I'm a heavy Traveler...... What should I do?

M

memevertical

Registered Users (C)
Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction, here's my case:

Facts:

- I became a Permanent Resident in May 2009 (Through Marriage to a US Citizen)
- Sadly we got divorced 2 months before being a 3 year resident ( I know :/ )
- In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 I traveled not so much, around 20 to 30 days each year
- This 2013 I have been out around 114 days in multiple trips

My concern is that eventhough I come in and out of the US a lot, I might endup being outside more than half the year when you add up all the days.

What are my options? Any advice?

Thanks! :)
 
memevertical said:
- I became a Permanent Resident in May 2009 (Through Marriage to a US Citizen)
- Sadly we got divorced 2 months before being a 3 year resident ( I know :/ )
- In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 I traveled not so much, around 20 to 30 days each year
- This 2013 I have been out around 114 days in multiple trips

My concern is that eventhough I come in and out of the US a lot, I might endup being outside more than half the year when you add up all the days.

What are my options? Any advice?

Thanks! :)
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Sorry to hear of your divorce :( .

You've already spent more than 931 days physically present in the USA since becoming a LPR so there is no risk of being disqualified on the basis of too much total time outside the USA (as long as you apply as soon as you are eligible ie in the 90 day window before May 2014). The only issues would be if any one trip exceeds 6 months or if you establish residence abroad. If these are a lot of short trips for business--which taken together account for most of your time--you should be OK. If you've essentially moved back to your original country, and are only visiting the US occasionally--that would be more of a problem.

AFAIK there is no specific requirement that the total time in the US in a calendar year exceed 6 months--either for naturalization purposes or for purposes of maintaining the GC. To naturalize you have to have spent at least half of the five-year statutory period in the US but it isn't broken down by individual years.
 
memevertical said:
Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction, here's my case:

Facts:

- I became a Permanent Resident in May 2009 (Through Marriage to a US Citizen)
- Sadly we got divorced 2 months before being a 3 year resident ( I know :/ )
- In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 I traveled not so much, around 20 to 30 days each year
- This 2013 I have been out around 114 days in multiple trips

My concern is that eventhough I come in and out of the US a lot, I might endup being outside more than half the year when you add up all the days.

What are my options? Any advice?

Thanks! :)
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It is better to apply on basis of having Green card for 5 years . You can apply in Feb2014. By then you would have more than 50% stay in US. There should be no problem even if you travel most of 2013 and 2014. But be prepared to be grilled by IO about your frequent trips abroad. Keep your Tax records handy and something to prove your earlier marriage was not "sham".
 
Thanks CalGreenCard and madh4!!!

The Citizenship Qualification part I understand it now thanks!

But when it comes to the green card, I was under the impression, that during a calendar year, all my time outside the US put together cannot exced more than 6 months. Based on what you guys are saying, that's not true......

Any thoughts on that?

Thanks again :)
 
memevertical said:
But when it comes to the green card, I was under the impression, that during a calendar year, all my time outside the US put together cannot exced more than 6 months. Based on what you guys are saying, that's not true......
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I've never heard of any such requirement. People can stay outside the US for up to 1 year with a GC and still get back in without any additional paperwork (like a re-entry permit or returning resident visa). My impression is that if the stay abroad is greater than six months, but less than a year, it is much more likely they will be questioned in secondary inspection upon return--and possibly warned that future long trips will result in the GC being taken--but I've never heard of someone losing their GC solely because of a single stay abroad of up to 1 year.

If someone stays abroad for nearly 1 year it is likely that more than 6 months of that will be in one calendar year or the other--so I'm don't see how that could be a problem by itself.

Frequent long absences with only brief returns to the US can eventually cause questions to be raised--however I'm not aware of anything nearly so strict as a requirement that being out more than 6 months in a calendar year will cause loss of the GC. In your case, you are close enough to citizenship that I think you'll get citizenship before any serious action would be taken against your GC--even if you continue to spend the majority of your time outside the US over the next year.
 
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memevertical said:
I was under the impression, that during a calendar year, all my time outside the US put together cannot exced more than 6 months.
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It's not true. A >6 month absence has certain implications regarding naturalization and inadmissibility, but there's no ramifications to taking >180 days out of the US in a given calendar year, assuming it's spread into several smaller absences.
 
There is a requirement of being present in US for at least 30 months in the 5 years of continuing residence, which means you can't be out more than 6 months a year. Not more than six months at once is requirement for continuing residence, but they are very specific that in order to be eligible for naturalization process, you have to be present here for a total of 30 months, combine the two and you're going to be fine.
 
IF POSTS

TheRealCanadian said:
It's not true. A >6 month absence has certain implications regarding naturalization and inadmissibility, but there's no ramifications to taking >180 days out of the US in a given calendar year, assuming it's spread into several smaller absences.
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AND

Zee Zee said:
There is a requirement of being present in US for at least 30 months in the 5 years of continuing residence, which means you can't be out more than 6 months a year. ...
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ARE TRUE, THEN it means that you technically can be outside the U.S. for more than 180 days a year as long as you keep all the trips under 6 months and as long as in total you have 30 months of physical presence in the U.S.

So I assume, in an extreme case, you can stay 2.5 years in the U.S. straight without taking any trip at all. And the next 2.5 years you will just travel back to the U.S. every 6 months for several weeks and you should be fine for naturalization when the 5 year anniversary of your GC kicks in ...
 
Hannah7 said:
So I assume, in an extreme case, you can stay 2.5 years in the U.S. straight without taking any trip at all. And the next 2.5 years you will just travel back to the U.S. every 6 months for several weeks and you should be fine for naturalization when the 5 year anniversary of your GC kicks in ...
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If over the last 30 months you spend only a few weeks in the US I think you'll have a hard time claiming you're maintained residence unless you work as an international airline pilot or an import/export rep.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
If over the last 30 months you spend only a few weeks in the US I think you'll have a hard time claiming you're maintained residence unless you work as an international airline pilot or an import/export rep.
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That was taken as an extreme case. Technically it is possible, but truth be told, in practice anyone who doesn't spend >180 days a year in the U.S., no matter how many months of physical presence he has acquired already, he might face possible naturalization denial based on abandoned residence in the U.S.
 
Hannah7 said:
That was taken as an extreme case. Technically it is possible, but truth be told, in practice anyone who doesn't spend >180 days a year in the U.S., no matter how many months of physical presence he has acquired already, he might face possible naturalization denial based on abandoned residence in the U.S.
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AFAIK it isn't broken down by individual years. You have to average more than 180 days a year during the statutory period (3 or 5 years) to qualify for naturalization. Lots of people may spend more than 180 days out during a given year without any abandonment of residence being involved.
 
Thanks to everyone for giving their advice. But I did see different opinions in here, some say more than 180 days out of the US combined within a full year, might cause them to deny my citizenship petition. Some others say the opposite....

I think at this point my best bet would be to consult an Immigration Lawyer..... Thanks again to everyone for taking their own time to give me their advice :)

I really appreciate it.....
 
memevertical said:
Thanks to everyone for giving their advice. But I did see different opinions in here, some say more than 180 days out of the US combined within a full year, might cause them to deny my citizenship petition. Some others say the opposite....

I think at this point my best bet would be to consult an Immigration Lawyer..... Thanks again to everyone for taking their own time to give me their advice :)

I really appreciate it.....
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When you talk to them, can you, please, inform us about what the lawyers say?
 
memevertical said:
Thanks to everyone for giving their advice. But I did see different opinions in here, some say more than 180 days out of the US combined within a full year, might cause them to deny my citizenship petition. Some others say the opposite....
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There's no hard and fast rule. They look at the totality of your presence and make a determination based on that.

I think at this point my best bet would be to consult an Immigration Lawyer.....
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What do you think an immigration lawyer will provide, beyond a bill? Their opinions have no legal weight.
 
Hi :) I understand what you're saying, I was mostly looking for an immigration lawyer's opinion, in case they have actually represented a client that had the same situation I have.

I did get in touch with a lawyer, and she told me that basically it doesn't matter if within a year I was out more than 180 days, as long as it's not more than 180 days in a single trip. And also, not more than 912 days outside within a 5 year period.

And to that question, I double checked by asking her "So if in 2013 I was out for 220 days within 10 separate trips, I'm ok?", and she said yes......
 
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