1 Year continous requirement for N-470

[vaibhank]

Hi

I have question around 1 Year continous residency requirement to file N-470. I hope some one can answer on my situation. Here are the details.

- Me and my wife are Permenant Residents since March 2007. Kids are US citizens.

- We are leaving US in Feb 2009 to take care of some personal situation. As we may be out for more than a year , we have filed for re-entry permit & already had our bio-metrics appointment.

- I have job offer in the India office of a US company. That company is listed on Nasdaq. That company is wiling to provide necessary documentation for N-470 if I can take care of expenses including hiring immigration firm.

The problem I see is I am 1 month short of meeting 1 yr continous residency requirement (which is the weired law i have ever heard).

After getting GC in March 2007, I had to travel for business trip in July 2007 and then family trip in Aug 2007. After that we didnt have plans to visit India till now but then I had to make 10 day emergency trip to India in March 2008. My family was in US during those 10 days.

Now issue is if I leave in Feb 2009, i will be completing 11 straight months of stay & wont qualify for 1 yr continous residency requirement.

Do i have chance to get N-470 approved ? How strict is USCIS in enforcing this rule as people has to travel for business or emergency reasons (short stays ) ?

Any comments will be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Jackolantern]

They are 100% strict about it. You must be in the US (or in its territories like Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands) for one full year as an LPR without leaving for a single day, in order to qualify for the N-470. It even went to court, and the court ruled that an absolute unbroken 1 year is required.

There is a possible exception if one was overseas in the US military, because being deployed in the military counts as being inside the US for some immigration purposes. According to the N-470 instructions, there is also an apparent exception for religious workers. But if you're not the type of worker who can get an exception, you absolutely need to have spent one unbroken year in the US. If you are particularly concerned about this, you should ask your employer to delay your departure by a month so you can preserve your eligibility for citizenship.