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August 20, 2026
GWP IMMIGRATION LAW
An Open Criminal Case Can Freeze Your Path to Citizenship
Filing Form N-400 while charges are still pending rarely speeds up the process — it usually stalls it, or worse.
USCIS generally will not approve a naturalization application while a criminal case remains open, and a poorly timed filing can create immigration risk that did not exist before.
Updated August 20, 2026 · GWP Law · Las Vegas, NVTHE CONTEXT
Why an Open Case Stalls Your N-400
Every naturalization applicant must prove good moral character (GMC) for a set statutory period — five years for most permanent residents, three years for those married to a U.S. citizen — and must keep proving it all the way through the Oath of Allegiance, under INA § 316(a), (e) (8 U.S.C. § 1427).
USCIS is not limited to that window, either. Officers can weigh conduct from years earlier if it still reflects on an applicant’s present character.
A pending charge does not automatically disqualify anyone, but it does freeze the process.
Officers cannot finish a good-moral-character analysis on an offense with no final result, so adjudicators commonly continue the case — the same tool they use for any other missing piece of evidence — until the criminal court reaches a disposition, under 8 CFR § 335.3(b).
If probation, parole, or a suspended sentence is still running when USCIS decides the case, approval is barred outright, no matter how minor the underlying charge, under 8 CFR § 316.10(c)(1).
That bar does not disappear automatically once probation ends, either. USCIS’s own guidance notes that completing it does not by itself establish good character — officers still weigh what led to it, per the USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12, Part F, Chapter 2.
How the case resolves matters just as much as when it resolves.
Two or more DUI convictions inside the statutory period create a rebuttable presumption that an applicant lacks good character, one the Department of Justice has held that rehabilitation alone cannot overcome — see Matter of Castillo-Perez, 27 I&N Dec. 664 (A.G. 2019).
Marijuana-related conduct raises a similar problem. Federal law still treats marijuana as a controlled substance, so USCIS can find a lack of good character over conduct that is fully legal under state law, including certain jobs in the cannabis industry, per USCIS’s April 19, 2019 policy guidance.
USCIS has also widened when it issues a Notice to Appear — the document that starts deportation proceedings — in cases involving removable or inadmissible applicants, under a February 28, 2025 policy memorandum.
A citizenship application puts an applicant’s full record in front of the government, which is exactly where that risk can surface.
On August 15, 2025, USCIS raised the bar again, directing officers to review an applicant’s complete history under a totality-of-the-circumstances standard instead of a narrow, mechanical checklist, per this policy memorandum.
A pending or recently resolved criminal matter now gets weighed more heavily, not less.
Source: 8 CFR § 316.10(c)(1); Matter of Castillo-Perez, 27 I&N Dec. 664 (A.G. 2019).
A REAL CASE
A Client Who Almost Filed Too Soon
A permanent resident called me a few months before his green card’s ten-year mark, ready to file for citizenship.
He had a pending misdemeanor charge from an argument with a neighbor, still open on the court calendar.
I told him to wait. Filing then would have forced USCIS to either continue his case indefinitely or deny it outright.
We tracked the case until it was dismissed, gathered the certified court disposition, and only filed once that record was complete.
His N-400 moved through the normal timeline without a single question about the old charge.
What to Do Now
THE PATH FORWARD
Get a Deportability Check Before You File
Filing for citizenship puts your full record in front of the government, which is exactly why the review has to happen first, not after.
That review starts with a deportability check: does anything in your record — an old conviction, an admission, a pending charge — make you removable rather than eligible?
If so, filing can trigger a Notice to Appear instead of a naturalization approval, as we explained after the Supreme Court’s decision in Niz-Chavez v. Garland.
If USCIS denies the case anyway, you can request a hearing on Form N-336 within 30 days of the denial notice, under 8 CFR § 336.2.
That hearing is a fresh, de novo review by a different officer, not a rubber stamp of the first decision.
Our citizenship team reviews the full record before anything is filed, and if removal proceedings do start, our deportation defense team can pick up from there.
References
- INA § 316, 8 U.S.C. § 1427 — Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute
- 8 CFR § 316.10 — Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute
- 8 CFR § 335.3 — Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute
- 8 CFR § 336.2 — Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12, Part F, Chapter 2 — Adjudicative Factors
- Matter of Castillo-Perez, 27 I&N Dec. 664 (A.G. 2019) — U.S. Department of Justice
- USCIS, Policy Guidance Clarifying How Federal Controlled Substances Law Applies to Naturalization Determinations (April 19, 2019)
- USCIS, Policy Memorandum on Issuance of Notices to Appear (February 28, 2025)
- USCIS, Policy Memorandum: Restoring a Good Moral Character Evaluation Standard for Aliens Applying for Naturalization (August 15, 2025)
Have an Open Case and a Citizenship Deadline?
Talk to our citizenship team before you file, not after a denial.
Book a Consultation →This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney before taking any action. · Last verified: August 12, 2026 · Reviewed by: Kathia Quirós, Immigration Attorney · GWP Immigration Law
