Doing independent contracting after a year of service...

[Aakash28]

Hello experts,

I have been with my current company for almost 3+ years now.. It's been only a year since I got my Green Card. Here are my concerns:

1) My company's organization structure and name have changed a bunch of times since I applied for the GC. It was let say Company 'X' when I applied for Green Card. It got merged with Company 'Y' and I started getting paysubs from Company 'Y' 2 years back. Then it got branched of as Company 'Z' and I started getting paystubs from Company 'Z' just before I got my Green Card. I am conerned as to if all this is going to effect when I apply for citizenship? So far for the past 3 years I have paystubs from the same company under 3 different company names. Are there going to be any implications down the line due to this? What should I do?

2) I had some money on hold with the company before I got the GC. Now this year I got almost the same amount of bonus as my regular salary. So I got the amount that I had on hold as bonus and also some of it is profit sharing. So my bonus for this year is the same as my salary for this year... this reflects on my paystubs... is this going to have any effect?? Please suggest.

3) I got my GC in Dec 2006 and my wife got her's as a dependent in Mar 2007. If I leave the job today then is it going to be OK for me as well as my wife?

4) Finally, I am going to be working as an independent contractor paying of estimated taxes every quarter on my own. Is it OK to leave the job after a year of getting the GC and working as an independent contractor? What documents do I need to accumulate/gather at this stage so that I can secure my passage towards attaining the citizenship?

Experts please advise me on the above. I have looked through the forum but have'nt been able to find anything specific to my questions.

Please help..

Thanks

 

[TheRealCanadian]

So far for the past 3 years I have paystubs from the same company under 3 different company names. Are there going to be any implications down the line due to this? What should I do?

So long as the X/Y transaction was a complete merger, you should be fine. Z is covered by AC21 (and maybe X/Y are too). I'd just get as much documentation as you can; there's nothing else you can do.

So my bonus for this year is the same as my salary for this year... this reflects on my paystubs... is this going to have any effect?? Please suggest.

The bonus is fine.

I got my GC in Dec 2006 and my wife got her's as a dependent in Mar 2007. If I leave the job today then is it going to be OK for me as well as my wife?

Yes.

Is it OK to leave the job after a year of getting the GC and working as an independent contractor? What documents do I need to accumulate/gather at this stage so that I can secure my passage towards attaining the citizenship?

That's fine. There's nothing special that you need.

 

[Aakash28]

That's great! Thanks TheRealCanadian. Greatly appreciate your input.

BTW from january 2008 onwards because I would work as an independent contractor I will not be getting any w2s - instead would just get 1099s from the companies I would do contractual work for.

1) Would having no w2s cause any issues during citizenship process?

2) Also, what if I am unable to get any contracting work and am idle for couple of months... or do not work at all for a while (years) ... would it still be fine as far as citizenship is concerned?

3) I do not have any of the green card application packages (I-485 and I-140 application packages) for both me and my wife. Would I be needing those?

I know I am being paranoid - but I just wan't to make 100% sure that I do get the citizenship down the line - as it has taken a whole lot to reach to this stage and I do not wan't to loose any of it..

Thanks

 

[Jackolantern]

1) Would having no w2s cause any issues during citizenship process?

You would have the W2 for 2007, and 1099s for 2008 and later. Not a problem.

2) Also, what if I am unable to get any contracting work and am idle for couple of months... or do not work at all for a while (years) ... would it still be fine as far as citizenship is concerned?

Once you have done an acceptable amount of time working for the sponsoring employer (and while there are no 100% guarantees of exactly how much time is acceptable, the indications are that 1 year post-GC will be more than sufficient), you could be unemployed for years and still get citizenship, provided that you can show that you have been supporting yourself with legitimately earned money.

3) I do not have any of the green card application packages (I-485 and I-140 application packages) for both me and my wife. Would I be needing those?

They generally don't ask for those for naturalization. USCIS already has them on record in your A-file if they need to look at them.

I know I am being paranoid - but I just wan't to make 100% sure that I do get the citizenship down the line - as it has taken a whole lot to reach to this stage and I do not wan't to loose any of it..

No matter what you do, there is no 100% guarantee of getting citizenship. The only 100% guarantees in the world are death and taxes. But after having worked for 1 year post-GC for the employer, you should be as safe as anybody else provided that you satisfy the other criteria (clean criminal record, continuous residence, etc.).

 

[Aakash28]

Thanks Jackolantern for your input. I greatly appreciate it.