Applying for US Citizenship from India

G

gosee

New Member
I moved to India 12 months back as my father was not well. I want to apply for US citizenship as I plan to return in near future and live in US.

I meet all eligibility criteria and I wasn't out of the US for more than six months on any single trip.

Is it ok to apply for US Citizenship from India as long as I can come for FP, Interview, and Oath?

I took a transfer to India through my US employer as I wanted to take care of my father. I continue to work for the same employer in India, though I get my salary in Indian Rupees. I do plan to return in near future.

I have a house in US and continue to pay for mortgage, federal/state resident-tax, utilities, telephone, credit card, bank act, etc. In short I haven't really abandoned my US residence.

Is it ok to show employment in India (with the same employer who did my GC and with whom I have been working for in US for last 9 years)? Or, am I better off saying that I am on an unpaid leave of absence in India?
 
You have already broken continuous residency for the purpose of Naturalization. You might have also lost your green card by staying outside of US for over 1 year unless you have obtained a re-entry permit.

You should be living in the US for applying for citizenship and cannot apply for it from abroad. Minimum 3 months residency is required in a single USCIS service district before filing for citizenship. Of course, you should also meet other requirements listed in the guide to naturalization.
 
I don't take such a catastrophic view, but if you continue doing this without a reentry permit you risk losing your green card. As you still keep your house in the US that might help if you can convince an IO that the house in the US is your permanent residence and that you spent all that time in India taking care of your elders. Anyway, it is a tough call, if you have money to spare you might give it a try, but there is a possibility that they give you a hard time because of the long absence from the US in the last year.
 
If you already got a re-entry permit, you can come back to US and stay for 6 months to initiate the citizenship application process and if you are lucky you may get your citizenship within 6 months. You can make some arrangements to take care of your father for 6 months in India.

    You need to prove (taxes and other evidence) that you have not abondoned your GC and maintained continuous residency.
  • You need to live atleast 3 months in US at the same address before applying for citizenship (This is one of the requirements).
 
gosee said:
I moved to India 12 months back as my father was not well. I want to apply for US citizenship as I plan to return in near future and live in US.

I meet all eligibility criteria and I wasn't out of the US for more than six months on any single trip.
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The 12 months mentioned in the first paragraph was broken up into multiple trips?
 
Jackolantern said:
The 12 months mentioned in the first paragraph was broken up into multiple trips?
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He said he wasn't out of the US for more than six months on any single trip. However, "I moved to India 12 months back", if spoken to any Immigration Officer will be viewed as abandonment of permanent residency.

To the OP: you cannot apply from India, you need to move back to the US, get your citizenship and then move to India.
 
cpzinga said:
Did you apply for N-470 before moving to India to work for US company?
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assuming the answer is "Yes" for the above

Please consult with an immigration lawyer before filing anything
your intent clearly show you moved to india and found a job
 
gosee said:
I moved to India 12 months back as my father was not well. I want to apply for US citizenship as I plan to return in near future and live in US.

I meet all eligibility criteria and I wasn't out of the US for more than six months on any single trip.

Is it ok to apply for US Citizenship from India as long as I can come for FP, Interview, and Oath?

I took a transfer to India through my US employer as I wanted to take care of my father. I continue to work for the same employer in India, though I get my salary in Indian Rupees. I do plan to return in near future.

I have a house in US and continue to pay for mortgage, federal/state resident-tax, utilities, telephone, credit card, bank act, etc. In short I haven't really abandoned my US residence.

Is it ok to show employment in India (with the same employer who did my GC and with whom I have been working for in US for last 9 years)? Or, am I better off saying that I am on an unpaid leave of absence in India?
Click to expand...




The problem with your case is long periods of out-of-country trips even though you are maintaining your residency here by owning property and paying taxes. The IO will come to know about it from your application. Your employer shouldn't be a problem since you mentioned that it is the one who sponsored the GC. The question is, how do you put it to the IO? Anyway, the application asks for the employer name and address and you can still give the corporate address of the employer in USA right? If the IO asks for it, say you are still working for the employer. Where is the need for saying that you are getting salary in Rupees or your actual base office is in India? This unpaid leave of absence is also a very bad idea. Never give unsolicited answers. Answer to the point and keep it short. Otherwise it will confuses the IO. The best thing to do is hire a lawyer and take their guidance. Any advice here should be more like a learning process.
 
eltoro said:
He said he wasn't out of the US for more than six months on any single trip. However, "I moved to India 12 months back", if spoken to any Immigration Officer will be viewed as abandonment of permanent residency.

To the OP: you cannot apply from India, you need to move back to the US, get your citizenship and then move to India.
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Plus 6 months isn't a hard core limit at all either. People can be denied for being out of the US for 3 months if they are found "Living" abroad. 6 months is just a generality USCIS uses, and in no means does it mean they will let anyone come back for a week stay and leave be ok.

So the no more trips past 6 months means nothing in this case. It's your residency in India, working for a Indian company that's going to be the issue regardless if you came back every 2 months for a few days or stayed out the entire year without comming back at all...
 
Thanks for all the replies, appreciate your help.

I did apply for and got a reentry permit stating my father's sickness. However, I did not apply for N470 as the main reason for my move was not employment based. I did not stay continuously in India for 12 months, I was in US for 3 weeks in between.

Some of the points I have noted -

I can apply for the citizenship after coming back to US.
I can show continued employment with my US employer.
No need to specify Indian salary or any other details, unless asked specifically.
I shouldn't say I moved to India. Rather I visited India temporarily to help my father.
I should consult a lawyer.
 
gosee said:
Thanks for all the replies, appreciate your help.

I did apply for and got a reentry permit stating my father's sickness. However, I did not apply for N470 as the main reason for my move was not employment based. I did not stay continuously in India for 12 months, I was in US for 3 weeks in between.

Some of the points I have noted -

I can apply for the citizenship after coming back to US.
I can show continued employment with my US employer.
No need to specify Indian salary or any other details, unless asked specifically.
I shouldn't say I moved to India. Rather I visited India temporarily to help my father.
I should consult a lawyer.
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Be carefully with time out of US. In fact even though you did not exceed 6 months, what USCIS is looking is the number of months outside of US per year.
In clear, if you have done more than 6 months in one fiscal year in India, they will consider you as Residant of India (instead of USA) for continous residence purposes.
 
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hi..


If u already got a re-entry permit, you can come back to US and stay for 6 months to initiate the citizenship application process and if you are lucky i think that you may get your citizenship.
 
To be frank, it will not be that easy. I went through that process with re-entry permit.
Better hire a Lawyer before starting the process.
Because the way we read this part of immigration guide is completly different from IO reading or Lawyer's reading.
 
I am not sure how you can hide your Indian salary. You will need to show your Tax filing in US (as a US perm resident). Since you will not have an income in US, what will be shown?

Also it depends upon the nature of business relationship between the US and Indian company even though they are the same.

I work for an US company which has an Indian operation, but the nature of ownership is different. They are two different companies having two different board of directors, just that the same President owns both the companies.
 
sirus said:
Be carefully with time out of US. In fact even though you did not exceed 6 months, what USCIS is looking is the number of months outside of US per year.
In clear, if you have done more than 6 months in one fiscal year in India, they will consider you as Residant of India (instead of USA) for continous residence purposes.
Click to expand...

"if you have done more than 6 months in one fiscal year in India, they will consider you as Residant of India (instead of USA) for continous residence purposes"

The above statement is not quite right. If you do not have reentry permit but stayed just over six months, you have to prove (valid reason for staying over 6months,tax transcripts, rental or mortgage) that the person is not abondoned GC. A lot of questions will be asked at the time of interview but the application can not be denied. This was the situation with my spouse interview.
 
I have seen PRs went back to stay in their home countries for 2 or 3 years without re-entry permit and came back to USA without any problems. This
is very common among aged parents who got GC trhu their kids's petition. Because they lived retire life so they did not care about keeping or losing GC as much as we do. Their attitude is just that if CBP let me come back to USA then I come back to USA and if CBP deny my entry then I just return.

I am not sure if CBP has a loose attitude toward old people. It looks like
a mental game to me. If you care much,then I care much too to force you become serious. If you do not care that much why do I care that much?
 
sudha1999 said:
"if you have done more than 6 months in one fiscal year in India, they will consider you as Residant of India (instead of USA) for continous residence purposes"

The above statement is not quite right. If you do not have reentry permit but stayed just over six months, you have to prove (valid reason for staying over 6months,tax transcripts, rental or mortgage) that the person is not abondoned GC. A lot of questions will be asked at the time of interview but the application can not be denied. This was the situation with my spouse interview.
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Again, for your wife, if it is only one voyage this is okay but if you are living in India it is a problem. To be honest, he has broken his residency.
It is better for him to come back to USA and apply for N-470 to keep his residency as he is working for US company and continue to live in India
 
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