issue does not apply. Provide documentation if available. Do not leave it to the officer to figure out that the notice was incorrect. Make the case explicitly in writing.
If you receive a denial, the options include filing a motion to reopen or reconsider if the denial was based on a clear legal or factual error, pursuing an appeal through available administrative channels, and in some cases filing a lawsuit in federal court if administrative remedies have been exhausted. Each of these paths requires case-specific analysis.
What is the most important thing to understand about the current naturalization environment?
The rules are the same. The enforcement is not. Every N-400 applicant needs to approach their application with a level of preparation and documentation that accounts for the current environment, not the environment of prior years. Tax history needs to be clean and fully documented. Travel history needs to be thoroughly explained if there are any patterns that could raise questions. Criminal history, however minor, needs to be disclosed and analyzed before filing.
Having an experienced immigration attorney review your case before you file, and having representation available if an RFE or denial notice arrives, is more important in the current environment than it has ever been.
Download our free Ultimate Naturalization Guide for Citizenship at JQKLaw.com/citizenship, join Attorney John Khosravi, Esq. live every Tuesday at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET on YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok for a free Q&A, or book a one-on-one consultation at JQKLaw.com/contact.
