Can I still get naturalize?

H

hoho193

Registered Users (C)
I have a situation where my wife is a GC and I am currently working in the U.S. with OPT. Since the H-1 quota is so tight I can't get my H-1 here this year, I need to go back to my home country in the coming August. My wife wants to go back with me without losing her eligibility to get naturalize. She got her GC in 2004 August and she's been physically presence in the U.S more than 3 years now. Can she come back to the states once every 5 or 6 months to maintain the continuity of residence and get naturalize once 5 years is reached?

Thanks in advance
 
It might not work. In theory once you pack and leave you are giving up resident status. Even if you try to come back every 5 or 6 months this will likely become an issue during interview, there would be a loss of continuous residence because of spending most of the time outside the country. You could do the opposite of what some people do, that they marry and keep the wife in India or somewhere else until they can fix their immigration. In this case you could go back to your home country and leave your wife here until she naturalizes and can bring you back in. Other than that I don't see an easy solution to your predicament. You could perhaps apply for Canadian immigration and your wife could visit you on weekends. Anyway, good luck and I hope things work out for you and your marriage.
 
She will be eligible to apply at least 1 year from now and going back and forth will jeopardize her green card status. Some people have gotten away with this, but it is a risk she takes and will need to be prepared to either have the green card taken away during the back forth visits to the US or the N400 denied for break in continous residence.

Have you explored the new 19 month OPT extension for STEM graduates? Another option would be to enroll for another course here in the US and bid your time till your wife gets her Citizenship.


hoho193 said:
I have a situation where my wife is a GC and I am currently working in the U.S. with OPT. Since the H-1 quota is so tight I can't get my H-1 here this year, I need to go back to my home country in the coming August. My wife wants to go back with me without losing her eligibility to get naturalize. She got her GC in 2004 August and she's been physically presence in the U.S more than 3 years now. Can she come back to the states once every 5 or 6 months to maintain the continuity of residence and get naturalize once 5 years is reached?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the advice, but I didn't graduate with a STEM degree. :( And I don't want to enroll another course here because of this. I don't mind going to other countries to develop my career, but my wife prefers to get naturalize as a backup plan for us. Are there anyway she can still get naturalize? How does government define the continuous residence? In the USCIS website, it states that GS holder is required to be physically presence for at least 30 months and do not leave the country more than 6 months, which should be fine in my wife case, shouldn't it? She will reach the 5 year in August 2009, can she go back with me for 5 or 6 months and come back to the States again and stays until she get naturalized? We just don't want to be separated for so long......I am frustrated.....
 
hoho193 said:
Thanks for the advice, but I didn't graduate with a STEM degree. :( And I don't want to enroll another course here because of this. I don't mind going to other countries to develop my career, but my wife prefers to get naturalize as a backup plan for us. Are there anyway she can still get naturalize? How does government define the continuous residence? In the USCIS website, it states that GS holder is required to be physically presence for at least 30 months and do not leave the country more than 6 months, which should be fine in my wife case, shouldn't it? She will reach the 5 year in August 2009, can she go back with me for 5 or 6 months and come back to the States again and stays until she get naturalized? We just don't want to be separated for so long......I am frustrated.....
Click to expand...

She can go back for 3-4 months and can come back and stay here until she gets naturalized... that should work fine.
 
hoho193 said:
She will reach the 5 year in August 2009, can she go back with me for 5 or 6 months and come back to the States again and stays until she get naturalized?
Click to expand...
Yes, if you mean taking a one-time trip outside the US for 5 months and then staying in the US for the year or so until naturalization is complete.

No, if you mean taking a 5 month trip, going back to the US for a few days or weeks, then leaving again for another 5 month trip to repeat that cycle again and again.
 
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