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Citizenship Eligibility
- Thread starter skkgc
- Start date
sanjoseaug20
Registered Users (C)
It depends on whether your 4-5 months long trips were separated by long presence in USA, or if they were back to back wherein you entered USA to return within days / weeks. Back to back trips might be considered to break continuous residency unless you can prove that you maintained ties with USA during this period.
Please provide more details on these aspects ...
a) whether the trips were back to back ... the entry exit dates.
b) what you did to maintain residency within the USA ... any family staying back, retained rental / mortgage?
Please provide more details on these aspects ...
a) whether the trips were back to back ... the entry exit dates.
b) what you did to maintain residency within the USA ... any family staying back, retained rental / mortgage?
sanjoseaug20
Registered Users (C)
How come you say that no trip was more than 4-5 months, and then say you were out of country from August 2007 - June 2008? Issues such as this imply you getting incorrect advice.
Your first trip is the biggest trouble. It is almost 10-11 months, depending on the specific dates when you traveled. The IO may not question it, but if you are questioned, you will be expected to prove that you did not break residential ties with USA. Filing taxes and W2s are not enough in those cases.
If you are assessed to have broken continuous residence, you can file 4 years and 1 day after you returned from that long trip.
Your first trip is the biggest trouble. It is almost 10-11 months, depending on the specific dates when you traveled. The IO may not question it, but if you are questioned, you will be expected to prove that you did not break residential ties with USA. Filing taxes and W2s are not enough in those cases.
If you are assessed to have broken continuous residence, you can file 4 years and 1 day after you returned from that long trip.
Jackolantern
Registered Users (C)
Your lease/mortgage, utility bills for the months when you were gone, US bank accounts and other assets such as a car kept in the US while your were gone.What all doc's are needed to show that residential ties are maintained ?
That is not good for your naturalization prospects. That's increasing your ties to India.Also, trying to grow company in India as the market there is nascent.
What all doc's are needed to show that residential ties are maintained ?
My wife is in India due to GC issues and I have to make frequent trips to be with her. Also, trying to grow company in India as the market there is nascent. Any help is appreciated
If you read the Document Checklist for N-400 (Form M-477), it says the following:
If you have taken any trip outside the United States that lasted 6 months or more since becoming a Lawful Permanent Resident, send evidence that you (and your family) continued to live, work and/or keep ties to the United States, such as:
An IRS tax return “transcript” or an IRS-certified tax return listing tax information for the last 5 years (or for the last 3 years if you are applying on the basis of marriage to a U.S. citizen).
Rent or mortgage payments and pay stubs
You will have to get the tax transcripts for the last 5 years.
As sanjoseaug20 has posted above, the IO may question you about your 10 month or 11 month trip during the interview.
I am assuming you have some sort of a business both in the U.S. and overseas, and you could tide over that question by saying you were setting up or expanding the business overseas.
I think the 6 month trip Jul '10 - Dec '10 can also be questioned.
The other red flag is not having a rental/mortgage(currently or in the past). I am not sure how you will be able to tide over that one.
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sanjoseaug20
Registered Users (C)
The requirement is "continuous residence" and requires you to maintain residential ties.
Now out of "CC, bank statements, brokerage accts, DL, car registration", which one proves your residential ties to USA?
At best the car registration can be used to explain that you intended to return otherwise you would have sold the car.
Anyone can establish a CC, bank statement, brokerage account and DL in USA and depart never to return.
Now out of "CC, bank statements, brokerage accts, DL, car registration", which one proves your residential ties to USA?
At best the car registration can be used to explain that you intended to return otherwise you would have sold the car.
Anyone can establish a CC, bank statement, brokerage account and DL in USA and depart never to return.
... Is that not sufficient enough ?
It's up to the IO at interview to decide whether you have sufficient evidence to overcome presumption of break in continuous residency with your trip between 6 and 12 months.
How about 401K's, IRA accts, SEP IRA's ? Wouldn't these retirement accts give enough evidence that I will return to USA. Also, should I mentioned about my wife situation as the reason for outside stay or just stick to growing biz as the reason of trips. Thx.
Like I said, it depends on the IO to interpret the evidence you have. It's not a matter of presenting 3-4 forms of evidence, but rather on the IO's conclusion of if you overcame presumption based on evidence and questions at interview. Trying to build a business in India, visiting your wife for over 6 months at a time, and staying with your brother in US (unless you can show you actually maintained US apartment while you were in US) goes against you.
Jackolantern
Registered Users (C)
Anyone can establish a CC, bank statement, brokerage account and DL in USA and depart never to return.
True, but having those financial accounts is still important -- not so much because they prove residence, but because if you closed out your US financial accounts that is a strong indicator that you abandoned residence (unless you have some other explanation for cleaning out the accounts, like being sued into bankruptcy).
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
You can have your brother write up a sublease for a room in his house. That would be SOME sort of residency.
You can have your brother write up a sublease for a room in his house. That would be SOME sort of residency.
The key is to have the sublease in place before he left for India, and to have maintained it during the time outside US. Writing up a sublease after the fact is not going to help to prove maintaining residence for the time spent outside the US.
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
Well, you can write up a sublease now and have it notarised, but that's if you're willing to back-date it and say it was signed in the past. Honestly, nobody will be able to tell that it wasn't drawn up when you began your long trip. You don't even have to notarise it if you don't want to. Most IOs won't care. I submitted 2 subleases without having them notarised, and I was fine.
- Can I get a sublease done now ?
-
From a legal standpoint you can't back date a sublease if there was no agreement in the first place.
Jackolantern
Registered Users (C)
Were you paying rent to your brother when you were gone? Could you prove it with bank statements or cancelled checks?