5 months and 29 days....

[fjmb23]

Good morning people. First time in this forums and I come for a very specific question:

I filed my N-400 on 03/2007 and by checking all the trips on my passport I found out I was 720 days outside the United States mostly taking care and spending time with my mother who had cancer. On one of the trips I spent 5 months and 29 days outside the USA. This may seem too obvious to the I/O that I wanted to prevent being outside for 6 months or longer, but I was going in and out of the United States since my mother had a personal doctor outside the country and she had surgery here amd treatment and recovery there.

My question is, are these many days (720) going to affect my elegibility?

Should I bring some proof of my mother's medical status during the time I was outside the United States to the interview?

With my N-400 I sent my:

1) Past 3 years tax returns.
2) Selective Service letter.
3) Copy of ALL my passport stamps.
4) Copy of my G/C
5) Other documents. (none having to do with my mother's cancer).

I have never had any issues (no traffic tickets, no DUI's, no IRS problems, absolutely nothing.)

It took me 3 1/2 months to get my FP appointment and I am currently awaiting an interview letter. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[boatbod]

Good morning people. First time in this forums and I come for a very specific question:

I filed my N-400 on 03/2007 and by checking all the trips on my passport I found out I was 720 days outside the United States mostly taking care and spending time with my mother who had cancer. On one of the trips I spent 5 months and 29 days outside the USA. This may seem too obvious to the I/O that I wanted to prevent being outside for 6 months or longer, but I was going in and out of the United States since my mother had a personal doctor outside the country and she had surgery here amd treatment and recovery there.

My question is, are these many days (720) going to affect my elegibility?

Hard to say for sure, but technically no, since 720 days is less the 900 allowed under the Physical Presence test. IMHO the biggest issue will rest with how frequently you traveled in relation to how long you remained in the US. e.g. if you spent 6 months out followed by 6 months back, you'd have an easier time than if you spent most of your time abroad, with only 1-2 weeks visits to the US.

Should I bring some proof of my mother's medical status during the time I was outside the United States to the interview?

Yes, that would be a very good idea. Take anything that can help prove you were only overseas to help care for your mother.

 

[fjmb23]

Thank you for your reply boatbod ))

I only traveled just about 5 or 6 times in the past 5 years even tho they were fairly long trips (because of the situation). I haven't left the United States since January of 2006

 

[immigrateful]

Disclaimer: I am just another N-400 applicant

You meet both - the physical presence test and the continuous residency test. You should be OK as long as you keep the medical documentation with you at the time of the interview.

Assuming this was a round trip ticket originating from the USA, my disposition would be - of course I was trying to avoid being outside of the USA for more than 6 months because US citizenship & permanent residency are precious to me. I was the primary care giver to my mother so I had to find a balance to meet both needs.

 

[fjmb23]

Thank you immigrateful, I am the one that's grateful for your post. I will bring the appropiate documents to prove my long trips outside the US. This is my Tampa DO timeline:

N-400 mailed: 03/16/2007 (USPS Priority Mail)
N-400 Application Received: 03/20/2007
Notice Date: 03/29/2007
FP Notice Date: 07/06/2007
FP Taken: 07/28/2007
Interview Letter: Waiting

** VERY SLOW **

 

[immigrateful]

You're welcome fjmb23. Do keep us posted about your interview letter and if you could post how your interview went regarding this matter, it will really help a lot of other on this board who might be in a similar situation.

I am in a very similar situation though I am yet to send out my N400. I did take a re-entry permit before I left the USA for almost 2 years returning back every 6 months.

 

[fjmb23]

I had a re-entry permit as well for 4 years prior to my 5 years of elegibility. I sent copies of it with my N-400 form and I kept the re-entry with me even though its expired. With a re-entry permit I believe you can stay outside the US for as long as you want within the expiration date of the permit itself, as far as I know, there was no need to visit the US within 6 months with a re-entry, I never had a single problem doing that. My re-entry was because i was finishing college in another country.

 

[boatbod]

I had a re-entry permit as well for 4 years prior to my 5 years of elegibility. I sent copies of it with my N-400 form and I kept the re-entry with me even though its expired. With a re-entry permit I believe you can stay outside the US for as long as you want within the expiration date of the permit itself, as far as I know, there was no need to visit the US within 6 months with a re-entry, I never had a single problem doing that. My re-entry was because i was finishing college in another country.

Fundamentally, a reentry permit secures your LPR status from abandonment, but on its own, it does nothing to save your continuous residence for naturalization purposes. (You need an N-470 for that). What it can do however, is provide additional proof of intent to make a temporary trip, which is obviously important if you are trying to persuade an IO that you didn't break continuous residence.

 

[fjmb23]

Thanks for you reply boatbod. My reentry permits were 1 or 2 years before my last 5 years, meaning that I never had a reentry permit during the past 5 years since I had no need to. And as a coincidence, my passport is just over 5 years old and I dont have any proof whatsoever of the trip(s) that I made to the US during my reentry permit status.

I did travel to the US with my reentry permit, I actually did a couple of trips after being one year outside the US for education purposes and the immigration officers never ever asked me a question about my stay outside the US, they simply stamped my old passport and let me go on.

Thanks again for your reply!