left US immediately after GC

[DBaner]

Hi,
I got my Grean Card(work) through consular processing(I was living in India that time). I came to US to get my passport stamped,filed for reentry permit and left within 1 week. I continued working for the sponsoring company from India for next 1.5 yrs.

After all that, I came back to US and lived here for last 5 yrs. I have applied for citizenship now.

Do you think I need to be worried about anything - would they think I got my GC wrongly or something? BTW, I still work for the same GC sponsoring company.

Thanks

 

[Bobsmyth]

I don't see an issue since you have since established continuous residency and physical presence. Plus you were working for sponsoring employer. It would be different if you quit sponsoring employer after you obtained GC and started working in India for Indian company.

 

[blkhawk]

Hi,
I got my Grean Card(work) through consular processing(I was living in India that time). I came to US to get my passport stamped,filed for reentry permit and left within 1 week. I continued working for the sponsoring company from India for next 1.5 yrs.

After all that, I came back to US and lived here for last 5 yrs. I have applied for citizenship now.

Do you think I need to be worried about anything - would they think I got my GC wrongly or something? BTW, I still work for the same GC sponsoring company.

Thanks

I don't see a problem as long as you've had 5 years of continuous residence and been physically present in the US for half of that time. And it seems that you have satisfied both.

By the way, you could have applied for citizenship 4 years + 1 day after your return date to the US

 

[Jackolantern]

By the way, you could have applied for citizenship 4 years + 1 day after your return date to the US

Maybe not. In this case, because of the departure on a long trip immediately after becoming a permanent resident, they could say the OP didn't begin continuous residence until returning from that long stay in India ... so it would not be a case of breaking continuous residence, it would be a matter of starting continuous residence late, and 5 years would be required (that's if they interpreted the situation like I described, which they have done for others).

 

[blkhawk]

Maybe not. In this case, because of the departure on a long trip immediately after becoming a permanent resident, they could say the OP didn't begin continuous residence until returning from that long stay in India ... so it would not be a case of breaking continuous residence, it would be a matter of starting continuous residence late, and 5 years would be required (that's if they interpreted the situation like I described, which they have done for others).

As far as I know, the law doesn't say anything about having to be physically in the US for a minimum period of time in order to "begin continuous residence". The citizenchip (and continuous residence clock) started on the day the OP became a permanent resident and having an approved I-131 on hand preserved the LPR status.

 

[Jackolantern]

As far as I know, the law doesn't say anything about having to be physically in the US for a minimum period of time in order to "begin continuous residence".

There are many things about continuous residence that the law doesn't say, but people can get denied for them anyway. The law is vague and the interviewers are given a lot of leeway to use their discretion.

Common sense tells me that if you initially arrive in the US and stay for one week, then you leave to work outside the US for a year, it means you did not start residing in the US in that one week. You only visited.