Citizenship

[luckday]

I know that in order to file a citizenship, you need to have 5 years continuous residency in US. The following is hypothetical only.

REVISION OF DATE
Example:
Green card approved : 1/1/2010
Eligible for citizenship: 1/1/2015
Earliest date to apply citizenship: 10/5/2014 (90 days)

If someone took 8 months vacation ( 2 months every year) between 1/1/2010 to 1/1/2015. Can he apply for citizenship on 10/5/2014? or he have to wait until 6/5/2015? (If the requirements is 5 years excluding the vacation, the eligible date for above example will be 8/31/2015, and 90 days earlier will put the earliest date to apply for citizenship on 6/5/2015)

In short, do we exclude the vacation time in the 5 years period or the 5 years period can include the vacation times.

Thanks

 

[Jackolantern]

Example:
Green card approved : 1/1/2010
Eligible for citizenship: 12/31/2014
Earliest date to apply citizenship: 7/1/2014

That can't work. Under the 5 year rule, you're not eligible to become a citizen before the 5 year anniversary, so that would be 1/1/2015. And 90 days before the anniversary is the earliest date you can apply, so that would be October 2014, not July 2014.

 

[Huracan]

I don't think your dates completely add up. If your GC is approved on 1/1/2010, your 5 calendar years would put you in 1/1/2015. However, I am not going to get into a discussion of 1 day less is still ok or not. From that date you can count 90 days backwards (not 180, the law is clear on this, 90 days), to avoid any problems with the counting I would suggest counting 85 days. That would make you eligible on 10/8/2014 as your earliest safe date to apply. Two month vacations every year should not be a problem for continuous residence and although I haven't done the math it should also not be a problem for the physical presence requirements. So, it should be ok, that person would still be eligible to apply on 10/8/2014. Time out can affect continuous residence requirement if it is excessive in length (over 180 days, or in particular over a year) or in frequency and length. However it doesn't affect the calculation of the five years. I mean you don't have to add the time out of the country to the five years eligibility. So, if you go out for 2 months, it doesn't mean you have to wait 5 years + two months. If you break your continuous residence then the rule changes to 4 years + 1 day after the last trip that caused you to break continuous residence.

 

[luckday]

Sorry for the messup. I revise the date. In short, do we need to exclude the vacation time in the 5 years period or the 5 years period can be including vacation time. Thanks

 

[baikal3]

Sorry for the messup. I revise the date. In short, do we need to exclude the vacation time in the 5 years period or the 5 years period can be including vacation time. Thanks

Short vacation trips abroad do not interrupt continuous residency, so there is no need to exclude them from the continuous residency period. So you can indeed file N-400 on 10/5/2014. You still need to list those trips in the section of the N-400 where they ask to list all trips abroad since becoming an LPR.

 

[BigJoe5]

luckday,

You are quite confused. You are mixing things up that don't need to be mixed up.

The "5 years" is time as an a lawful permanent resident, so you calculate that from the resident since date on your greencard. The 90 days (3 months) is "before the date of the 5 yr anniversary".

Then there is the "physical presence" of at least half of the 5 yr period inside the U.S.

Then there is the "continuous residence" consideration which can be broken by an absence of 6 months and is broken by a one year or more absence. Your short trips every year as described won't wreck any of these requirements.