Citizenship Eligibility

[skuchibh]

Hello

I have a relative who has a green card for over 7.25 years. She appeared for citizenship interview but was rejected for the following reason - You have been outside the country for more than a year at a stretch.

Fact is she was outside USA after taking an approved Reentry Permit, with validity for 2 years. She was outside for 1.5 years continuously. In addition she went outside the US for 3 months may be 3 times.

My question is - Is this grounds for rejecting the citizenship application?

Can someone provide feedback?

Thx

S

 

[Sm1smom]

You need to provide more information in order for us to better understand the situation and possibly explain what’s going on with your relative’s case. Provide dates - when did she receive her GC? Precisely when did she travel out and when did she return? When did she obtain the re-entry permit? Dates of the 3 three months trip? Etc.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Hello

I have a relative who has a green card for over 7.25 years. She appeared for citizenship interview but was rejected for the following reason - You have been outside the country for more than a year at a stretch.

Fact is she was outside USA after taking an approved Reentry Permit, with validity for 2 years. She was outside for 1.5 years continuously. In addition she went outside the US for 3 months may be 3 times.

My question is - Is this grounds for rejecting the citizenship application?

Can someone provide feedback?

Thx

S

The re-entry permit preserves the green card during an absence of greater than a year, but it does not circumvent the continuous residence requirements for citizenship. If your relative was outside of the US for a period longer than 6 months in the 5 years preceding her naturalization application (assuming she was applying under the 5-year rule) then she would not meet the requirements to naturalize at that time. There is also a physical presence requirement of being present (basically) 3 years within the 5 preceding the application, which she may also have violated depending on the time frame that all the various trips took place, but the way you stated the reason makes it sound like it was the continuous residence requirement that was cited. As mom says, specific info from you on when she was out the US and when she applied will help determine what the actual issue was.

 

[skuchibh]

She received green card on 9/6/11. She was outside the country during the following dates 10/10/12 - 12/4/2012 (55 days), 8/9/13 - 11/10/13 (93 days), 4/24/2014 - 5/16/2014 (22 days), 1/8/15 - 5/20/15 (132 days), 1/6/16 - 7/31/17 (572 days) and 2/4/18 - 4/4/18 (59 days). Citizenship interview was on 12/6/18. Total days between 9/6/11 and 12/6/18 is around 2600 days. Reentry permit was approved around Oct 2015.

 

[SusieQQQ]

She received green card on 9/6/11. She was outside the country during the following dates 10/10/12 - 12/4/2012 (55 days), 8/9/13 - 11/10/13 (93 days), 4/24/2014 - 5/16/2014 (22 days), 1/8/15 - 5/20/15 (132 days), 1/6/16 - 7/31/17 (572 days) and 2/4/18 - 4/4/18 (59 days). Citizenship interview was on 12/6/18. Total days between 9/6/11 and 12/6/18 is around 2600 days. Reentry permit was approved around Oct 2015.

There’s your problem right there, the bold is actually all you need to know. She was outside the country from January 2016 till July 2017. The absence of longer than 6 months broke continuous residence. Her 5-year clock reset to begin again when she re-entered in July 2017. (Again, the re-entry permit is irrelevant for the continuous residence calculation.) She is probably eligible to apply under the 4 years + 1 day rule but even with that her earliest date of eligibility for naturalization would then be 1 August 2021 (she can file 90 days before that).

Suggest you /she study the continuous residence and physical presence requirements in detail before she applies again.

 

[Sm1smom]

Yep, the denial is justified. She wasn’t eligible for naturalization when she applied, she broke the continuous presence requirements. The re-entry permit only preserved her GC, it prevented her absence from being considered an abandonment of her permanent residency. That long absence alone reset her naturalization clock.