180 days outside- HELP!! Am I eligible?

A

Anish_GC

Registered Users (C)
I want to apply for my citizenship now in 2005. I have been out of the country for 11 months in 2000 and 11 months in 2001. I have been continously living in the US from April 2002 till date. Am I eligible to apply for citizenship or do I still have to wait?
I don't understand the 180 days rule. Will my absence in 2000-2001 make me ineligible and will I have to restart from 2002. IF I am not eligible now when will I be eligible?
Thanks.
 
What was your GC based on? If emp, I think you are right your clock starts in 2002. You can take Nat. Eligibility Test in the CIS website just to make sure..
 
Anish_GC said:
I want to apply for my citizenship now in 2005. I have been out of the country for 11 months in 2000 and 11 months in 2001. I have been continously living in the US from April 2002 till date. Am I eligible to apply for citizenship or do I still have to wait?
I don't understand the 180 days rule. Will my absence in 2000-2001 make me ineligible and will I have to restart from 2002. IF I am not eligible now when will I be eligible?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Absence more than 180 breaks continuous residency - which already happened for your case twice - 2000 and 2001. Therefore, your continuous residency clocks starts from April 2002. If you are not a spouse of US citizen, you will be eligible for citizenship on 2007, provided you don't break your continous residency in future.
 
You would qualify to apply after 4 years +1 day of your latest return from a stay of more than 6 months abroad. So in your case, from the day you came back in 2001, add 4 years + 1 day, and then apply. For more info., serarch on this message board for 4 years + 1 day rule and check on the USCIS site also.
 
sg_orl said:
You would qualify to apply after 4 years +1 day of your latest return from a stay of more than 6 months abroad. So in your case, from the day you came back in 2001, add 4 years + 1 day, and then apply. For more info., serarch on this message board for 4 years + 1 day rule and check on the USCIS site also.
Click to expand...

I don't think there is any rule for 6+ months absense. There is a rule for 1+ year but less than 2 years of absense (with re-entry permit) where 364 days can be added. Here the excerpt from naturalization document:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/English.pdf


What if I was outside the United States
for 1 year or longer? In almost all cases,
if you leave the United States for 1 year or
more, you have disrupted your “continuous
residence.” This is true even if you have a
Re-entry Permit.
If you leave the country for 1 year or
longer, you may be eligible to re-enter as a
Permanent Resident if you have a Re-entry
Permit. But none of the time you were in
the United States before you left the country
counts toward your time in “continuous
residence.”
Fortunately, if you return within 2 years,
some of your time out of the country does
count. In fact, the last 364 days of your
time out of the country (1 year minus 1
day) counts toward meeting your
“continuous residence” requirement.
 
pralay said:
I don't think there is any rule for 6+ months absense. .[/COLOR]
Click to expand...
http://uscis.gov/graphics/citizenship/becoming.htm
MAINTAINING CONTINUOUS RESIDENCE (CR) AS A PERMANENT RESIDENT


If you leave the U.S. for: Your CR status is: To keep your status you must:

More than 6 months:* Possibly broken :prove that you continued to live, work, and/or have ties to the U.S. (e.g. paid taxes) while you were away.


More than 1 year: Broken In most cases, you must begin your continuous residence over. Apply for a re-entry permit before you leave if you plan to return to the U.S. as a permanent resident.
----------------------------------------------------
(For 6+ issue,It is mentioned as' possibly broken':This may mean if the PR can prove his ties, he is admitted and he has not lost the continuity.If could not prove the ties,will he be disallowed for admittance??then in that case the residency and continuity question does not arise---)
 
Thanks for all you replies. This questions was posted for my friend. He was about to apply for his citizenship. Your replies have helped him.

Anish
 
did i break my continous residency

Hi ,
I have posted my thing before. Sorry for repost.

When we say continous residency means " In a year if i stay first 4months
inside US & Next 5 months outside US & Next 3 months Inside US" Will it be considered to add that particular year while applying for US citizenship.

In my case ,Igot my GC(i 485 approval date) in July19th 2004. I stayed from July 19th 2004 to Nov10th 2004 in US & Then I went to india on Nov11th(stayed till Apr 7th 2005) &came back to US On Apr8th 2005.

Did i waste my 1yr . In future can i add this yr for my citizenship.

Thx
 
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