More questions on continuous residency

[Jabs]

I am hoping someone can shed light on my situation.
I received my permanent residency 03/01/03 in my third year of college. Since then I have travelled and stayed out of the country for extended periods.
03/09/03-08/27/03- 170 days (away for school)
09/01/03-03/25/04-204 days (away for school)
I worked as a flight attendent with my home country airline between 03/2004-01/2005 travelling daily to and from the US as well as to Canada England and the islands. The airline is unable to give me records of all my flights and my passport was not stamped in any of the countries for flights worked but I was never out of the US for more than a month as a flight attendant.
I stayed in the islands from 1/20/05 to 6/30/05 and I have been in the USA ever since.
March 2008 made it 5 years since I've had my residency. My father filed me on his tax returns as a dependent when I was out of the country in 03 and 04and he also owns his house since 2001. I have filed my own tax returns for 05, 06 and 07.
Would I encounter any problems applying for my citizenship at the end of this month August 08? Its been a total of 5 years 5 1/2 months!
Also will the fact that I was unable to furnish all my flight info for work pose any problems?. It is impossible to calculate days out of the country when my passport was not stamped

Thanks in advance for your response!

 

[Jackolantern]

Being unable to accurately list your flights is a major problem for you, because you have spent so much time outside the US. They will probably just have to assume that you were outside the US for the entire time from 3/2004 to 6/2005.

You can go ahead and apply now and see what happens ... maybe you'll get approved, anything can happen. But I don't think you have a strong case for approval unless you wait until 7/1/2009 to apply (i.e. using the 4 years plus 1 day rule, counting from the end of your last long trip).

 

[boatbod]

Being unable to accurately list your flights is a major problem for you, because you have spent so much time outside the US. They will probably just have to assume that you were outside the US for the entire time from 3/2004 to 6/2005.

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but it certainly will be a nightmare trying to fill out the N-400. Maybe simply saying you were airline cabin staff from xx/xx/xx until yy/yy/yy will be sufficient? If all trips were same-day, they each count as zero-days out of the US, although of course you still need to declare them.

Sounds to me that your biggest obstacle will be proving that you did not break continuous residence during your foreign studies. Many prior posts cover that topic.

 

[Jackolantern]

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but it certainly will be a nightmare trying to fill out the N-400. Maybe simply saying you were airline cabin staff from xx/xx/xx until yy/yy/yy will be sufficient? If all trips were same-day, they each count as zero-days out of the US, although of course you still need to declare them.

The trips weren't just out of the US and right back, they also involved Canada and England and the Caribbean. If the trips can't be listed with reasonable accuracy, and the poster cannot provide them with enough partial information to do a sensible calculation (e.g. specifying certain weeks or months during which it is known that all the trips were less than 24 hours), I would not expect the IO to approve the application unless it is still approvable when assuming the worst (i.e. all time in the questionable period treated as outside the US).

 

[Jabs]

Thanks for your responses!
I think I am going take a chance and submit my application at the end of the month. I will just have to hope that I will get an approval. I have a past letter from school stating I started 09/2000 (before I obtained residency) and that scheduled completion was May 2005. I also have a letter from the airline with my dates of employment as a flight attendant. If needed, I have tax returns for the 5 years and proof of mortgage.
Shouldn’t immigration have a history of my travel records if they swiped my GC on each entry?
If anyone else has more advice on my situation. please feel free to share.

Thanks again!

 

[boatbod]

Shouldn’t immigration have a history of my travel records if they swiped my GC on each entry?

The general consensus is that they do have a travel history, but for whatever reason, they sometimes like to play games with applicants. ("What dates did you....? Are your sure?").

 

[kdatyeva]

They don't have or have a very limited histrory about your departure dates - it is simply a very time and resources consuming procedure. They do know about your entry dates as they swipe a GC at the port of entry, as to the dates you left the US - it is your responsibility to prove it and to the best of your knowledge.

 

[Jabs]

Okay...let me try and understand this, my longest trip was from 09/01/03-03/25/04 (204 days). My other trips did not exceed 180 days. Based on the 4 year 1 day rule, when exactly will It be safe to apply? March 09?
My lawyer told me the flights as a flight attendant is not the problem, but rather my break in continuous residency. However he said it all depends on how I explain my situation to the IO and showing proof of no intension of abandonment

 

[Jabs]

Another question...does the time bewteen the application and the interview count towards that time?

 

[Jackolantern]

Okay...let me try and understand this, my longest trip was from 09/01/03-03/25/04 (204 days).

But right after that, you have 3/2004 to 1/2005 employed outside the US by a non-US company during which you spent lots of time outside the US, immediately followed by 1/20/05 to 6/30/05 in the islands. So you had a trip of over 6 months, which already creates the presumption of breaking residence, and then added on a stretch of 15 months during which you spent very little time in the US (or you cannot properly account for the time in the US). I would be surprised if they didn't deny you for breaking continuous residence. But it's your money to lose, go ahead and apply if you want, anything can happen.

My other trips did not exceed 180 days. Based on the 4 year 1 day rule, when exactly will It be safe to apply? March 09?

I would say July 2009 ... 4 years and a day after 6/30/05.

 

[Jackolantern]

Shouldn’t immigration have a history of my travel records if they swiped my GC on each entry?

They have some knowledge of your travels, but they don't have perfect knowledge of everybody. There are passenger manifests from the airlines, but those are imperfect because you don't give a unique identifier like SSN or A# when you book your flight, and they don't always swipe the green card when you leave the US. And there are land and sea entry points where they don't swipe the green card when you enter.

In some cases, they will not know of some trips if you don't tell them. But you don't know how much they know. They might know everything, they might know 20%, they might know 80%. If you fail to list a trip that they know about, you can be denied.

 

[Jackolantern]

Another question...does the time bewteen the application and the interview count towards that time?

Yes ... but you must satisfy the residence requirement in the 5-year lookback period when you file the application, AND when you are interviewed. So you can be denied because you didn't have the required years of continuous residence back when you filed the N-400, even though you have the required years at the time of the interview.

 

[Jabs]

You were right..my lawyer reviewed the dates, and said that if I apply now, I have a very high chance of being denied regardless of tax returns and proof of mortgage. It would be very risky especially working for a non-US country and attending college overseas.
He did say however that I would be able to apply in March 09 (90 days before July 09) Does that sound about right?