I just applied N-400, I just travelled 5 Months for Work (My own nonprofit) I would like to go back in a few weeks (I-131 & N-470 eligibility)

kosicheboi

kosicheboi

New Member
I just applied for N-400

I left the country back on January and came back in June (5 months) this is for a US nonprofit that stills needs a lot of work on the ground

I would like to back as soon as I can to continue building the nonprofit Ideally July - November (4 months) so that would be 9 Months out of the 2022 calender year. It is seems like a lot of time out of the country and I wonder if I should apply for both (I-131 and N-470)

For N-470 who can give me the letter from the employer since I am the CEO of the nonprofit.
 
N-470 can only be filed by people who will be outside the US for more than 1 year, so I don't think it's relevant. (Also are you sure your company qualifies? Only certain types of organizations qualify for N-470.)

Since each of your absences is less than 6 months, you ordinarily wouldn't be considered to have interrupted continuous residence. However, if your stay in the US is too short, I am not sure if it's possible that they will consider you to not have "resided" in the US during your stay, so they might join the absences to an absence of more than 6 months. In any case, for an absence of between 6 months and 1 year, you are presumed to have interrupted continuous residence, but you can overcome that presumption with strong evidence.

I am not sure if getting a Re-entry Permit helps with continuous residence. A Re-entry Permit is mainly to allow re-entry after an absence of 1 year, and it also helps to support your intent to maintain residence, to make it harder for you to be determined to have abandoned residence. However, abandonment of residence is a different issue from continuous residence (e.g. it is possible for someone to not have abandoned residence, but interrupted continuous residence). I haven't read anything that says Re-entry Permit helps with continuous residence.
 
Anecdotally: I had a similar situation - did not technically break continuous residence but had two almost 5 month absences with a short stay in the US in between. My N400 interviewing officer did focus on this and questioned both the reason for the absence as well as evidence that residence had not been broken. For this she asked about the kind of things I assume you will have met most of: that is, filed tax returns, have US bank accounts, not taken up employment abroad. Ideally you will also have maintained a physical residence in the US the whole time, and if you have immediate family members who remained in the US that will be another plus here.

My understanding is also that a re-entry permit does not help for continuous residence - uscis notes that the purpose of getting one is about intent in maintaining residence : “A reentry permit establishes that you did not intend to abandon status,” https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/B5en.pdf ; whereas for continuous residence, they note “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.” https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3
 
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