N-470, Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes
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Use this form if you are a lawful permanent resident who must leave the United States for a period of one year or longer to engage in qualifying employment and you want to preserve your residence to pursue naturalization. In general, you must have been physically present in the United States as an LPR for an uninterrupted period of at least 1 year prior to working outside the U.S.
Qualifying employment outside the U.S. includes being:
- Employed by or under contract with the U.S. government;
- Employed by or under contract with an entity that is currently recognized by USCIS as an American institution of research;
- Employed by an American firm or corporation engaged in the development of U.S. foreign trade and commerce, or a subsidiary thereof if more than 50 percent of its stock is owned by an American firm or corporation;
- Employed by a public international organization of which the United States is a member by treaty or statute and by which the applicant was not employed until after becoming an LPR; or
- Engaged solely for the purpose of performing the ministerial or priestly functions of a religious denomination that has a bona fide organization in the United States, or engaged solely by a religious denomination or interdenominational mission organization having a bona fide organization within the United States as a missionary, brother, nun, or sister.
If you are eligible for naturalization under section 319(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) because you are married to a U.S. citizen working for certain organizations overseas, you are exempt from establishing the naturalization residency and physical presence requirements. Therefore, you are not required to file Form N-470. Please visit our Application for Naturalization page for more information on applying for naturalization under section 319(b) of the INA.
Form Details
Dates are listed in mm/dd/yy format.
If you complete and print this form to mail it, make sure that the form edition date and page numbers are visible at the bottom of all pages and that all pages are from the same form edition. If any of the form’s pages are missing or are from a different form edition, we may reject your form.
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For U.S. Postal Service (USPS):
USCIS
Attn: N-470
P.O. Box 650809
Dallas, TX 75265
For FedEx, UPS, and DHL deliveries:
USCIS
Attn: N-470 (Box 650809)
2501 S. State Hwy.121, Business
Suite 400
Lewisville, TX 75067
Generally, you may file the application before or after your employment begins, but you must file before you have been outside the U.S. for a continuous period of 1 year. If your absence is due to qualifying employment based on you performing the ministerial or priestly functions of a religious denomination or serving as a missionary, brother, nun, or sister, as described above, you may file the application either before or after your absence from the United States.
You can find the filing fee for Form N-470 by visiting our Fee Schedule page.
You can pay the fee with a money order, personal check, cashier’s check or pay by credit card or debit card using Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions. If you pay by check, you must make your check payable to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
When you send a payment, you agree to pay for a government service. Filing fees are final and non-refundable, regardless of any action we take on your application, petition, or request, or if you withdraw your request. If you pay by credit card or debit card, you cannot later dispute the payment. Use our Fee Calculator to help determine your fee.
If you are submitting multiple forms, pay each filing fee separately. We are transitioning to electronically processing immigration benefit requests, which requires us to use multiple systems to process your package. We may reject your entire package if you submit a single, combined payment for multiple forms.
Filing Tips for Form N-470, Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes
Complete all sections of the form. We will reject the form if these fields are missing:
- Part 1 – A-Number
- Part 4 – Applicant’s Signature
Filing Tips: Review our Tips for Filing Forms by Mail page for information on how to ensure we will accept your form.
Don’t forget to sign your form. We will reject any unsigned form.
Attorney or representative: You may be represented, at no expense to the U.S. government, by an attorney or other duly authorized or accredited representative. Your representative must submit Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative, with your Form N-470. They may also submit Form G-28 at the time of your interview.
Policy and Guidance
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12, Part D, Chapter 3, Continuous Residence, Section D, Preserving Residence for Naturalization (Form N-470) [12 USCIS-PM D.3(D)]
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12, Part D, Chapter 5, Section A, Qualifying Employment Abroad [12 USCIS-PM D.5(A)]