Confused between "Physical residence" and "Continous residence"

Silly Man

Silly Man

Volunteer moderator
Greetings everyone.

I am nearing the 5 year mark, and will file for citizenship, hopefully next year, so I am beginning my homework - getting back in this immigration circle.

My job requires me to travel a lot, sometimes internationally. I need to understand if this causes any issues with the "5 year" limit I need to reach or not.

I am aware of the "Don't be outside of the US for > 6 months continously", but my questions are -

- If I am outside for less than 30 day period at any given time, do the days spent outside US count towards the 5 year wait?
- If I am outside for greater than 30 day period at any given time, do the days spent outside US count towards the 5 year wait?
- If, I am never outside of the US for a continous 6 months, BUT, if my international trips put together, do end up being greater than 180 days - is that a problem?
- Any other guidance/things to watch for you could educate me about in my situation?

-- Finally --

I will file for c'ship next year. Is there anything I need to do now?

I haven't filed AR-11, so I will take care of that now.
I was 27 years old when I got the GC, so no need to register for "selective service"?.
Anything else I need to be careful of?


Thanks everyone for your help (and hopefully I'll run into some familiar faces from 5 years ago on this forum again).

- See ya -

SM
 
USCIS' M-476 "Guide to Naturalization" explains things pretty well, however here is a short summary:

1. Continuous Residence
Regular applicants (i.e. everyone except military and those applying through marriage to a USC) must be continuously resident in the US for a period of 5 years from the date they obtained their GC. The definition of "continuously resident" for these purposes means where you maintain your normal place of abode.

During these 5 years, you are allowed to make trips outside the US, but each trip should be shorter than 180 days (6 months) unless you either take special precautions to preserve your residence (N-470) or have other mitigating factors.

Note: repeatedly traveling to/from the same overseas location for long periods of time might give USCIS the impression you are living abroad. Not a good thing...

2. Physical Presence
During your 5 year continuous residence period, you also need to have been physically present in the US for a minimum of 900 days (30 months). Days when you travel in to or out of the US count towards in your favor.

Most people have more problems with continuous residence than physical presence, because the latter is easy to count, while the former is subject to some "interpretation" by the IO. Read into this what you will, but for a simple application for a person clearly resident in the US who travels a lot on business, there really isn't likely to be any issues unless you either (a) travel for extended periods of time (months) or (b) travel continuously to the same location.
 
Hey Boat Bod - thanks for the explanation. I did see that, it's interpreting that which is the problem :).

It doesn't say anything about "30 days" - do any other INS documents say anything about 30 days?

Also, the sentence "Days when you travel in to or out of the US count towards in your favor.".

Say, I travelled to Germany, I left on the 1st of June, I reached there on the 1st of June local time, and then I took a flight back to the US on 5th June Germany time, and got back to the US on June 6th US time.

Does that mean, From June 1-6, instead of counting 6 days, I get to count only 2 days towards the 900 (30 month) limit?

SM
 
The 5 years is from the date on your GC (most of the time). Trips don't "count against it".

If you travel to Germany on the evening of June 1 and get there on June 2 (I've never gone to Europe from the US and arrived the same day!) and then took a flight back on June 5 and arrived later in the day on June 5 (again, I've never flown back from Europe and arrived one day later - the timezones make the flight very "short" in wristwatch time), then

You were in the US on both June 1 and June 5, but not in the US on June 2, 3 and 4. So it is a "3-day trip". You only count the days when you spent no time on US soil.

I'm not sure where you got the 30 days stuff from - I haven't checked the guide recently (and had no 30+ day trips on my application), but I don't remember anything about 30 days.
 
I think Flydog has hit the nail on the head once more. I also don't know anything about a 30 days rule, the Europe timezone explanation is dead on, and the full days out of the country is also my interpretation of the rule. I hope there is no other doubts on your mind about this matter.
 
Hey sillyman!! Glad to see you back again

Hey I was one of the regulars at the board during the 485 struggle in 2004. I used to read your postings with interest. Hopefully this time around citizenship will be less of a struggle and end our dealings with BCIS. Good wishes
 
30 days. No
30 months. Yes, as in 30 months (2.5yrs) physical presence out of 60 months (5 yrs) waiting period.

Then there is the 3 months residency in a district clause, which unless you've recently moved, you probably already meet.
 
boatbod said:
30 days. No
30 months. Yes, as in 30 months (2.5yrs) physical presence out of 60 months (5 yrs) waiting period.

Then there is the 3 months residency in a district clause, which unless you've recently moved, you probably already meet.
Click to expand...

I have been staying at the same place for last two years in California but have been ouside the country for last 6 months. Do you have an idea if I fulfill the 3 months distict residency period?

Thank you.

Regards,
Anis
 
Silly Man said:
Greetings everyone.

I
I am aware of the "Don't be outside of the US for > 6 months continously", but my questions are -

- If I am outside for less than 30 day period at any given time, do the days spent outside US count towards the 5 year wait?
- If I am outside for greater than 30 day period at any given time, do the days spent outside US count towards the 5 year wait?
- If, I am never outside of the US for a continous 6 months, BUT, if my international trips put together, do end up being greater than 180 days - is that a problem?
- Any other guidance/things to watch for you could educate me about in my situation?


Thanks everyone for your help (and hopefully I'll run into some familiar faces from 5 years ago on this forum again).

- See ya -

SM
Click to expand...
Sillyman,relax.You are safe to apply C'ship.
You are all set and You will be there.
(I am an old facewith a new name).
--------------------------------------------------------
Not a legal advise
 
fulltime_pass said:
I have been staying at the same place for last two years in California but have been ouside the country for last 6 months. Do you have an idea if I fulfill the 3 months distict residency period?
Click to expand...
That depends. Did you "reside" outside the country or did you "visit" outside the country? Hint, "visit" is a better answer.
 
fulltime_pass said:
I have been staying at the same place for last two years in California but have been ouside the country for last 6 months. Do you have an idea if I fulfill the 3 months distict residency period?
Click to expand...

See my answer in the other thread where you asked the same question.

Put simply, you probably meet the 3 month rule, but may have already screwed yourself by breaking continuous residence.
 
Thanks for all your replies!

Hey guys, thanks for all your replies.
Especially happy to see old friends stickin' around!

I've been so damn busy working lately, but as time progresses, and I get closer to actual filing, I'll continue becoming more and more involved on this board :).

Speaking of which, I am gonna post 2 more Q's in a new thread!
 
Another thing to point out is that you are working for a US company correct? From the information I have heard, they are more accepting of people being out of the country because of their US based job then those out of the country for visiting. So during the interview that should be apparent and you can just mention it was all job related that your US based company was sending you over internationally for business...
 
Hey guys, I'm doing a master's degree in the Netherlands and that's going to be two sets of 10 months. I assume I have to come back in the middle of each set (year) so that I don't stay out of the country for longer than six months at a time, but some people say that I cannot stay outside for more than one year, not six months. This is confusing me.

Also, I spoke to a lawyer, and she said that, despite the fact that I'm going outside the country for a "two year" master's degree, I can explain that it's not for residence, but just to study, and then return to continue residence in the US.

Oh, by the way, I have a Green Card through Asylum, and my residence began in March of 2005. I'm leaving for the Netherlands in three weeks.

What do you guys think?
 
I've already expressed my views to an almost identical situation here.

The answer all depends whether you can convince the IO that your residence remained the US, despite your being in the Netherlands for nearly 2 years. Do you have immediately family who will remain behind? Will you be maintaining a house in the US (mortgage, lease, rent, ...) while you are away?

You also need to start accumulating evidence that the trip is of a fixed duration, and don't even THINK about working while you are abroad.
 
I can't work there anyway, and no, I don't have any relatives. I'm 23, and I just graduated from San Francisco State with a bachelor's in International Relations, and I want to work for the State Department probably when I get citizenship in about three years. I don't have a mortgage or anything, but I have family here, and none there.

But, all this being said, the fact that I'm an asylee and have no other citizenship to fall back on means that I won't give up residence in the US, right? Wouldn't the IO know this? Can I bring it up, or will it seem presumptuous?

Thank you for your help, by the way :)
 
Hah, it's been a long time. Well, I do know that the trip is for a fixed duration. I have an admission letter from the university. Is that what I would need? My family ALL are in the US. I have an IRA there, still file taxes, and WILL file taxes for the summer and all other periods spent in the US. I don't know what else I can do. Maybe I should get my name on my mom's mortgage, eh? I'm 24- I can't afford my own.

And gettingclosernow, who is 1amShantanuB?
 
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