Applying for citizenship when planning to go abroad for two years in just 4 months

[mape]

This is a spinoff of my recent thread
http://forums.immigration.com/showt...-to-re-do-it-can-new-application-be-expedited

I have a concrete related question:
I am a USC and my wife is a LPR. We might go abroad in 4 month for a two-year secondment. One possibility is for her to apply for USC before departing, but N400 in Washington Dc might take 5 months or so. If we apply, say, next week, she will be around for biometrics and intrview, but we would have left by the time of oath. Is this a problem? Can she just come back for oath and stay a couple more weeks to do an expedited US passport, and then leave? Is it better to go with a lawyer for this (for continued counsel if delay occurs, or perhaps because he might be able to expedite things if things get slowed down, or just simply because we wont have a US address and he can get uscis correspondence in his office)?

 

[Jackolantern]

In the other thread, you mentioned that your wife's employment is with an international organization of which the US is a member. Is your employment abroad also going to be like that?

 

[mape]

Thanks Jackolantern.
I will be on secondment from the US Gov't to a international organization abroad (for which the US is member). My wife will be in either a leave of absence from her US-based international organization while we are abroad, or on secondment somewhere in that country, or perhaps doing work for her current US-based IO from home while abroad -- we don't know yet.

Since she has traveled outside the US for at last one day in each calendar period (like most people I know), I am assuming N-470 is out (their requirement that applicant has to be physically in the US for a whole year without any absence is weird). I am assuming i-131 would be the easiest route, just to ensure everything is OK upon our return.

N-400 is a big decision. As I mentioned in the other thread, her being a USC is slightly disadvantageous if we live in the US, which implies that, if we are set about coming back to the US (which is the plan now), it's probably better not even reconsider the N-400. However, who knows where life will take us (particularly because my potential post abroad is my wife's native country), and in the (unlikely) event we decide to extend our stay there for a while, she might lose her GC and, if we ever want to come back to the US, she might need to start the whole process from scratch. Leaving as a USC would be a (non-costless) insurance against that -- we can do whatever we want, but in the highly likely case we come back as schedule, her USC status back in the US will present a slight disadvantage. If we had 8 months to leave, we would be more than 50-50 about just (re)applying for N-400 and be done with it. But given that departure will likely be in 4 months, we are doubly hesitant about going the N-400 route.

That's why my question about consulting a lawyer (although in normal circumstances we know how to do N-400, but less experiences about i-131 and particularly n-470 if applicable).

 

[mape]

^^^^ Incidentally, does the fact that she is accompanying me while I am seconded by the US gov't abroad be a positive factor in this whole thing (be in n-400, n-470, or i-131)?

 

[Jackolantern]

Since she has traveled outside the US for at last one day in each calendar period (like most people I know), I am assuming N-470 is out (their requirement that applicant has to be physically in the US for a whole year without any absence is weird).

The N-470 requirement to be in the US for one year isn't tied to calendar years; it can be any stretch of 365 consecutive days since becoming a permanent resident.

Incidentally, does the fact that she is accompanying me while I am seconded by the US gov't abroad be a positive factor in this whole thing (be in n-400, n-470, or i-131)?

Yes. There is naturalization under section 319(b) which gives an exemption from the physical presence and residence requirements for applicants whose US citizen spouse is to be employed abroad by certain organizations for at least a year. If applying with this option, make sure to select "Other" on the first page of the N-400 and write "319(b) expedited naturalization". That way if the naturalization process extends into your overseas assignment, resulting in your wife spending extended times outside the US, the time outside the US won't disqualify her.

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2006,0525-mehta.shtm

http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-9858.html

(b) Any person,

(1) whose spouse is

(A) a citizen of the United States,

(B) in the employment of the Government of the United States, or of an American institution of research recognized as such by the Attorney General, or of an American firm or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the development of foreign trade and commerce of the United States, or a subsidiary thereof, or of a public international organization in which the United States participates by treaty or statute, or is authorized to perform the ministerial or priestly functions of a religious denomination having a bona fide organization within the United States, or is engaged solely as a missionary by a religious denomination or by an interdenominational mission organization having a bona fide organization within the United States, and


(C) regularly stationed abroad in such employment, and

(2) who is in the United States at the time of naturalization, and


(3) who declares before the Attorney General in good faith an intention to take up residence within the United States immediately upon the termination of such employment abroad of the citizen spouse, may be naturalized upon compliance with all the requirements of the naturalization laws, except that no prior residence or specified period of physical presence within the United States or within a State or a district of the Service in the United States or proof thereof shall be required.

 

[mape]

Thank you so much Jackolantern!
As I said, if we decide to come back from the assignment to the US (most likely), it's better if she doesn't become USC. In the unlikely case that we decide to extend our stay, we might decide to apply. Could she apply *from abroad* under 319(b) exception if/when decide to do it? That way, we don't have to rush now, and we can make a more educated decision after living abroad for a year or so.

 

[Jackolantern]

Thank you so much Jackolantern!
As I said, if we decide to come back from the assignment to the US (most likely), it's better if she doesn't become USC. In the unlikely case that we decide to extend our stay, we might decide to apply. Could she apply *from abroad* under 319(b) exception if/when decide to do it? That way, we don't have to rush now, and we can make a more educated decision after living abroad for a year or so.

Given that it's a 2-year assignment abroad, there's some room for postponing the application and still remaining eligible for 319(b) for some time. However it's still important to be careful of the regulation's requirement for the USC spouse to be abroad for one year; I understand that they expect the foreign assignment to last at least a year after naturalization.

If she decides to pursue naturalization via 319(b), an attorney consultation could be very useful due to the nuances of 319(b) which aren't relevant to the typical application. For example, with 319(b) the fingerprinting can be done abroad, and it's possible to have the interview and oath at any USCIS office in the US that does it (preferably a location with same-day oath), but one must know how to request those special arrangements.

 

[mape]

Thanks again Jackolantern,
If I read the 319(b) eligibility correctly, it looks like my wife would be eligible if I am with the US gov't posted abroad, or if I work for an international organization abroad of which the US is a member. In other words, if I were to formally join the international organization abroad because I like living there (and thus resign my US gov't position), it seems like my wife would still be eligible. That is, it seems like it's not only for spouses of USCs on secondment abroad in the organization, but also for USCs not on secondment in the organization but also part of the staff of the organization. Not that we are planning to do that -- far from it -- but it's interesting that this is also an option. Am I reading this right?

 

[mape]

^^^ obviously with the intention (but not the concrete plan) of returning to the US eventually at some point in the future...

 

[Jackolantern]

Thanks again Jackolantern,
If I read the 319(b) eligibility correctly, it looks like my wife would be eligible if I am with the US gov't posted abroad, or if I work for an international organization abroad of which the US is a member.

Yes, and 319(b) is also applicable if the USC spouse works abroad for a US corporation that meets certain criteria. But you still have to be aware of the one-year requirement. If you join another organization and the contract is not long enough, it's not going to work.