Leaving the US after Naturalization Interview and Before Oath

A

Aguacaliente

New Member
Hi all,

I just past my naturalization interview today. I need to go overseas for work immediately and it might take months. I'm wondering if I'm still subject to the physical presence requirements at this point. Should I not be able to be overseas for over 6 months?

In the hind sight, I wonder if I could have taken the oath if I told the officer that I needed to be overseas soon. Sigh... I was so nervous about immigration matters I usually just do exactly what I'm told... Is there a way I can go back to the USCIS field office tomorrow and ask to join an oath ceremony?

Thanks in advance for any advice you could give me.
 
Aguacaliente said:
Hi all,

I just past my naturalization interview today. I need to go overseas for work immediately and it might take months. I'm wondering if I'm still subject to the physical presence requirements at this point. Should I not be able to be overseas for over 6 months?

In the hind sight, I wonder if I could have taken the oath if I told the officer that I needed to be overseas soon. Sigh... I was so nervous about immigration matters I usually just do exactly what I'm told... Is there a way I can go back to the USCIS field office tomorrow and ask to join an oath ceremony?

Thanks in advance for any advice you could give me.
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You can try that, but there is no guarantee that the office will accommodate you. It doesn't hurt to try and the worst that can is NO. Is this employment for a US company or US govt? :confused: If it is for a US govt, then I am sure all that they need is an offer letter and date your employment is slated to begin for them to assist you in your quest for naturalization. However, assuming that you are sworn as a new USC tomorrow, how do plan to obtain a passport- US one? ;)

Once you become a citizen, you can stay overseas for years and come back when there is free health care and retire in FL and be a public charge.:) In short, you don't have any physical presence requirement anymore, once you are Americanized. You are required though to file for taxes for income earned abroad....:rolleyes:What is your city or State?
 
Overseas After Naturalization Interview and Before Oath

The employment is in the private sector unfortunately. I wonder if the physical presence test would still apply before I take the oath. Getting the passport is not too hard and I even got that all figured out, but unfortunately I didn't get to take the same day oath.

What's the best way of contacting USCIS? The only way I know is Infopass. Could I simply show up at the field office uninvited tomorrow?
 
Aguacaliente said:
The employment is in the private sector unfortunately. I wonder if the physical presence test would still apply before I take the oath. Getting the passport is not too hard and I even got that all figured out, but unfortunately I didn't get to take the same day oath.

What's the best way of contacting USCIS? The only way I know is Infopass. Could I simply show up at the field office uninvited tomorrow?
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you can try showing up, the worst that they can do is say NO. It is possible that they might decide to allow you to speak to an IO. Good luck. Private sector won't cut it in my own opinion, US govt generally put some fire in the butt...:D
 
You will not be a citizen until the oath is done. You still have the GC with you and the same rules apply until you become a citizen.
 
Aguacaliente said:
Hi all,

I just past my naturalization interview today. I need to go overseas for work immediately and it might take months. I'm wondering if I'm still subject to the physical presence requirements at this point. Should I not be able to be overseas for over 6 months?

In the hind sight, I wonder if I could have taken the oath if I told the officer that I needed to be overseas soon. Sigh... I was so nervous about immigration matters I usually just do exactly what I'm told... Is there a way I can go back to the USCIS field office tomorrow and ask to join an oath ceremony?

Thanks in advance for any advice you could give me.
Click to expand...

You're only subject to physical presence requirement up until you file , but you are subject to continuous residency requirement up until oath time.
Since your oath will be before the next 6 months, if you leave to work overseas there is a chance you will miss oath letter if you don't have anyone watching your mail.You'll need to return within the 6 months (before oath) anyways to keep your continuous residency.
Is the work for a US company? If it's not, working overseas for non US company before oath can be seen as abandonment of residency ties, and lead to you to being denied at the oath.
 
Aguacaliente said:
I just past my naturalization interview today. I need to go overseas for work immediately and it might take months. I'm wondering if I'm still subject to the physical presence requirements at this point. Should I not be able to be overseas for over 6 months?
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You are not subject to the physical presence requirement any more. But if you are going to leave on long-term employment abroad with a non-US company, that brings your continuous residence into question and your oath could be canceled or delayed because of leaving the US to engage in such employment. They surely won't give you an earlier oath if your reason is wanting to work overseas for a non-US company.
 
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Thanks everyone for the information and help. I am taking an employment with one of the big four accounting firms but it is overseas. I will need to disclose on the oath date that I'm overseas. Is is possible to not disclose about my job overseas? I don't want to give up or postpone the job any more. Any advice how to handle the overseas travel questions on oath date?
 
All I know that if you miss you Oath day, you will be denied US citizenship and Im sure you dont want that. Someone already had this issue about having the oath date move and it is really hard for them to accomodate you for personal reasons unless is working for US govt job. So try and see but please dont leave without taking your oath unless you have someone to get ur mail every day and you can make it here for that and then leave once you have it. But i doubt you could do that since they take ur GC and you will have to have an american passport then to leave the country ...after taking the oath that is. So check your priorities, I would hate to see someone lose the opportunity of becoming a US citizen for a job opportunity.
 
It amazes me that even when USCIS is processing naturalization cases at record speeds there is people who are trying to game the system to meet their goals of moving out of the US. Taking that job abroad is clear intent of abandoning residence in the US. If one is planning to apply for naturalization one needs to at least budget six months or so of no radical changes, no long trips if possible. You are asking us how to game the system if you get asked questions about your trip at the oath ceremony. The truth is there is no gaming, it will be there on the record, it will go on the A-file, if sometime in the future someone decides to audit those files it might mean trouble. How likely it is, now it would be unlikely. It just takes some media frenzy about any perceived naturalization abuse and US ICE or USCIS will be asked to run audits. They attempted this already during the Clinton years, they got shot down, but they tried to do generalized audits.

My advice is to stay put the few weeks it will take you to do things properly.
 
Your oath will be this month or next month. Just tell the company you need another month or two in order to wrap up your business here before relocating. Be firm, and they'll agree to wait. They don't want to choose their second best candidate (who may have already taken another job, forcing them to go to third or fourth best or restart the recruitment process).
 
Aguacaliente said:
Is there a way I can go back to the USCIS field office tomorrow and ask to join an oath ceremony?
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Basically, no. Your naturalization certificate needs to be printed and be available at the oath ceremony. If you just show up for an oath without actually having been scheduled to take the oath that day, they'll send you away. A colleague of mine tried to do that and, of course, it did not work.
 
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