Can Someone Please Check My Case?

S

screwedupcase

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

I am wondering if someone could comment if I am eligible for naturalization?

Here are the details:

Green Card obtained on: September 07, 2001.
Married to a US Citizen on: June 14, 2003.
Spouse has been a US citizen since: June 2, 1992.
Current Marriage Status: Married to the same US spouse for more than 3 years.

I need NOT apply through my spouse if at all I am eligible to apply on my own.

Any advice would be very much helpful as I am outside the country right now and would go back ONLY if I have the slightest chance to apply. I am also attaching the times I have been outside the US to clarify the case from the N-400 form. Any help will be greatly appreciated!!! If someone needs more info' please write back as I am coming close to being 12 months out of the country and need to buy tickets if I am coming back based on the support of the forum people :) THANKS SO MUCH IN ADVANCE...

05/01/2006 03/31/2007 YES INDIA, THAILAND 335 days
03/19/2005 01/31/2006 YES UK, INDIA 319 days
04/08/2004 05/09/2004 NO INDIA, NEPAL 32 days
7/14/2003 07/28/2003 NO CANADA 15 days
03/13/2003 03/25/2003 NO SPAIN 13 days
 
There are two responses for your situation. First: it doesn't matter that you've been married to a US citizen for three years since you have had your green card for over five years now. Second: You do not fulfill the continuous residence criterion for naturalization due to your last two "visits" outside the US. That is an issue regardless of your marital status. Even just to keep your GC, you have to make sure that you do not stay out of the country for longer than six months. Unless there are special circumstances you haven't shared, you should make sure that your permanent resident status is OK before you worry about naturalization. From what I can see of your time abroad, you are not eligible for naturalization at this time.
 
screwedupcase said:
Hi,
Any advice would be very much helpful as I am outside the country right now and would go back ONLY if I have the slightest chance to apply. I am also attaching the times I have been outside the US to clarify the case from the N-400 form. Any help will be greatly appreciated!!! If someone needs more info' please write back as I am coming close to being 12 months out of the country and need to buy tickets if I am coming back based on the support of the forum people :) THANKS SO MUCH IN ADVANCE...

05/01/2006 03/31/2007 YES INDIA, THAILAND 335 days
03/19/2005 01/31/2006 YES UK, INDIA 319 days
04/08/2004 05/09/2004 NO INDIA, NEPAL 32 days
7/14/2003 07/28/2003 NO CANADA 15 days
03/13/2003 03/25/2003 NO SPAIN 13 days
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Does it mean that you are planning to give up your green card if you have little chance for citizneship?

An obvious problem I see in your case is the 2 long trips you had over the last 2 years. You have to tell us the nature of your 2 long trips. Your probability of sucess highly depends on it.
 
Screwdupcase,

Your time abroad in the past two years suggests that you have not maintained your permanent residence in the US, which makes you ineligible for naturalization; it may also cause problems for the maintenance of your permanent resident status since you cannot be out of the US for longer than six months. You should see an attorney.
 
danagirl said:
Screwdupcase,

Your time abroad in the past two years suggests that you have not maintained your permanent residence in the US, which makes you ineligible for naturalization; it may also cause problems for the maintenance of your permanent resident status since you cannot be out of the US for longer than six months. You should see an attorney.
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Agree....95% you are ineligible for naturalization and will not be any time soon (assuning you are not in Army, not working for US government oversees etc). Marriage has nothing to do with this. I leave 5% possiblity for you to have some miracuolus explanation for violating your continuous residency requirements (to begin with)....

Keep in mind that GC holders are generally allowed to do only temporary trips aborad.

Moreover, your long absences from US are highly problematic and even signaling potential loss of permanent residency. You might have serious problems while returning to US next time....

Do not know if you ever had re-entry permit? N-470? Filed taxes....etc..

Your case is raising red-flegs. You should consult an attorney.

P.S. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not an immigration expert. I'm just an ordinary guy. You are soley responsbile for your actions.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just to clarify a couple of the points made. When you anticipate being out of the US for an extended period of time (usually = more than one year but you might want to play safe by using six months), you should file for a reentry permit (I-131). That helps you get back in the US but does NOT preserve residency for citizenship purposes. The only way to do this is to file an N-470 to preserve residency and this you can only do if you work for an "approved" organization, for example, a US Corporation etc.
 
screwedupcase - I'm not sure there is really much more I can add, except that you will almost certainly loose your LPR status if you remain outside of the US longer than 1 year without a reentry permit. As it stands, it is highly probable you'd be sent to secondary inspection at the PoE, and maybe they would determine you'd already broken residency.

I think you'd find meeting the natz criteria for continuous residence rather tricky at the moment. First of all, you need to actually LIVE in the US...
 
Hello everyone,

Sorry, I missed a critical part of information. I have a re-entry permit valid upto May 2008. Also, I was in the USA between February 2006 and April 2006. The purpose of the trips to India & Thailand were to learn more about yoga and meditation so as to start a business after coming back in April 2007.

So, it seems like Naturalization is on hold for me? Looking at the time frames mentioned can someone advice when I could be eligible if I plan to come back to States in April 2007 and intend to open up the business? Also, with the sharing of this new information on re-entry permit, is my GC going to be a problem too? Being bothered at the immigration at JFK would not be my idea of having a good time not that I haven't done my share of pissing the authorities off ;-)

You guys are terrific in your responses... much much appreciation towards your interest for this screwedupcase! :)
 
Well your LPR should be safe since you have a reentry permit, but it is still possible you might be sent to secondary inspection while they process your paperwork. I don't have a lot of details about that aspect of GC travel, so maybe someone else can comment.

Your continuous residency is almost certainly broken, so your eligibility date would be 5 years from whenever you plan on returning. Note: if your most recent trip extends beyond the 1 year point, you become eligible for the 4yr+1day rule, so maybe there is some benefit to staying away a little longer.
 
boatbod said:
Well your LPR should be safe since you have a reentry permit, but it is still possible you might be sent to secondary inspection while they process your paperwork. I don't have a lot of details about that aspect of GC travel, so maybe someone else can comment.

Your continuous residency is almost certainly broken, so your eligibility date would be 5 years from whenever you plan on returning. Note: if your most recent trip extends beyond the 1 year point, you become eligible for the 4yr+1day rule, so maybe there is some benefit to staying away a little longer.
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Agree. Good advice.

I think with your re-entry permit you should be "safe" returning to US by 05/08 (as you indicated). As boatboad suggested, please be ready for additional questioning - do not think it is a big deal, but do not be surprised and be prepared.

Bascially, you start from zero in terms of your citizenship time - feels like you entered US for the first time. Sorry....

Good luck with your bus. venture!

P.S.: I'm not an expert or lawyer. I'm just an ordinary guy. You are soley responsible for your actions.
 
Hmmm... I see. You will have to excuse my limited knowledge in this immigration matters as you might have already guessed by looking at the case ;-) -- but to clarify my curosity - for maintaining a "continous residence" someone should not have been out of the country AT ALL for more than 6 months with the assumption he is not out on a government work, US corporation work etc? I have been filing my taxes on time, have credit card and bank statements going at an address from where the tax returns were filed. Although, I do not have rent, mortgage or utility bills to back up the "intent" to stay. In my case, is there even a slight chance that if I build up a case indicating I went out for 10 and 11 months respectively within two years to get "hands on" experience in India and Thailand SO AS to open up a business in the States? Do such arguments work? I DO NOT have a problem in actually hiring the services of Rajiv on this case if you guys "feel" some "aggressive" approach could potentially help? I am not sure if anyone else has tried this approach OR do the department not care at all as the rule is clearly written in black and white? Basically, my question is -- if this case is in the "grey area" of the immigration books, I do not mind setting up a precedence by using an aggressive approach to see if it might work!!! :)

Secondly, if the case is a complete flop right now, would I be eligible to apply through my wife after 3 years of "continous stay" since she is a US citizen (assuming I am still married to her then ;-)

As always, I am eternally grateful to your responses!!! Although, the responses did not give any hope, it does clarify a lot of things which will save some time and money for me!!!

GRACIAS AMIGOS!!!
 
A lawyer can answer your questions better, and you have nothing to lose by consulting one. However, my opinion is that you do not have a case for naturalization at this point; you will not be able to demonstrate continuous residence and USCIS is not tremendously flexible about that rule. To maintain continuous residence, you cannot leave the country for over six months at a time. For under six months, you do not need to prove that you were on government business etc. For specific guidelines about continuous residence and physical presence, please carefully read the Guide for Naturalization, which is available through the USCIS website. Here's the link: http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf.

As for applying in three years through your wife, I'll let someone else answer that. I'm not sure if you can use the marriage rule if you didn't acquire your GC through that spouse; but I don't know......
 
Hello friends,
I was wondering if anybody has used the Infopass service at the USCIS site to meet an immigration officer in person to clarify issues related to naturalization? Does it make sense to meet them? Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.
 
screwedupcase said:
Hello friends,
I was wondering if anybody has used the Infopass service at the USCIS site to meet an immigration officer in person to clarify issues related to naturalization? Does it make sense to meet them? Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.
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Sure - lots of people have used infopass, and most report the process to be considerably more useful than calling the customer-service line.
 
screwedupcase:
From my InfoPass experience - I would not rely on it too much when you seek advice or consultation. Officer can give you some information from computer screen to update you on your existing case, but beyond that?.. I believe consultation part is left to lawyers and online forums, and 'this behavior is by design'.
 
Your best bet is to download the Guide to Naturalization. Read it well. Pay special attention to all the charts. It is surprisingly useful in figuring out things like "well, can I apply because of my wife"

(by the way, as I understand it, you should be able to apply because of your wife - not a lawyer, never looked closely into this (didn't apply to me), etc.)
 
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