SRW receives many questions about the naturalization process and good moral character requirement.

One of the requirements an individual must meet in order to qualify for naturalization is good moral character.  The applicant must be a person of good moral character for the requisite five years.  In the case of a spouse married to a USC, the period for demonstrating good moral character is three years. The applicant must maintain good moral character up to the time of admission to citizenship. See INA §§ 316(a)(3), 319(a)(1).

One common question is whether a person can be denied on good moral character grounds even if criminal charges have been dismissed and/or if never convicted of a crime.

CIS can deny a case for good mortal character reasons even without a conviction on record.  Technically they can deny if you admit to committing a crime even if you were never arrested.  There is also a catch all provision that reads you can be denied under the good moral character requirement if you commit any unalwful act that adversely reflects upon your good moral character, whether or not the actions led to a conviction.

If charges have been dismissed, you should be able to show how and why to prove that you still meet the good moral character requirement.  It is particularly helpful if charges were dimissed with prejudice and if you can show that you never commited any unalwful act.

Another common question is whether child support or tax issues acn be a problem for proving good moral character.

Unless the person can show extenuating circumstances, s/he will generally be found to lack good moral character if:

* Willfully failed or refused to support dependents

* Failure to file taxes

In order to qualify for naturalization, you need to be up to date with any child support responsibilities and you need to up to date with filing taxes.

For general info on the naturalization process see:

http://srwlawyers.com/ImmigrationOptions/Citizenship/N400Naturalizatio
nProcess/tabid/157/Default.aspx