long trips before/after citizenship application.. what are my chances

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wc_2007

Registered Users (C)
First, I would like to say that I have been following this forum for the last few months and this is great community help service.
This is my first post and I am sorry that this is long one

I want to explain my situation and get some advices

We lived in the US for almost 11 years before deciding to spend a year in India for family reasons -- strong reasons,
but no emergencies though. We came to India in Nov 2006.

Initially I worked for the same company that I had been with (for last 8 years in the US) remotely from my home for a few months, before the
company got acquired and most engineering jobs including mine were eliminated. Then I did some consulting for a US company for 3 months
(spent 6 weeks of that time in US and then the rest remotely working in India).

After that I joined a Indian subsidiary of a US company (the Indian subsidiary just does accounting, all technical work is done in US) and
I actually work with a team in the US (spending some time in US, but remotely working from India otherwise). I have an agreement with
the company that we will move back to US by the end of this year and the appointment letter mentions that but without specific timeline.

I had made 2 trips (for a few weeks each 6+ and then 3+ weeks) -- to US since the move and so my stay in India is never 6 months.
My wife and kids are in India for the last 9 months. We are going to move back to US in November/December 2007.

I have been using my friend's address for contacts -- credit card, banks. In June when I was there, I applied for citizenship (actually
I applied after I was physically there for 6 weeks). My thinking then was that I didn't want to lose time and wait until we returned.

I completed FP in Aug when I was there, but have made trips to India after applying for N400 and after FP.

We both have reentry permit till Feb 2009 and so I hope that my wife wouldn't have any issues entering US in Dec 2007/Jan 2008.

I have maintained ties to the US -- kept working for US companies, maintained credit card, bank accounts, filed the right tax forms and so
our intent is always to return.

On hind sight, I think I should have done one of the following


* Obtained citizenship before wanting to spend time in India. Even though we were eligible to apply before we moved, we didn't and there were reasons -- our elder kid would start KG next year and so we wanted to spend time in India before that and not wait for citizenship which I think was taking a few months to a year.
* Applied for preservation of residency -- I didn't do the right research then
* Waited couple of years after we returned at the end of this year and then applied for citizenship
* atleast should have kept renting an apartment

I am hoping that I'll get the IL in Feb/March 2008 (FP done in Aug) and by that time we all would have moved back,
lived in our own apartment for couple of months, would have enrolled our older kid in private school and I would be working in the US head office.

By then, I would have made the following recent trips to India (before that we probably were outside of US for 2/3 months since we obtained GC)

4 months before N400 application
2 months and 3 months before and after FP


I have the following questions and would appreciate any help, tips, advices

1) What are the chances of a successful Interview
2) Even if my N400 is denied, will this cause my GC to be abandoned because of residency issues
3) Any tips on how to prepare for the interview
4) Wat are the chances that my wife will be denied entry at the Port(she has a re-entry permit valid till Feb 2009 and would have lived ouside the US for about 13 months,
obviously she hasn't applied for citizenship)

thanks in advance
 
wc_2007 said:
First, I would like to say that I have been following this forum for the last few months and this is great community help service.
This is my first post and I am sorry that this is long one

I want to explain my situation and get some advices

We lived in the US for almost 11 years before deciding to spend a year in India for family reasons -- strong reasons,
but no emergencies though. We came to India in Nov 2006.

Initially I worked for the same company that I had been with (for last 8 years in the US) remotely from my home for a few months, before the
company got acquired and most engineering jobs including mine were eliminated. Then I did some consulting for a US company for 3 months
(spent 6 weeks of that time in US and then the rest remotely working in India).

After that I joined a Indian subsidiary of a US company (the Indian subsidiary just does accounting, all technical work is done in US) and
I actually work with a team in the US (spending some time in US, but remotely working from India otherwise). I have an agreement with
the company that we will move back to US by the end of this year and the appointment letter mentions that but without specific timeline.

I had made 2 trips (for a few weeks each 6+ and then 3+ weeks) -- to US since the move and so my stay in India is never 6 months.
My wife and kids are in India for the last 9 months. We are going to move back to US in November/December 2007.

I have been using my friend's address for contacts -- credit card, banks. In June when I was there, I applied for citizenship (actually
I applied after I was physically there for 6 weeks). My thinking then was that I didn't want to lose time and wait until we returned.

I completed FP in Aug when I was there, but have made trips to India after applying for N400 and after FP.

We both have reentry permit till Feb 2009 and so I hope that my wife wouldn't have any issues entering US in Dec 2007/Jan 2008.

I have maintained ties to the US -- kept working for US companies, maintained credit card, bank accounts, filed the right tax forms and so
our intent is always to return.

On hind sight, I think I should have done one of the following


* Obtained citizenship before wanting to spend time in India. Even though we were eligible to apply before we moved, we didn't and there were reasons -- our elder kid would start KG next year and so we wanted to spend time in India before that and not wait for citizenship which I think was taking a few months to a year.
* Applied for preservation of residency -- I didn't do the right research then
* Waited couple of years after we returned at the end of this year and then applied for citizenship
* atleast should have kept renting an apartment

I am hoping that I'll get the IL in Feb/March 2008 (FP done in Aug) and by that time we all would have moved back,
lived in our own apartment for couple of months, would have enrolled our older kid in private school and I would be working in the US head office.

By then, I would have made the following recent trips to India (before that we probably were outside of US for 2/3 months since we obtained GC)

4 months before N400 application
2 months and 3 months before and after FP


I have the following questions and would appreciate any help, tips, advices

1) What are the chances of a successful Interview
2) Even if my N400 is denied, will this cause my GC to be abandoned because of residency issues
3) Any tips on how to prepare for the interview
4) Wat are the chances that my wife will be denied entry at the Port(she has a re-entry permit valid till Feb 2009 and would have lived ouside the US for about 13 months,
obviously she hasn't applied for citizenship)

thanks in advance
Click to expand...
If you have valid reentry permit you will be allowed to enter US before the reentry expires.
If your Citizenship is denied your can be GC holder as you have applied Reentry permit while you were in US
Please provide the info:
When did you go out of US?
When did your wife go out of US?
When did you last visit US?
Did you stay out of US more than 180 days on any single trip to India?
“The stay is not considered as "continuous" if an Alien stays out of the U.S. for more than six months continuously”
Did your wife stayed out of US more than 180 days on any single trip to India?
It seems your child is US CITIZEN or my guess is wrong?
Did you and your wife file US resident taxes?
Do you and your wife have US valid driving licenses?
Did you file for citizenship when you were resident of particular state for 3 months?
“Three Months Residence immediately preceding the filing the Petition in the state in which the petition is filed: Since the naturalization petition can be filed three months before the completion of continuous residence, the three-month state residence requirement is never a barrier to filing the citizenship application. However the Alien has to demonstrate that the state residence requirement has been met at the time of his/her interview if the citizenship application was filed earlier”

Continuous Residence until getting naturalized: An Alien has to be present in the United States from the day he files the petition for naturalization and till the time he gets admitted as a citizen. It should be noted that continuous residence is not the same as physical presence in the US.

Question: What is required to show 3 months residence in a district to apply for residency there?

Ans:Carl Shusterman: If the INS examiner requests proof of residency, you should be prepared to show that you are residing in the area and working in the area. A rental agreement or a deed may be useful, as would be credit card receipts and recent pay stubs.

Read the below link
http://immigration.about.com/library/weekly/aa070300b.htm
 
Thanks for the reply. Answers to your question

When did you go out of US? Nov 15 2006
When did your wife go out of US? Nov 15 2006
When did you last visit US? August 2007

Did you stay out of US more than 180 days on any single trip to India? No

“The stay is not considered as "continuous" if an Alien stays out of the U.S. for more than six months continuously”
Did your wife stayed out of US more than 180 days on any single trip to India? Yes

It seems your child is US CITIZEN or my guess is wrong? Yes both kids are US Citizens

Did you and your wife file US resident taxes? Yes
Do you and your wife have US valid driving licenses? Yes
 
Since November 2006 until your planned return, what is the total percentage of time you expect to accumulate inside the US? That is what they look at, not just whether any single trip was longer than 6 months. Spending 10% of the time in the US over a two-year period is not likely to be viewed as continuous residence, unless you filed an N-470 prior to departure and it was approved.
 
Assuming I get the Interview in Feb 2008, I would have the spent the following time outside the US

last 1 year (before Feb 2008) -- 226 out of 365 (62%)
last 2 years -- 313 out of 730 (42%)
last 5 years -- 341 out of 1825 (18%)

My concern is that I would have spent significant time outside in 2007 with out lease/mortgage during that period, but in my opinion had strong ties through employment and maintaining bank/credit accounts
 
Sounds to me like this is another of those cases where its going to depend very much on the IO. There appears to be sufficient wiggle-room that approval might be possible, but there are also several factors including the foreign employment that count heavily against you.

Entire family accompanied you overseas - bad.
Foreign employment - bad
Spent most of the year abroad - bad

Continued to work for US company until acquisition - good
New employment contract did specify return to US, but no fixed date - hmmm​

Obviously your wife is not eligible for her N-400 right now, however she will qualify for 1yr credit under the 4yr+1day rule.
 
Thanks for your replies.
I agree that a successful interview in my case depends on the IO.

But if I am denied citizenship on residency reasons (if the IO says that my intent was to live outisde US), then I am just worried that my GC could be revoked for the same reasons -- would they do that?

Would it be better to stop my citizenship process now, so that atleast my GC can be saved?
 
wc_2007 said:
Thanks for your replies.
I agree that a successful interview in my case depends on the IO.

But if I am denied citizenship on residency reasons (if the IO says that my intent was to live outisde US), then I am just worried that my GC could be revoked for the same reasons -- would they do that?

Would it be better to stop my citizenship process now, so that atleast my GC can be saved?
Click to expand...

It is far easier for USCIS to deny an N-400 than it is to revoke a GC. I seriously doubt you'll have any problem with the latter, assuming of course that immigration at your PoE lets you back in to resume your permanent residency.
 
wc_2007 said:
But if I am denied citizenship on residency reasons (if the IO says that my intent was to live outisde US), then I am just worried that my GC could be revoked for the same reasons -- would they do that?
Click to expand...
Continuous residence for naturalization purposes has stricter criteria than the residence requirements for maintaining the green card. So failing to meet the residence requirements for citizenship does not mean you'd lose the green card.
 
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