Maintaining contnuous residency

N

Nano2009

New Member
Hello JackoLantern, BobSmyth, all Gurus out here,

I got my GC in Sept 2009. I am working for a US company and will be travelling to India on work, frequently in the next few years. I want to plan my travel dates to best suite continuous residency needs, so that my USC interview goes smooth. Here is my plan :-

Sept 2009 to Sept 2010 - no travel outside USA
Sept 2010 to Sept 2011 -worked from India for the same US company for 4.5 mos

From Aug 2011 onwards, every year, my travel plan will be as follows:
Aug 1st to Oct 30th - 3 months in India
Nov 1st to Dec 30th - 2 months in USA
Jan 1st to March 30th - 3 months in India
April 1st to Aug 1st - 4 mos in USA

So, in short, I will be spending close to 6 mos in India and 6 mos in USA every year, but the trip will not be at a stretch. Is this reasonably safe in terms of maintaining continuous residency? It is too expensive to maintain an apartment in US. I will be paying taxes as a resident and maintaining bank account and such. Also, my wife and kid are in (Delhi) India on REP, due to my frequent travel and some other personal reasons.

Also, I need some clarification regarding questions asked at POE:
1. If I do not have a yearly lease/rent in US (ie., if I rent a place only during my stay in US with short term leases), will it be a problem at the port of entry, with respect to maintaining GC? I am planning to tell at the POE that I was sent by my US company for work from India (can show a letter to that effect too). Will they ask me to show a permanent lease or is it enough if I give my friend's address (which will be used as a postal address too)?

Please kindly share your thoughts and advices ASAP.

TIA!
 
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If your stay in the US from GC approval until your first trip in Sept 2010 was at least a full year, it looks like you could qualify for N-470, depending on whether your employer meets the USCIS definition of a US company*.

With an approved N-470 you wouldn't have to care about maintaining a US lease or your travel pattern regarding continuous residence, as long as the travel is during the validity of the N-470 and for the purpose of working for the specified employer. But it's still important to have the reentry permit to preserve the green card, and you still have to take care to spend enough time in the US for the physical presence requirement.



*unfortunately there is no single and simple definition and there have been court cases over it. But one definition upheld by the courts (for publicly traded companies) is whether the company is incorporated in the US traded exclusively on a US stock exchange. However if the company is private it gets more difficult, such as establishing whether the company is 50% owned by US citizens.
 
Thanks JackOLantern.

1. I have to check if I am qualified for N470..My company s fully US owned, but from India, I will be workng from home snce there are no branches..I will be paid in US itself through my US company..Do you know if that is ok?

2. Can an individual file N470 all by himself, or do we HAVE TO go through a lawyer for this? A lawyer might be expensive...

3. By any chance, can you point at a sample affidavit required to file N470? I briefly went through the requirements and saw that we need to provide an affidavit..

4. If we apply for N470, can we stop leasing the apt as soon as we apply or should we wait till it is approved?

5. If N470 is denied, does it negatively affect citizenship interview??

6. If we are not eligible for N470, then what? Kindly elaborate on the POE aspect, as well as citizenship aspect in this case..
 
1. So what you're saying is that your stay in India is for personal reasons, not at the company's directive to work for their overseas branch or deal with overseas clients? That may mean you can't get the N-470.

2. You don't need a lawyer. But companies will often use a lawyer for the portion of paperwork that is their responsibility for the N-470, if they don't have somebody on staff who is familiar with N-470 filings.

3. The letter or affidavit is for your employer to produce. They or their lawyer will know what needs to be done.

4. The N-470 only covers you during the time it's approved and valid. However, they normally will not penalize you for the few months between the application date and approval date.

5. If it's denied, the effect is the same as if you never applied.

6. Without the N-470, you'll have to manage your travel pattern and residential ties to the US well enough to satisfy the interviewer and his/her supervisor that you haven't broken continuous residence.

Unfortunately, continuous residence is subjective so we can't predict exactly what kind of travel is safe and what isn't. However, limiting your time outside the US to a max of 6 months per year, with those 6 months not being consecutive is a low-risk strategy although it isn't as bulletproof as the N-470.
 
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