Applying for Citizenship - I am stumped

O

oneaday

Registered Users (C)
I got my green card in Feb 2002 through an employer who had laid me off in November 2001.

My company had been bought and reorganized and massive layoffs happened while I was very close to getting my green card. One day in Feb the GC arrived in the mail. I was surprised. In the meanwhile I had been hired by a consulting company with no paycheck as I did not have a client. I only got paid once between November and July.

In September of 2002 I got a job and have been with the same employer.

Can I apply for a Citizenship? Am I in trouble? Please advise.
 
You can apply. You're probably fine, but you will be questioned about it. They ask you to list your last 5 years of employment and if there are any gaps, they will ask you why there was a gap, etc. I had a 2 month gap when I took an around the world vacation inbetween jobs and my interviewing officer asked me why there was a gap. When I said I was switching jobs and wanted to go on vacation before my new job, he was satisfied with the response.

If you're concerned at all, you can send your application in in September. That way, when you list your employment history for the last 5 years, there are no gaps.
 
Employment gaps are absolutely not a problem so long as you weren't working overseas. You can also probably claim coverage under AC21 if your I-485 took longer than 180 days to process, and you changed to a similar job with a different company.
 
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