The immigration process will take an applicant through a whirlwind of steps. Each one will require them to present documents or share information that will help immigration decide whether or not to grant the application.


The best thing to do is to be prepared — but in order to prepare well and sufficiently, one must be aware of what immigration is looking for in the first place.


Three Things Immigration Will Ask For

Typically, immigration asks for three types of crucial information, namely the applicant’s residence, work, and travel history.


Residency History

One of the first questions that immigration will ask is where the applicant has lived over the past five years or so. But naming a city or county is not enough. They will require the applicant to be more specific and cite the exact dates they lived in each place, including the month, day, and year.


Work History

To determine if they can support themselves financially, immigration will also ask the applicant for their work history. This includes any engagement from where they earned money, whether full-time or contractual employment.


Similar to residence history, one will need to get specific here. Immigration wants to know the dates (month, day, and year), the supervisor’s name, office address, phone number, and job title, among others.


Travel History

Lastly, immigration will also ask for the applicant's detailed travel history, especially in applications for U.S. naturalization. Again, travel accounts need to be specific, from the place of travel to the departure and arrival dates. Immigration may also ask the applicant to calculate how many days in total they have spent outside of the United States.


Keep Track

Because immigration officers are looking for specific and detailed information, every applicant must keep track of their residence, work, and travel histories. While they usually go back five years, there may be unique facts to a case that would propel them to ask for information dating back decades.


Keeping a document or tracker of these three key pieces of information will go a long way in helping an immigration application become successful.