Absence after filing N-400

randomcanadian

New Member
I am a Canadian citizen with a green card and I've long met the requirements for naturalization, although I've never bothered.

My wife, an American citizen, has recently received an attractive job offer which would not immediately but eventually require her to relocate to a third country - certainly within a year. If she took it, I would relocate with her. Odds are high that it would be a multi-year stint, but it most likely wouldn't be permanent -- in general, she switches jobs every three to four years.

I'm trying to figure out if I should pursue naturalization, or just suck it up and re-apply for permanent residency when we want to return to the United States. I'd rather we were able to return to the United States without the hassle of going through the permanent residency re-application -- so if I can naturalize, I'd prefer to.

If I file for my N-400 now, while I meet the requirements for naturalization, and then relocate to the third country after the filing, would this impact my naturalization application? Of course I could travel back and forth for biometrics, interviews, etc.

The documentation I've seen all discusses my residence prior to filing, and not the period between filing and naturalization. If I was asked in the interview, of course I would have to answer honestly -- that I was living out of the country, and while I intended to return, the length of my absence was indeterminate.

If this would be an issue, would it make a difference if I filed an I-131 prior to leaving? I'll probably do this in any case, since we could conceivably return to the United States in less than two years.
 
So, the continuous residence requirement does need to met all the way up to actual naturalization, see the chapter in the manual https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3 . You could try a “letter of the law” approach by coming back every 6 months but you’ll see from the manual that they look at actual dwelling place, so that could well be unsuccessful- especially if you’re at one of the field offices where they take longer than a year to process n400.

Filing an i131 re-entry permit won’t help with preserving residence for naturalization, however, it will mean that you won’t lose your green card solely because of your long absences. You can effectively file 3 consecutive ones for a maximum of 5 years, so if you think you’ll come back after 2-5 years and would like to keep your green card for that without going through the whole application process all over again, this would be the route to go.
 
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