Absence period rules?

J

junni

New Member
I became LPR in 2004 and now I am eligible to apply for citizenship. However, during this time, I had two long trips overseas (11 months and then 10 months). It has been 27 months since I returned back after second trip. Do I have to wait for additional 33 months or can I apply now for citizenship? I had
obtained Rentry Permit for safety but I did not use it.

Some people told me the clock is reset if any trip overseas is longer than 6 months. Is it true?

Also during secondary inspection, the officer told me that I did a violation by working on a job abroad. he said green card holders can only work for a US employer. Is that going to hurt my application?
 
You should be in US for atleast 30 months out of the last 60 months, Nat'z period breaks for absence over 1 year, if you have not used a Re-entry then it should not have any effect. The officer was right referring to the point that while you are a resident a job overseas might seems like you have abandoned your US residence, i don't think there will be a memorandum in your a-file for that secondary inspection.
If you were here for 30 months and did not stayed outside for more than a year you can apply.
 
I do not think post #2 is entirely correct.

If you went for secondary inspection, it was triggered either by your interview or computer likely based on your absence. There will be a record of that. The officer would not just let you go after pulling you to the side, sending to a different officer, and then not entering anything in the computer. Will the IO see it - do not know.

Absence from US while working abroad for a non-US company also brings up the taxation issue. The taxes need to be paid on the global income, I presume you have done that. If not, that would be a red flag.

Also, you need to wait for 30 months rather than 30 months since immigration law allows you to file 90 days before the 5 months period.

If you want to file sooner, you need to demonstrate that you maintained residential ties with US during your absence.Did you maintain a house? Did you continue to pay rent / mortgage? Did you continue to maintain insurance? Was your immediate family (spouse, kids) living in US during your absence? All these help you prove that the visit abroad was temporary. However, "Job with a US company" also goes along with it ... but if you can prove the residential ties, it is one less issue to take care of.

Personally, I do not think you should hurry to file, unless there is a need to. Would I wait 30 months if I was in your situation? Maybe not. If I could get 4 clear years (calendar years) of tax records and visits, I will roll the dice with the 5th year. Officers have very little incentive to dig up old history if your recent history is clean and unless there is some serious offense.

The 6 month - 12 month thing is subjective. Some people have multiple back to back 5 month trips, but IOs can consider them as a single trip if it appears that the visit back to US was only to give the appearance of multiple trips. At the same time, an officer may not ask much if there is a single trip of over 6 months. Trip longer than 12 months - that is more black and white and people do need to prove their ties to US for such absences.
 
junni said:
Some people told me the clock is reset if any trip overseas is longer than 6 months. Is it true?
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Not automatically true. A trip over 6 months normally resets the clock, but if the trip is under 1 year you are given the opportunity to present evidence of your ties to the US during that 6+ month trip (e.g. maintaining house/apartment in the US, spouse/children remained in the US while you were abroad, etc.), and if the evidence is strong enough they won't deny you for those trips. But your problem is that you have TWO trips like that so you have a doubly difficult task to convince the interviewer.

Also during secondary inspection, the officer told me that I did a violation by working on a job abroad. he said green card holders can only work for a US employer. Is that going to hurt my application?
Click to expand...
Working abroad for a non-US employer is a big no-no when applying for citizenship; it is an indicator of violating the continuous residence requirement. Although if it is short-term contract work like a single 4-month project, that's not really a problem.
 
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sanjoseaug20 said:
Trip longer than 12 months - that is more black and white and people do need to prove their ties to US for such absences.
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More specifically, for trips over 12 months people are not given the opportunity to prove their ties to the US; denial for such a long trip is automatic, unless one of the allowable exceptions is met (N-470, military service, etc.).
 
Thanks for the info. I did maintain a house in US but my family was with me.
I was on sabbatical from my campus. So my campus paid half salary to me as well during the first period of absence.
 
Did you rent out the house to somebody else, other than a family member who would allow you to stay in it during the rental period? If the house was not available to you for your use, it doesn't really count.

However, if you were on a sabbatical while away and you returned to the same US employer at the end of your travels, that helps. If the sabbatical came with a letter or some other document stating a specified end date when you had to return, and you returned to work for them by the deadline, that helps even more.

Ultimately, it is a subjective decision so we can't predict what the IO will decide. All you can do is gather the evidence and hope the interviewer interprets it favorably.

Are you married to a US citizen?
 
Thanx Jackolantern.
Yes, I did return to the SAME employer after the leave.
The house was rented out. My wife is also LPR.
 
So you basically have three choices, you can pick one or try them all one after the other as each attempt fails:

1. Apply now (or a few months from now, if you need more time to accumulate the required 30 months of physical presence in the past 5 years), gather your evidence of ties to the US during those two long trips, and hope for the best.

2. Apply after it is 5 years minus 90 days since the end of the first long trip, so that trip will be removed from consideration and you only have to worry about proving ties for the second long trip.

3. Apply after it is 5 years minus 90 days since the last long trip, so neither trip will affect you.
 
I am not understanding correctly. How can one apply for the RE permit and then 'not use it' if they are travelling/re entering back to the US? Wouldn''t the fact that one applied and obtained the permit make it prudent to show the card (or permit) to the IO at the port of entry? Is there a choice not to use it and just have it the back pocket and use the greencard instead?

ALSO..
If one applies for the permit and then leave the US (before prints) and then gets appt while out of the US and comes back for print taking and other minor purposes, is it a problem and do you explain to IO you have a RE permit in process or do you just come back in business as usual using the GC??

Thanks!
 
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