Maintaining the green card with a view toward citizenship

G

Gabocha

Registered Users (C)
Hi there,

Back in 2009 I was lucky enough to get a DV visa, and moved to America from New Zealand in October that year. I was in the country until November 2010, when I moved back after a 7.2 earthquake in my hometown. I came back again in February/March 2011 trying to drum up work, but left after three weeks when a second, more fatal earthquake hit the city. Since I'm going to America again this September for a friend's birthday, I was wondering if you could help me with a couple of questions.

- I read that for the purposes of citizenship, you mustn't spend any period outside the country greater than six months. Is this true? If so, as I've kept my non-continuous departures less than six months in length, can I still put last year's stay towards the 5-year citizenship requirement?

- Is there a defined length of time you need to stay in the country for it to be considered a proper stay and not break that non-continous departure period? I ask to work out how long my September trip needs to be.

- Finally, when I came back in February I was grilled by the LA immigration officer behind the desk. Asking me quite firmly why I left, and whether I was still a US resident. Is this normal, and how do I answer these questions? I was quite taken aback, so stumbled my way through the explaination about the earthquake and how I still have roots in the US.

Anyway, any insight you guys have would be much appreciated. Thanks for your help!
 
In order to be a permanent resident of the US (have a green card), you have to live in the US, not just visit every six months. That is why the CBP officer was questioning you. You are currently running a risk of having your green card revoked with so much time spent outside the US, specifically after getting the green card so recently.

In order to maintain your Permanent Residence, you are not allowed to be outside the US for 1 year or more without obtaining a special Re-entry permit. If you want to acquire citizenship, then you must not be outside for 6 months or greater. Note that if you take two trips back to back of 5 months each with 2 weeks in between inside the US, this will be considered breach of the 6 month rule. The officers during citizenship interviews have flexibility in interpreting your travels as to breaching residence or not. If you haven't had any trips greater than 6 months (and you haven't had any back to back type trips that would breach 6 months), then you can start the 5 year residency requirement clock from the date you first lived in the US as a permanent resident . Also when you are abroad you are not allowed to seek employment abroad as that is considered abandonment of your residence in the USA.

Based on your travel history, i would suggest that you do not count your time from Oct 2009 as counting towards residency for citizenship purposes. You have been outside the US from Nov 2010 until Sept 2011 with only 3 weeks in March spent in the USA. That seems to me that you are not living in the USA at all. In order to have any hope of convincing an officer otherwise, you would need proof of a spouse, children, a job, and a house, etc in the USA that you maintain.

If you want to have a green card, i would suggest that you hope that you are allowed to re-enter in September and that an officer does not take your green card away from you at that point (you have already been warned and that is noted in your file). Then you should remain in the USA from September 2011 to September 2012 at least. A period of 1 year should wash away your recent abandonment of residence. Then you can start the citizenship clock ticking from Sept 2011 until 5 years later.
 
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Hi Gunt,

Thanks for your reply. I imagine the switch is now from looking at citizenship to maintaining the green card.

Just a question, where did you get the information on back to back trips? I can imagine they wouldn't be viewed favourably, but there's also a number of mitigating factors. I still have an ongoing insurance claim in NZ, and have only worked bitsy temporary jobs in NZ, no greater than a few weeks at a time. Because of my age, I have pretty much no hope of insuring I have residency through home/car ownership, so I'll have to be honest. I am returning to the States on Feb 2012 permanently, regardless of the status of the insurance claim - September isn't an option because I simply don't have enough money to survive.

I tend to think I haven't been 'officially' warned, as the lady was only looking for an explanation and never said anything else. Obviously I'll know more in September. If there's any issue at the border, is there anything I should do? Anything I should say?

Thanks again!
 
Gabocha said:
Just a question, where did you get the information on back to back trips?
Click to expand...

From other people's experience, and it's buried somewhere in the USCIS adjudicator's manual. They don't use the phrase "back to back", but they gave an example of somebody who left the US for a total stretch of about 20 months, during which time they kept each absence under 6 months but their time in the US was very short and sporadic during that 20-month stretch.

Your string of absences from the US from November 2010 to Feb 2012, combined with your lack of residential ties to the US during that period will probably disqualify you from citizenship if you apply before Feb 2016 (you may apply 4 years and 1 day after the end of a trip or series of trips that broke continuous residence).

I hope you filed US tax returns to report the income from your jobs in NZ, as green card holders are supposed to file US tax returns on worldwide income.

Are you sure you want to live in the US permanently? NZ is a pretty good place to live, and it doesn't seem like the US is benefitting you.
 
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