About the 30 months stay rule required to apply for citizenship

B

bondslay

New Member
I have been a GC holder since 2009. I had already started my education somewhere else when I got the PR status, so I was not able to stay in the US. I always came yearly, stayed for a few weeks and left again due to my studies. It had been like that until Feb, 2015 when I completed my medical degree and now have been residing continuously since then. Am I right to assume that after adding 2-3 months from my previous trips before Feb, 2015 and another 9 months after that, there will be 20 more months left before I can apply for citizenship? I will be really grateful if someone helped me out here because I will be marrying next year and I need to exactly explain when I will be able to bring my future spouse to the US. :D

Thanks in advance.
 
Besides the physical presence requirement, I think the requirement you have more to worry about is the continuous residence requirement. You need to have "continuous residence" for the last 5 years, and an absence of 6 months generally breaks "continuous residence", meaning you have to start over counting. For absences of between 6 months and 1 years, it may be possible to overcome the break, but it takes lots of evidence and I am not sure you can do it in your situation. For absences of more than 1 year, it's not possible to overcome the break.
 
newacct said:
Besides the physical presence requirement, I think the requirement you have more to worry about is the continuous residence requirement. You need to have "continuous residence" for the last 5 years, and an absence of 6 months generally breaks "continuous residence", meaning you have to start over counting. For absences of between 6 months and 1 years, it may be possible to overcome the break, but it takes lots of evidence and I am not sure you can do it in your situation. For absences of more than 1 year, it's not possible to overcome the break.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the reply. Appreciate it.

My stays outside the US have always been less than a year. Only evidence that comes off the top of my head right now are the passport stamps of entry to show for it. Nevertheless, let's say we ignore the period before the current 9 months' stay here. I won't be leaving US for more than 6 months any longer as I will be applying for a medical residency here and I am done with my education abroad for good. Now will I have to be counting 5 years starting from Feb, 2015? or will I be eligible to apply after 21 months? Sorry if I am asking you to repeat what you've already said, I just want to make sure. Cheers!
 
You would have to start over counting again. If you were absent for more than 1 year, there is a rule that you qualify after 4 years + 1 day after returning. There is uncertainty for how long you have to wait after returning from an absence of between 6 months and 1 year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top