Continuous residence & studying abroad(where I was from before getting green card)

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mikcha1997

New Member
Please HELP!!! Continuous residence & studying abroad(where I was from before getting green card)

Got my green card in April, 2015

Travels outside US (all for studies)
01/25/2017 - 05/14/2017 (108 days)

01/05/2016 - 12/21/2016 (350 days)

08/04/2015 - 12/15/2015 (132 days)

591 total days outside the U.S. during the last 5 years.

-Never left the US since coming back in 2017.
-No taxes filed in years 2015 and 2016.
-Primary residence in US is mother's at the time of study abroad(2015 and 2016).
-Never got a job abroad.
-Went back to the US after graduation.
-I have transcript from school proving I was in school at the time of absence in the US.

Please help!! Should I apply for citizenship now or wait 2 more years? I don't wanna waste $725.
 
If you can wait, you should. It'd be less hassle. I managed to get citizenship after studying abroad (and I had 907 days outside!), but I had to sue them in the end so I don't know if they would have denied me. The interviewer was generally dour, so I was pessimistic, but I pushed through. It was a huge pain, though. I only did it because I didn't have a passport and travel was a huge pain.

If you don't have that constraint, then it'd be better to wait :)
 
cafeconleche said:
If you can wait, you should. It'd be less hassle. I managed to get citizenship after studying abroad (and I had 907 days outside!), but I had to sue them in the end so I don't know if they would have denied me. The interviewer was generally dour, so I was pessimistic, but I pushed through. It was a huge pain, though. I only did it because I didn't have a passport and travel was a huge pain.

If you don't have that constraint, then it'd be better to wait :)
Click to expand...

Hey! Thanks for replying! I'm having the same issues with travels. What do you mean you had to sue them? Did you file taxes while outside of the US? What documents did you provide as proof?
 
Yes I filed taxes. Very easy as income was very low in the summers.

I should mention that I never stayed out for more than 6 months at a time, meaning I came back for ALL holiday periods and stayed as long as I could.

Documentation wise, I showed immigration stamps, boarding pass stubs, taxes, a letter from my mother that I was fully dependant on her, my driver's license, bank statements, even a letter from the foreign tax authority that I had no income there for the years concerned. Again, I don't know if they even cared, but I gave it to them anyway.

I had to sue them because I didn't hear from them for four months after the interview, and I got no response from them as to why there was a delay. I wasn't prepared to wait, so I sued them to force them to make a decision. It's the only pressure you can really put on them.

You have issues with travels? Do you mean you're a refugee or asylee? Or, just that your passport requires visas?
 
My opinion - cafeconleche has a crucial difference with no absences longer than the 6 month mark that is presumed to break continuous residence. OP has an absence that is almost a year.

If I were OP and worried about spending the money on a potentially unsuccessful application, I’d wait. Note in the uscis manual, when talking about absences longer than 6 months, they say “An applicant’s intent is not relevant in determining the location of his or her residence. The length of the period of absence from the United States is the defining factor in determining whether the applicant is presumed to have disrupted the continuity of his or her residence.”
Ultimately it is up to OP to gauge for him/herself if they think the evidence is strong enough to rebut the presumption of a break in continuous residence. This is different than cafeconleche, where no single absence was long enough to presume to break residence, and where the officer would have had to justify reasoning to show any conclusion to that effect.
 
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