It is then your responsibility to show up at the designated CIS fingerprint facility on the appointed date with the completed Fingerprint Notice in hand for presentation to the appropriate CIS official.
After you receive the fingerprint appointment notice, go to the fingerprint site. Take your fingerprint notice letter from CIS, your Permanent Resident Card, and another form of identification (driver’s license, military ID, passport, or state identification card) with you. Your second form of identification should have your photograph on it. CIS will send your fingerprints to the FBI. If the FBI rejects your fingerprints, CIS will notify you to schedule a second visit to the fingerprint site.
Military Personnel physically located overseas (i.e., outside the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) should contact the nearest Military Police unit or Security Manager and request that two sets of DARK and CLEAR fingerprints be taken on FD-258 Fingerprint Cards.
CIS will not accept fingerprints on any other type of form or card. The two sets of fingerprints on FD-258 cards will be included in the citizenship application packet mailed to CIS from overseas locations.
Step 6 -- Have your Photographs Taken. You must include two color photographs with your application. The specifications for these photographs are the same as those for a U.S. passport photo.
Step 7 -- Collect the Necessary Documents. You will need to include copies of several documents with your application. Send an English translation with any document that is not already in English. The translation must include a statement from the translator that he or she is competent to translate and that the translation is correct. In some instances, you must send send original documents. If you must send an original document to CIS, remember to make and keep a copy for your records.
Step 8 -- Bring your Completed Application to Your Servicing Citizenship Representative. The representative will must verify the application and service data and then complete the back side of Form N-426.
In some services, the Representative is authorized to indicate the servicemember's characterization of service on the Form N-426, based on the member's military service records. In other branches/commands, this will have to be completed by the unit commander. As a general rule, a member is considered to be serving honorably unless a decision has been made, either by the member's commander or a court martial, to discharge him/her under less than honorable conditions.
In the rare cases where the character of a member's service is questionable, ONLY the member's commander can decide this issue, and the sole criterion for the decision is: If the member were being discharged today, based on his/her record, what type of discharge would the member receive? If Honorable or General or Under Honorable Conditions, the character of service on the N-426 will read “honorable.” If Under Less than Honorable Conditions, the N-426 character of service item will NOT read “honorable.”
Step 9 -- Mail the Application Packet to CIS. This is done by the servicing Citizenship Representative. In some commands, coordination is first required with higher headquarters. In other commands, the SCR sends the document directly to the Nebraska Center (which is the CIS center designated for expedited military citizenship processing).
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Nebraska Service Center
P.O. Box 87426
Lincoln, NE 68501-7426
Step 10 -- Wait for CIS To Schedule your Interview. You should receive a receipt within 30 days after the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) Nebraska Service Center receives your application for citizenship. If you have not received your receipt within 60 days after your SCR mailed your application packet, you may ask your SCR to send an E-mail status inquiry to the CIS Nebraska Service Center. The CIS Nebraska Service Center will NOT answer E-mail status queries from individual military members.
The CIS goal is to process your case and notify you of your interview date within four months after receipt of application packet. The CIS interview site will schedule your interview and mail you a notice of the date, time, and place. If you have not received your interview notice within five months after CIS acknowledged receipt of your application, you may ask your SCR to send an E-mail status inquiry to the CIS Nebraska Service Center.
(Compiled from Amy Member's Guide to Citizenship, published by the Army, and the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services)