Continuous Residence and Physical Presence prior to N-400

[LikeABus]

Hi, I am a Green Card holder, and will be eligible to apply for citizenship (based on marriage) in May 2015. I am permanent resident since June 2011.

On the form N-400, I am asked how many days I have spent outside the US for the last five years (i.e. since May 2010). I only went overseas for four weeks in Dec. 2012-Jan. 2013 and then again for a week in August 2013. In total, about 36 days.

Then, I have left the States on October 6 2014, and have since been traveling in Europe. So far 119 days have past.

How much longer can I stay overseas if I want to submit N-400 in May. It says that after six months (180 days) outside the States, one looses – or it “disrupts” – continuous residence. Does this mean all absences cannot be cumulatively be more than 180 (meaning I would have 154 days so far and would have to return in 26 days) or can one single absence not exceed 180 days.

Second question, it is stated (§ Sec. 316.2, Section 5) that “Immediately preceding the filing of an application, or immediately preceding the examination on the application if the application was filed early pursuant to Section 334(a) of the Act and the three month period falls within the required period of residence under Section 316(a) or 319(a) of the Act, has resided, as defined under § 316.5, for at least three months in a State or Service district having jurisdiction over the applicant's actual place of residence.”

Does this mean that I have to have resided continuously 90 days in FL prior to my filing in May, or, that I have to have resided for a total of 90 days (including time prior to me leaving in October) in FL when I submit N-400 in May. Since I will return on March 1st, I will have spent only 60 days in FL between my return and the date of the filing of N-400.

Many thanks for your answers.

 

[FriscoDude]

Regarding your second question, it means that you need to have resided in the same state 90 days prior to filing. Basically, if someone move from, say, California to Texas, then they can only file after living in Texas for 90 days so your first guess is correct. Do you have a residence in Florida? If yes, then I'd assume that you should be good if Florida is your primary residence and you were living there before taking off to Europe, even if you're vacationing there now.

As for your first question, if you return on March 1st, you would have stayed about 5 months outside of the US and you should be good as well. It's a single trip of more than 6 months that may disrupt your continuous residence requirement. If your only trips outside the US have been that one month, that one week and that 5 months, you should be okay imo. Someone else can chime in though.

 

[Jackolantern]

How much longer can I stay overseas if I want to submit N-400 in May. It says that after six months (180 days) outside the States, one looses – or it “disrupts” – continuous residence. Does this mean all absences cannot be cumulatively be more than 180 (meaning I would have 154 days so far and would have to return in 26 days) or can one single absence not exceed 180 days.

A single absence of 6 months or longer is presumed to break continuous residence. Multiple trips of under 6 months each which add up to more than 6 months is normally not a problem, unless the trips were a long sequence of absences with very short time in between, e.g. five trips of 4 to 5 months each with 2 weeks in between.