Out 1 month stamp on the passport

[tufan]

I have GC. I was in India for 1 month, when i was clearing immigration coming back to USA the officer asked me how long i was out. I told him 1 month and therefore, he stamped my passport and wrote "out 1 month" on the stamp?

My question is how does this affect when i file for citizenship? Does this mean that the time of filing reduces by 1 month?

Real canadian and others please let me know.
thanks.

[Jackolantern]

You have to accumulate at least 2.5 years of physical presence in the US during the 5 years prior to applying for citizenship. So that 1 month out will be used when figuring out your total time of physical presence.

[tufan]

Jack, thanks for the reply.

I got GC approval on 11/1/04 based upon this i have been only out 1 month in July 07. When will i be qualified to apply and does that mean i have already fullfilled 2.5 years presence?
thanks.

[pipedream]

Originally Posted by tufan

Jack, thanks for the reply.

I got GC approval on 11/1/04 based upon this i have been only out 1 month in July 07. When will i be qualified to apply and does that mean i have already fullfilled 2.5 years presence?
thanks.

You can only apply for citizenship after 5 years of being on GC, you should have stayed atleast 2.5 years in the US within those 5 years.

If you are married to a citizen of US, you can apply for citizenship after being on GC for 3 years.

[tufan]

Does that mean if you were out for total 5 months in those five years the time won't be counted towards the 5 years since you have to only satisfy 2.5 years within 5 years?

[sept05]

Your I-485 - AD: 11/1/04
Eligibility for Citizenship - 11/01/09
One of the criteria for applying for Citizenship
- stay/residence in US a minimum of 2.5year within 11/01/04 to 11/01/09

[Nkelkar]

Hello,
I got my Green Card just last month. I entered the US on July 1st on my Immigrant Visa.
My current project requires me to tarvel to Europe and I spend atleast 3 weeks every month in Europe (UK, Belgium and Netherlands). Althouigh I do travel back to the US for weekends.
How does this affect my Citizenship case ? I know I dont have to worry about this till 2012, but just wondering.
This project is till Feb 2008 after which I dont know.

[Jackolantern]

Originally Posted by Nkelkar

Hello,
I got my Green Card just last month. I entered the US on July 1st on my Immigrant Visa.
My current project requires me to tarvel to Europe and I spend atleast 3 weeks every month in Europe (UK, Belgium and Netherlands). Althouigh I do travel back to the US for weekends.
How does this affect my Citizenship case ? I know I dont have to worry about this till 2012, but just wondering.
This project is till Feb 2008 after which I dont know.

Citizenship is the least of your problems. Unless you travel like that almost every year, this project is not going to stop you from accumulating 2.5 years of presence within a 5-year span.

More importantly, you have to worry about preserving your green card. If you are spending 75% of the time outside the US for nearly a year (i.e. 3 weeks every month, as you mentioned), you could lose the green card just for that.

Look into getting a reentry permit (http://www.immihelp.com/greencard/reentry-permit.html), and get help from a lawyer (and a second opinion) for advice on what to do to preserve your green card. There are lots of ifs and buts and exceptions when it comes to preserving your green card during extended/frequent overseas travel, so make sure to get professional advice that considers your specific situation.

[Nkelkar]

Originally Posted by Jackolantern

Citizenship is the least of your problems. Unless you travel like that almost every year, this project is not going to stop you from accumulating 2.5 years of presence within a 5-year span.

More importantly, you have to worry about preserving your green card. If you are spending 75% of the time outside the US for nearly a year (i.e. 3 weeks every month, as you mentioned), you could lose the green card just for that.

Look into getting a reentry permit (http://www.immihelp.com/greencard/reentry-permit.html), and get help from a lawyer (and a second opinion) for advice on what to do to preserve your green card. There are lots of ifs and buts and exceptions when it comes to preserving your green card during extended/frequent overseas travel, so make sure to get professional advice that considers your specific situation.

Thanks for the info. I did look up the link you sent and have also emailed my lawyer for clarification.
The way I read it is that if you are planning on staying outside the US for more than a year but less than 2 then you need a re-entry permit. Also the comment about 5 months I read it as a stay outside the US for more than 5 months in one go. You see I re-enter the US every weekend. I fly back and forth every weekk, sometimes every other week. SO at any given time I am only out of the US for 5-10 days.
I will update the forum on what my lawyers feedback is.

[Triple Citizen]

The key factor at the end of 5 years will be, no more than 2.5 years physically outside the US. Keep that in mind.

Originally Posted by Nkelkar

I fly back and forth every weekk, sometimes every other week. SO at any given time I am only out of the US for 5-10 days.

[Jackolantern]

More than six months in one go is enough to put you in trouble; however if it the absence is between six months and one year you have the opportunity to present evidence to overcome the presumption of abandonment of permanent residence. But if it is more than a year, and you don't have a reentry permit, losing the GC is almost automatic.

However, large amounts of cumulative absence can also be a problem. If for example, you return to the US for two weeks at the start of every quarter, none of your individual trips would exceed three months, but looking at the entire time span would show that you spent 10 months of the year outside the US and only two months inside. People have lost their green cards for that.

The rules are not so clear and simple when it comes to overseas travel intermixed with visits to the US. It is a good thing you are seeing a lawyer to help clarify your situation.

[Nkelkar]

Originally Posted by Jackolantern

More than six months in one go is enough to put you in trouble; however if it the absence is between six months and one year you have the opportunity to present evidence to overcome the presumption of abandonment of permanent residence. But if it is more than a year, and you don't have a reentry permit, losing the GC is almost automatic.

However, large amounts of cumulative absence can also be a problem. If for example, you return to the US for two weeks at the start of every quarter, none of your individual trips would exceed three months, but looking at the entire time span would show that you spent 10 months of the year outside the US and only two months inside. People have lost their green cards for that.

The rules are not so clear and simple when it comes to overseas travel intermixed with visits to the US. It is a good thing you are seeing a lawyer to help clarify your situation.

This is what I got from my lawyer:

There are a couple different issues here.

First of all, in order not to abandon your GC, you have to maintain a residence in the US. If you are in the US as often as you describe below it shouldn’t be a problem. It is when you start to have departures of more than 6-12 months that you may begin to get questions at the port of entry. If at any point you think you might have to remain outside the US for more than a year, you should file for a Re-Entry Permit before you leave. This document is valid for 2 years and will get you back in the country when you have stayed out for more than a year.

The second issue is “continuity of residence” for citizenship purposes. To be eligible for US Citizenship, you must be a legal permanent resident for 5 years, be physically in the US for half the time (doesn’t have to be consecutively), and not have any departures of 6 months or more. As long as all your departures are for less than 6 months, this won’t be a problem.



Hope this is helpful.

[Jackolantern]

Originally Posted by Nkelkar

As long as all your departures are for less than 6 months, this won’t be a problem.

Not necessarily true. Taking multiple trips less than 6 months each doesn't mean you are safe. Maybe in your specific case you are OK because of the high frequency of your trips back to the US, but you should ask your lawyer for a specific answer that deals with the ifs and buts and whys and hows specific to your case (preferably with an actual law, court case, or USCIS memo to back it up), not a generic answer that may not be applicable to you.

The quote below is from the "Part 3 of the N-400" section of the Adjudicator's field manual (the bolding is mine):

http://www.uscis.gov/propub/ProPubVA...ce159d286150e2

Continuous Residence Example


The applicant filed Form N-400 on September 8, 1999. He met the physical presence requirements during the statutory period. However, on June 15, 1999, he was sent overseas on an assignment by his employer, which is not an American corporation. He appeared for his interview on January 24, 2001. He informed the examining officer that he was on temporary work assignment in the U.K. and Russia. He acknowledged that he was at that time residing abroad with his spouse and children and gave his address in England. He was not gone for more than six months at any time, but his trips back to the U.S. from June 1999 to January 2001 were brief and sporadic. He cited several rulings from the 1940’s to support his claim that he had met the continuous residence requirement.


The application should be denied for lack of continuous residence under Section 316 of the Act. He failed to reside continuously in the U.S. from the date of application for naturalization up to the time of admission to citizenship.

[rpranesh]

In PR, the intent matters. Here his visits are for business purposes (I presume) and he is back in US every weekend or every other weekend. Assuming that his stays abroad are in a hotel or guest house, there is no residence in the country of his travel. It is very tough for the POE officer to prove that he has taken up residence out-side of US. As long as the pay stubs are in US, has a Home/Rent Home in US it should be sufficient. However physical presence will take a long time to accumulate if this continues.

[cutipie721]

USCIS is your friend: http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

[Jackolantern]

Originally Posted by cutipie721

USCIS is your friend: http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

The M-476 guide does not clarify what happens with multiple consecutive trips of less than 6 months each.

[cutipie721]

^^ I wasn't sure if the OP was related to multiple short trips at all... sorry for being confusing.

[cafeconleche]

I am getting scared reading this. I'm an asylee in the US with PR status. Here are some dates:

Asylee since 2001
PR granted 27 march 2006 (valid from 27 March 2005)- Code AS6 (even though I am the child of the primary applicant- weird)

When I was granted PR, I was outside the US studying. I was in the Netherlands from 11 September 2005 until 12 January 2006, and then again from 22 January 2006 until 3 July 2006. So, I was outside the country (luckily not for more than 6 months at a time even though I didn't know I was getting PR status so soon). I then stayed in the US for a year to finish my degree (July 2006 until August 2007). Now I am back in the Netherlands doing a master's degree. I was here from 21 August 2007 until 3 January 2008, went to the US for 3 weeks, and came back on 21 January 2008. I will be here until the end of June. THEN, I have to be here for another year, returning to the US again for a short time just to keep my PR status. I have calculated to the day the amount of time that I will have spent outside the US (to apply for citizenship in 2010), and I will have had just over 2.5 years. JUST. I spoke to tonnes of people, and they said that as long as I'm here to study, I should be fine. I will also have a re-entry permit soon (I have a refugee travel document now), so, will they really consider taking my PR status away? I'm an asylee. I can't really settle outside the US, can I?

I'd love some advice. Cheers.

[Jackolantern]

Originally Posted by cafeconleche

When I was granted PR, I was outside the US studying. I was in the Netherlands from 11 September 2005 until 12 January 2006, and then again from 22 January 2006 until 3 July 2006. So, I was outside the country (luckily not for more than 6 months at a time even though I didn't know I was getting PR status so soon). I then stayed in the US for a year to finish my degree (July 2006 until August 2007). Now I am back in the Netherlands doing a master's degree. I was here from 21 August 2007 until 3 January 2008, went to the US for 3 weeks, and came back on 21 January 2008. I will be here until the end of June. THEN, I have to be here for another year, returning to the US again for a short time just to keep my PR status. I have calculated to the day the amount of time that I will have spent outside the US (to apply for citizenship in 2010), and I will have had just over 2.5 years. JUST. I spoke to tonnes of people, and they said that as long as I'm here to study, I should be fine. I will also have a re-entry permit soon (I have a refugee travel document now), so, will they really consider taking my PR status away?

Residence requirements for naturalization are more strict than for maintaining your green card, and a reentry permit does not preserve continuous residence for naturalization.

I doubt that your green card is in danger, but they probably would say you have broken continuous residence for naturalization due to those long trips abroad while you were studying.

If you are found to have broken continuous residence, you would have to spend some more years living in the US to redo it (4 years + 1 day after your last long trip outside the US, according to the rules). So that would be sometime in 2013 if you finish your masters and return in 2009.

[cafeconleche]

Really? I mean, I don't work or pay taxes in the Netherlands. I have an IRA and bank accounts in the US, my family is there, etc. Can I explain all of this along with my application? Do you know of any cases where someone was granted (or denied) citizenship because of something like this?

[Jackolantern]

Originally Posted by cafeconleche

Really? I mean, I don't work or pay taxes in the Netherlands. I have an IRA and bank accounts in the US, my family is there, etc. Can I explain all of this along with my application?

You can try, and may be successful if it was just one trip of between 6-12 months. But multiple long trips spanning over a couple years or more is almost sure to get a denial. As I said before, residence requirements for naturalization are strict. Generally you have to be working for a US company or the US government (or be the spouse of somebody working for them) in order to preserve residence for naturalization when taking a long series of trips like that.

Anyway, if you can afford to lose the time and money, you can still try in 2010 and see what happens. If denied on the basis of breaking continuous residence, you can reapply a few years later.

Do you know of any cases where someone was granted (or denied) citizenship because of something like this?

Yes, and they are described on this board if you spend enough time to search for them.

[cafeconleche]

Reapplying a few years later (i.e. more WAITING!!!) would kill me. This is absolute torture. It's a shame, really, since I've been in the US since 1998, and had never left the country until 05, soon after which I got my GC. It's just my luck that the time I decide to pursue only an education abroad falls on the same time during which I have to rack up residency requirements... I'm just absolutely bummed