U.S Citizenship through Marriage 18 month presence requirement

P

parvez_hashmi

Registered Users (C)
Hello everyone,

I am in a situation where I need some help and clarification on when can I apply for my citizenship.

I got my GC through my spouse on Aug 7, 2010. I am in Saudia Arabia because of work (Engineering) and since today, I have made the following trips:

Trip 1:
10/22/2011 - exited US at 12:00pm
10/25/2011 - entered US at 7:05pm 3 Days out of US.

Trip 2:
03/05/2012 - exited US at 11:00pm
03/23/2012 - entered US at 4:00pm 18 Days our of US.

Trip 3:
09/12/2012
09/14/2012 - Out for 2 Days

Trip 4:
09/26/2012 - Working for a U.S. Company in Saudia
----

This is what I am planning for future:

Trip 4 (Cont..)
09/26/2012 - Working for a U.S. Company in Saudia
02/01/2013 - Enter U.S. 4 months, 5 Days (Approx) out of U.S.

Future Trip 2:
02/20/2013 - Leave U.S.
05/01/2013 - Enter U.S. 2 months and 10 Days our of U.S.

Future Trip 3:
06/15/2013 - After finger printing, Leave U.S.
09/15/2013 - Enter U.S and wait till naturalization.

All this time I will be wokring for U.S. Employer, paying taxes in the U.S. Miantaining, house mortgage, car, insurance, cell phone, etc. in the U.S.
These are my questions:
1) When can i apply for U.S. Citizenship?
2) Will there be an issue in applying citizenship, how can I arrange trips to avoid that?
3) Any other suggestions?

I would really appreciate your help in this matter.
Thanks.
 
parvez_hashmi said:
Hello everyone,

I am in a situation where I need some help and clarification on when can I apply for my citizenship.

I got my GC through my spouse on Aug 7, 2010. I am in Saudia Arabia because of work (Engineering) and since today, I have made the following trips:

Trip 1:
10/22/2011 - exited US at 12:00pm
10/25/2011 - entered US at 7:05pm 3 Days out of US.

Trip 2:
03/05/2012 - exited US at 11:00pm
03/23/2012 - entered US at 4:00pm 18 Days our of US.

Trip 3:
09/12/2012
09/14/2012 - Out for 2 Days

Trip 4:
09/26/2012 - Working for a U.S. Company in Saudia
----

This is what I am planning for future:

Trip 4 (Cont..)
09/26/2012 - Working for a U.S. Company in Saudia
02/01/2013 - Enter U.S. 4 months, 5 Days (Approx) out of U.S.

Future Trip 2:
02/20/2013 - Leave U.S.
05/01/2013 - Enter U.S. 2 months and 10 Days our of U.S.

Future Trip 3:
06/15/2013 - After finger printing, Leave U.S.
09/15/2013 - Enter U.S and wait till naturalization.

All this time I will be wokring for U.S. Employer, paying taxes in the U.S. Miantaining, house mortgage, car, insurance, cell phone, etc. in the U.S.
These are my questions:
1) When can i apply for U.S. Citizenship?
2) Will there be an issue in applying citizenship, how can I arrange trips to avoid that?
3) Any other suggestions?

I would really appreciate your help in this matter.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Without an approved N-470 what you describe above will almost certainly break your continuous residency for naturalization purposes.
It does not matter if you shift the dates of your visits back to U.S. a little, and it does not matter if you will keep all the individual absences under 6 months: if you move to reside abroad and take a non-temporary job there (as you appear to have already done), even for a U.S. company, this fact alone basically breaks your continuous residency, unless you have an approved N-470.

Since you are working for a U.S. company, you probably qualify for N-470 and you should file N-470 ASAP (it may be filed within a year of departure from the U.S.). But you need to check that your employer does qualify as a "U.S. company". Also, note that to be eligible for N-470 you must have been physically present in the U.S., with no absences of any kind, for a period of one year at some point after becoming an LPR and before filing N-470.



Note that there are two main separate residency requirements for naturalization that must be satisfied: continuous residency (in your case for three years) and physical presence in the U.S. (for at least a half of the period for which continuous residency is required; in your case 1/2 of three years is 18 months of physical presence at the time of filing N-400). Having an approved N-470 exempts you from satisfying the continuous residency requirement but DOES NOT exempt you from satisfying the 18 months physical presence requirement (unless you are working for the U.S. government).

If your job in Saudi Arabia is not a permanent job with a permanent location there, but rather a temporary job assignment abroad (with a fixed termination date) from your previous U.S. employer, and if you resume working for that employer in the U.S. when the assignment abroad ends, you may not need an N-470 and may be able to convince the IO adjudicating your N-400 that these trips did not break your continuous residency. The IOs have a lot of discretion and latitude in making judgements about continuous residency, so much will depend on your luck with a particular IO in this case. Under this scenario it will be important for you to keep the length of each individual absence from the U.S. under 180 days.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
baikal3 said:
Without an approved N-470 what you describe above will almost certainly break your continuous residency for naturalization purposes.
It does not matter if you shift the dates of your visits back to U.S. a little, and it does not matter if you will keep all the individual absences under 6 months: if you move to reside abroad and take a non-temporary job there (as you appear to have already done), even for a U.S. company, this fact alone basically breaks your continuous residency, unless you have an approved N-470.

Since you are working for a U.S. company, you probably qualify for N-470 and you should file N-470 ASAP (it may be filed within a year of departure from the U.S.). But you need to check that your employer does qualify as a "U.S. company". Also, note that to be eligible for N-470 you must have been physically present in the U.S., with no absences of any kind, for a period of one year at some point after becoming an LPR and before filing N-470.



Note that there are two main separate residency requirements for naturalization that must be satisfied: continuous residency (in your case for three years) and physical presence in the U.S. (for at least a half of the period for which continuous residency is required; in your case 1/2 of three years is 18 months of physical presence at the time of filing N-400). Having an approved N-470 exempts you from satisfying the continuous residency requirement but DOES NOT exempt you from satisfying the 18 months physical presence requirement (unless you are working for the U.S. government).

If your job in Saudi Arabia is not a permanent job with a permanent location there, but rather a temporary job assignment abroad (with a fixed termination date) from your previous U.S. employer, and if you resume working for that employer in the U.S. when the assignment abroad ends, you may not need an N-470 and may be able to convince the IO adjudicating your N-400 that these trips did not break your continuous residency. The IOs have a lot of discretion and latitude in making judgements about continuous residency, so much will depend on your luck with a particular IO in this case. Under this scenario it will be important for you to keep the length of each individual absence from the U.S. under 180 days.
Click to expand...

Thanks baikal3 for you responses. The job is not permenant and I will be back in U.S. and will continue to work with the same Employer. I will try to finish the assisngment in first 2 trips so after applying naturalization, I stay in U.S. till naturalizationed.
 
According to your first post, you never left the US between August 2010 when you got your green card and your 3-day trip in October 2011. So that satisfies the N-470 requirement for 12 continuous months of presence in the US.

Then it's just a matter of whether your employer qualifies as a US company for the purpose of the N-470. Unfortunately that's not a straightforward determination, due to the numerous complex ways that companies and their owners can be organized. But it is important for you to get the N-470 if you can, because working abroad without N-470 can lead to naturalization denial even if all trips are under 6 months.
 
Jackolantern said:
According to your first post, you never left the US between August 2010 when you got your green card and your 3-day trip in October 2011. So that satisfies the N-470 requirement for 12 continuous months of presence in the US.

Then it's just a matter of whether your employer qualifies as a US company for the purpose of the N-470. Unfortunately that's not a straightforward determination, due to the numerous complex ways that companies and their owners can be organized. But it is important for you to get the N-470 if you can, because working abroad without N-470 can lead to naturalization denial even if all trips are under 6 months.
Click to expand...

I am out of U.S. now. Can I apply for N-470 if I am outside U.S.? I read from the Instructions that I have to be in U.S. to apply for N-470. That leads to my next questions, Should I apply once I land in January 2013? I work for Xerox but I am not sure what they will need to provide from their end. If its too many requirements they might take me off from this assignement and I really want this as its good for my carrier. Thank you all.
 
parvez_hashmi said:
I am out of U.S. now. Can I apply for N-470 if I am outside U.S.? I read from the Instructions that I have to be in U.S. to apply for N-470.
Click to expand...
Where did you read that? The rule is that you must apply before you've been abroad for a year; there is no requirement to apply when you're in the US. You've been abroad for only about 3 weeks, so you can apply now while you're outside the US.

That leads to my next questions, Should I apply once I land in January 2013? I work for Xerox but I am not sure what they will need to provide from their end. If its too many requirements they might take me off from this assignement and I really want this as its good for my carrier.
Click to expand...

A company with the size and international reach of Xerox must have already done N-470 for other employees in the past, if they qualify as a US company for N-470 purposes. It should be no problem to provide you with the same documents they provided to other employees. They might even have their lawyers handle the N-470 filing for you and pay your N-470 fee.

You should also apply for a reentry permit to preserve your green card in case the assignment abroad extends longer than expected.
 
Jackolantern said:
Where did you read that? The rule is that you must apply before you've been abroad for a year; there is no requirement to apply when you're in the US. You've been abroad for only about 3 weeks, so you can apply now while you're outside the US.



A company with the size and international reach of Xerox must have already done N-470 for other employees in the past, if they qualify as a US company for N-470 purposes. It should be no problem to provide you with the same documents they provided to other employees. They might even have their lawyers handle the N-470 filing for you and pay your N-470 fee.

You should also apply for a reentry permit to preserve your green card in case the assignment abroad extends longer than expected.
Click to expand...

Ok greate. I will start lookin into this. One last questions:
If I take first 2 trips and apply for citizenship on May 9th, 2013.
1) During this time did I break any rule? If so, what rule?

Thanks
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top