eligible for US citizenship!?

[sujjugc]

I have been holding GC (family based) since early 2002 but I have been out of the country for the following dates:

2002 - 2004: I was studying in canada; visited my brother (US) once in 2003 and twice in 2004. I didn't file taxes in 2002/2003/2004 and I didn't have any bank account at that time.

2005: visited US for few days in April; continuously lived in the US (in one state) starting from July 2005 till date (July 2009).

I got married in June'05. I have been filing taxes starting from 2005. My husband is holding H1B visa and has EAD through work.

Now my question is - When would I be eligible to apply for US citizenship?

Thanks in advance!
Sujjugc

 

[Jackolantern]

If you apply in April 2010 (5 years minus 90 days after returning from the last long trip in July 2005), your time spent studying overseas would be out of the picture and won't affect your naturalization.

If it wasn't for that long time overseas, you'd clearly be eligible to apply now. But applying now would risk being denied for staying abroad so long without having good evidence of ties to the US (didn't file taxes, no house or apartment in the US, no bank account, etc.). Although I would say your chances of approval are low if you apply now, continuous residence is a subjective determination at the discretion of the interviewer so we can't predict for sure what they will do if you apply now. So it's up to you if you want to spend the time and money to apply now and hope for the best (if denied you can reapply in April next year), or save your money and wait until April next year when you're much more assured of being approved.

 

[baikal3]

I have been holding GC (family based) since early 2002 but I have been out of the country for the following dates:

2002 - 2004: I was studying in canada; visited my brother (US) once in 2003 and twice in 2004. I didn't file taxes in 2002/2003/2004 and I didn't have any bank account at that time.

2005: visited US for few days in April; continuously lived in the US (in one state) starting from July 2005 till date (July 2009).

I got married in June'05. I have been filing taxes starting from 2005. My husband is holding H1B visa and has EAD through work.

Now my question is - When would I be eligible to apply for US citizenship?

Thanks in advance!
Sujjugc

Based on what you wrote, it looks like you'll meet the 5 year continuous residency requirement in July 2010. So you'll be eligible to file an N-400 application 90 days prior to that, that is in April 2010.

 

[sh1996]

For what I've seen on the board, I think studying aboard generally isn't looked at too harshly when determining continuous residency. If the rest of your immediate family (e.g., parents/siblings) lived in the US while you were aboard and your parents paid for your schooling, I think you could apply now and take a chance that you get an understanding interviewer. If you're not in a hurry (e.g., don't need to get citizenship to sponsor your husband for a GC), it would be safer to wait until April 2010.

 

[sujjugc]

Thank you

Thank you all for the replies. It seems like I have to wait until April 2010 to apply for citizenship. I wanted to apply as early as possible so that my husband can get GC sooner.

FYI - My brother has been living in the US for sometime (last 7 yrs). I studied in Canada. I gave my brother's address for all correspondence in the US.

 

[Jackolantern]

Thank you all for the replies. It seems like I have to wait until April 2010 to apply for citizenship. I wanted to apply as early as possible so that my husband can get GC sooner.

In that event you do have an urgent need to obtain citizenship fast, especially if your husband is waiting outside the US. Given that situation, if you can afford to lose the $670, I would say go ahead and apply now and see what happens. If denied, you can reapply in April. As it was mentioned above, studying overseas is not viewed as harshly as working overseas, so although your chances of approval if you apply now are not good, you still have a realistic chance.

On the other hand, if your husband is already in the US legally with a long-term visa like H1B or TN, it's not so urgent to obtain citizenship so it would be more tolerable to wait until April. In fact, waiting to sponsor him can have an advantage; if his green card interview is on or after your 2-year wedding anniversary, upon approval he would get a 10-year unconditional green card instead of a 2-year conditional card. The conditional card requires another process later on including more fees and possibly another interview to graduate to the 10-year card, so it would be beneficial if you can time the application so that you complete 2 years of marriage by the time his GC interview occurs (the interview will normally be at least 3 months after applying).

 

[sujjugc]

Thanks again

My husband has been living legally since 1999 and has been using EAD (applied GC through work). We got married in 2005. We just had 4 year anniversary. So, I assume it should not take that long to get his GC once I get citizenship.

We are also waiting for family based GC dates. Now, the priority date is Jan 15th'05 as per the bulletin and we are 11 months away to get our PD.

Thanks again!

 

[scheruvu]

OP here. I was thinking about this a little more and here are the exact dates of my trips:

2004: Visited US in May, then in Aug, then in Dec
2005: Visited US in May, then moved here in July

So my question is this: if my 5-yr period is Aug '04 to Aug '09, I've never been outside the US longer than 6 months. Do I not then satisfy the continuous residence requirement?

 

[richmondva]

OP here. I was thinking about this a little more and here are the exact dates of my trips:

2004: Visited US in May, then in Aug, then in Dec
2005: Visited US in May, then moved here in July

So my question is this: if my 5-yr period is Aug '04 to Aug '09, I've never been outside the US longer than 6 months. Do I not then satisfy the continuous residence requirement?

Based on the information you have provided, you should be able to file now also. However there are only 2 slight concerns in my opinion:

1. You did not file 2004 tax returns which may or may not hold against you.
2. Although you did not spend over 6 months outside the US after May 2004 but from your information it appears that you spent only a few days each time in the US. This could stand out slightly especially since you have not filed your 2004 taxes.

Don't get me wrong. You should be eligible and there is a very good chance that you will get it even if you apply now but its best to be absolutely certain and wait especially since your husband is already in the country legally. Again if I were you I would wait until April/May 2010 although you don't really have to.

This is not a legal advice, just my opinion.