Citizenship issues after extended overseas stay

My case is similar to what many have posted here. My wife and I both work for a US based multinational, and they asked us both to travel abroad to another country (not my home country) to help out on a project for 3 months. We locked up our house and left on a 3 month visa.

But unfortunately, circumstances beyond everyone's control (severe employee attrition, floundering project) resulted in the company asking us to stay longer. We came back to the US after 170 days or so, and then after a week we were asked to go again. This time we got back after about 140 days or so .. things getting better. And then a 3 week stay, before we went again and came back for good. All in all, we have spent about 450 days outside the US during our 5 years with a Green Card (most of it during this trip).

During this entire 14 month stay outside the US (punctuated by 3 trips back), we had our house locked up; continued to pay utility bills (electricity, water, telephone, cellphone, minimal satellite TV) here; and kept extending our visas a few months at a time at the country we were working in. And oh, we continued to be US based employees who were paid in the US, and we filed taxes like normal.

Our company is willing to give us a letter stating that the stay outside was due to circumstances beyond our control and that we stayed because we were asked to. Any recommendations on how this letter should be worded? What are the pertinent details that this letter should contain? Any help would be much appreciated.

Also, any recommendations on additional documentation that we should prepare?

By the way, this is our timeline: We belong to Miami District Office, TSC.

N-400 Application mailed: Jan 6, 2007.
Priority Date: Jan 8, 2007.
Fingerprint Notice Received: Jan 23, 2007.
Fingerprinting Done: Jan 27, 2007.

I do realize it is early days yet, but I want to start gathering documentation as early as I can.

Thanks.
 
Metaphor, its hard to predict your outcome with any degree of certainty since, in some respects, you have a rather unique case.

The good:
- you have proof that your trips were temporary
- you remained employed in the US
- you retained your house and have utility bills, mortgage etc

The bad:
- viewed in its entirety, your overseas assignment lasted longer than 12 months, even though it was punctuated by short return visits to the US. The question is whether the IO will allow these to count towards "refreshing" your continuous residency requirement.

I believe if you can present compelling evidence (from your employer) that each time you returned to the US, you believed you were coming back permanently, you may well be successful. If however, he chooses to believe you returned each time simply to dodge the 6 month cutoff, he will likely deny you as the overall assignment lasted beyond the point at which continuous residence is automatically broken.

Hopefully you will get a sympathetic IO.
 
boatbod,

Thanks for your reply. What evidence do you think would be compelling... something beyond a letter from work?

Also, it was my impression that the Continuous Residency Requirement is an "absolute" requirement... is there room for subjective interpretation here?
 
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metaphor,

I think it would be helpful if your employer's letter conveyed that your assignment was temporary, and it was unforeseen circumstances each time that caused your trip to be extended. The basic point being that you didn't know you were going to be away for more than a couple of months the first time, and then the company twisted your arm to go back for a couple more, etc.

Beyond the employment letter, you want to have some copies of mortgage statements, utility bills, auto insurance and maybe tax transcripts which all contribute to the picture that you didn't intent to be away for long.

The problem with continuous residency is that it can be broken at any time purely based on USCIS belief of a person's intent, whereas the 6mos/12mos rules only specify the absolute conditions under which it is assumed to have been broken.

I'm not sure I necessarily explained that very clearly, but an example would be someone who packed up all their possessions and moved abroad to work for a foreign company. Even if they flew back every 5 months in an attempt to preserve their GC and natz. residency, the IO may well say they abandoned their residency when they left the US for an open ended contract abroad. Such action not only compromises the likelihood of being naturalized, but also the validity of their LPR.
 
Thanks boatbod... I will keep people posted on what happens. I might try and talk to an attorney here to make sure I cover all my bases before the interview.
 
Travel limitations under N400

Hi everybody

I ve been living in the USA since 1991. I become legal resident in 2000. I applied to N400 April 2004. I am stuck in name check since than. My dad become very ill. I went overseas to take care of him. I made 6 trips of less than 3 months each. I ve been informed that maximum of 18 months during 3 years are allowed. Unfortunately he passed away last October.

My lawyer informed me that we are allowed to 2 years during last 5 years of our legal residency. I have been legal resident over 7 years now. Does anybody know if your name is stuck on their background check more than 5 years and you are legal resident almost for 10 year, is the travel limitation still 2 years? My mom is in poor health and I am hesitating to leave the country. My N400 application waiting period is entering to its 4th year, I don't want my application to be denied and 4 years of waiting goes to waste. Please advise me what to do?
 
Firstly, if you are applying based upon 5 years residency, the physical presence requirement is 2.5 years / 30 months / 900 days. The 18 months presence requirement applies to those people submitting their applications based upon 3 years of marriage & residency to a US citizen.

Secondly, irrespective of how long your case remains in namecheck (or any other delay), you must maintain both your physical presence and continuous residence eligibility up to the moment you take the oath. For physical presence, there is obviously a rolling 5yr/3yr window, so this may help you if your trips were spread over a long-ish period.
 
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