if they consider you broke your residency

K

ketanco

Banned
Hi, I will be eligible for applying to citizenship next summer. I will have over 30 months presence by then, and no absence will be over 6 months. however, in the last 16 months, i was 90% out of the country - with several few month absences, but all below 180 days.

My question is, 1)will they consider me to have broken my residency? (I had my car in the us with insurance, all my stuff here with me paying rent to storage, and i filed my tax)

2) if they consider me to have broken my residency, do they just deny the application, or they also take my green card back? in they just deny it, does the new residency period start when i return to us permanently and from that point it is 4 years?
 
1) Your is neither a clear-cut denial or clear-cut approval. They will look at the facts and use their discretion to decide. We cannot predict their decision, as there is subjectivity involved. But if you continue traveling like that during the process, your chances of success will continue to decrease.

2) If the only reason for denial is continuous residence, you'll still keep your green card. The residence criteria for obtaining citizenship are much more strict than what is required for maintaining the green card; denial of naturalization for breaking continuous residence doesn't mean your green card is in jeopardy.
 
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Jackolantern said:
1) Your is neither a clear-cut denial or clear-cut approval. They will look at the facts and use their discretion to decide. We cannot predict their decision, as there is subjectivity involved. But if you continue traveling like that during the process, your chances of success will continue to decrease.

2) If the only reason for denial is continuous residence, you'll still keep your green card. The residence criteria for obtaining citizenship are much more strict than what is required for maintaining the green card; denial of naturalization for breaking continuous residence doesn't mean your green card is in jeopardy.
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For item #2, lets say i will return to usa end of august 2010. and after that i wont be traveling outside, except very short and rare trips, until i apply. and they deny my application, due to my absence as i described above. at that point, will my continuous residency resume august 2010? and after that point is it another 5 years or 4 more years starting august 2010?
 
ketanco said:
For item #2, lets say i will return to usa end of august 2010. and after that i wont be traveling outside, except very short and rare trips, until i apply. and they deny my application, due to my absence as i described above. at that point, will my continuous residency resume august 2010? and after that point is it another 5 years or 4 more years starting august 2010?
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i guess it will be return + 4 years + 1 day.
if they already decided you broke the residency, i do not see how you could just "resume" it ... a later IO will not be able to ignore the reasons for denial unless they are properly challenged.
 
ketanco said:
Hi, I will be eligible for applying to citizenship next summer. I will have over 30 months presence by then, and no absence will be over 6 months. however, in the last 16 months, i was 90% out of the country - with several few month absences, but all below 180 days.

My question is, 1)will they consider me to have broken my residency? (I had my car in the us with insurance, all my stuff here with me paying rent to storage, and i filed my tax)

2) if they consider me to have broken my residency, do they just deny the application, or they also take my green card back? in they just deny it, does the new residency period start when i return to us permanently and from that point it is 4 years?
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You spent 90"% of your time outside the US during the last 16 months without maintaining a primary US abode?
 
sanjoseaug20 said:
i guess it will be return + 4 years + 1 day.
if they already decided you broke the residency, i do not see how you could just "resume" it ... a later IO will not be able to ignore the reasons for denial unless they are properly challenged.
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But, if you wait 4 years + 1 day, and reapply without much absence, how a later IO can say you broke it? then what is the meaning of waiting 4 years?
 
Bobsmyth said:
You spent 90"% of your time outside the US during the last 16 months without maintaining a primary US abode?
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well, my car and some of my stuff was in a storage, and the rest of my stuff was in my friends apartment and i stayed with him when i came. but i didnt pay any rent to him for my short stays...
 
ketanco said:
well, my car and some of my stuff was in a storage, and the rest of my stuff was in my friends apartment and i stayed with him when i came. but i didnt pay any rent to him for my short stays...
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In order to maintain continuous residency, you must maintain a primary US abode during your time outside the US. Putting your stuff in storage is not consideed maintaining an abode. Your back to back tarvels in the past 16 months as well as the fact that you didn't maintain a US abode is evidence that you broke continuous residence.
 
I just passed the interview with an approval.

I spent 890+ days outside of us in past five years. some are back to back trips with 4 months plus long. The kind officer did spent a week to verify all the trips, and gave a final approval today.

good luck.
 
Go ahead and apply next summer..The worst that could happen you will get denied..No GC tacken away..I have know people with extensive travel in the years before applying and they still got approved..People in this forum sometimes scare people for nothing..
You will get approve...good luck to you
 
givepeoplehope said:
People in this forum sometimes scare people for nothing..
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That is almost true.
Simply because most (or all) of us are not lawyers and do not have the experience of winning a chess game against an inquisitive IO. Many lawyers have done that, many times over. That's why most people here advise for a lawyer when it comes to handling borderline cases ... or advise just trying your luck and getting a lawyer.
I am not sure how this could be articulated to the people seeking advise ...
[EDIT] The "almost true" part ... people are not trying to scare. It just happens.
 
Bobsmyth said:
And such statements are equally scary.
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Well Mr Bobsmyth...the way I look at this is the fact that OP is not deportable is application is denied..Therefore, the only loss will be monetary...from my point of view, I am not saying for sure that he will get approve, but there is no risk of applying...Let him give it a shot..and see what happens..
 
givepeoplehope said:
I am not saying for sure that he will get approve,
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But you did say he will get approved. Sure there's no harm in applying other than a potential denial and monetary loss, but to state that OP will be approved eventhough he spent 90% of his last 16 months outside of US without sufficient residency ties is giving false hopes. It's better to follow reasonable caution than to go into the process blindly hoping it will work out.
 
givepeoplehope said:
Well Mr Bobsmyth...the way I look at this is the fact that OP is not deportable is application is denied..Therefore, the only loss will be monetary...from my point of view, I am not saying for sure that he will get approve, but there is no risk of applying...Let him give it a shot..and see what happens..
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Unless the IO can prove that the OP abanonded his residency and Green Card by living and working abroad for such a length of time. Not only money loss but loss of the Green Card too possibly, depending on what the IO finds out in the interview. I would say that's a little more then just "the only loss will be monetary"...
 
Well my interview is next week and I've spent 900 days outside the US in the last 5 years (as a student) so follow my posts to get an idea of what to expect.
 
cafeconleche said:
Well my interview is next week and I've spent 900 days outside the US in the last 5 years (as a student) so follow my posts to get an idea of what to expect.
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God be with you..Although with this amount of time spent outside US in last five year...It all come down to the IO...one small overlook and you are a new USC...Always have hope..I guarantee if you were part of this forum before you apply, I am sure people in here will discourage you from applying....Good Luck to you...
 
Does it matter how much or many times you change your addressaddress in the period up to your eligibility to apply for the citizenship when you are in the interview? For example I may rent my primary residence (house) for a year but I am instead renting another townhouse even though we will probably be out of US 8 months (guessing) off and on in the year. I would rather NOT change my address even though I am renting my house out, since I know I will be going back...I am just wondering if it is a mistake to change the address for continuity reasons.....
 
You need to change your address with USCIS if you're living elsewhere and somebody else is a tenant occupying your house. You also need to change it with the DMV and file taxes based on the new address where you're actually living. You could get in trouble with state tax authorities and/or USCIS and/or the DMV if they find out you're pretending to have your residence at house 1 when it's actually rented out and you're living in house 2 in another state.

You don't need to worry about "continuity", except for the 3-month district/state residence requirement to fulfill right before applying.
 
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