N400 - Part 7. Time outside of the US

[Chand2020]

Hello There,

I am a GC holder for almost 7 years and eligible to apply for Citizenship.

Part 7 of the N400 form requires details of # of trips & days outside of US including trips to Canada. In the last 3-4 years i have made a few different trips to Canada by Car, most of them lasted for 1-3 days each time. While crossing the border by car the agencies do not make any entries in the passport or other document. (I doubt if they track / make any entries in their system)

My dilema is how to accurately answer this question, as i do not have information on specific dates and duration of my travel to Canada.

Could i not list these short border trips made by car ? Please advise my options. Thank you all for responding.
Many have responded already. (01/08/07)

 

[rjo1]

Since no one knows the accurate dates, you should still list the approx. dates in your opinion. If asked in the Interview, you can mention that they are approx.

 

[N400Applier]

Hello There,

I am a GC holder for almost 7 years and eligible to apply for Citizenship.

Part 7 of the N400 form requires details of # of trips & days outside of US including trips to Canada. In the last 3-4 years i have made a few different trips to Canada by Car, most of them lasted for 1-3 days each time. While crossing the border by car the agencies do not make any entries in the passport or other document. (I doubt if they track / make any entries in their system)

My dilema is how to accurately answer this question, as i do not have information on specific dates and duration of my travel to Canada.

Could i not list these short border trips made by car ? Please advise my options. Thanks you.

I would recommend putting in approximate dates for your travel on your N-400 form. However, attach an explanation along with your N-400 explaining that you have done your best to list all the dates of travel.

However, during your interview you have to take Tax documents, Pay stubs, Rent/Mortgage docuemnts, Bank Statements to prove that you did not abondon your permanent residence.

 

[rwsh]

My understanding is that ALL trips of 24 hours or more since you were granted legal resident status (Green Card) must be reported. Do the very best you can for all of these trips and add the caveat in the cover letter that you completed this section to the very best of your ability/memory etc.

In my case I had three pages of trips! Most had stamps in my passports, some only in my re-entry permit (which I know longer have), some in both and a few in neither. Remember that the USCIS knows more than you think they know. Err on the side of caution and completeness.

 

[Flydog]

I included the following at the end of our (mine and my wife's) list of trips. It detailed the first 3 years of our GC status. We deliberately waited until we had 5 full years of detailed travel history before we submitted our N-400s (the details have been blurred a little):

During the time between when I received my Green Card in the spring of 1996 and November, 1999, I lived in [New England town]. This is only a 6 hour drive from my in-laws in [Quebec-town], Canada or a 1 to 1.5 hour flight to my mother and sisters in [Ontario-town], Canada or [Nova Scotia-town], Canada. During this time, I did not keep a good record of my travels.

During this period, the family made occasional visits to [Quebec-town], [Ontario-town] and [Nova Scotia-town]. These visits lasted from 3 days to 10 days (necessarily less than 16 days). We took no more than a half dozen of these visits per year.

Since we were not close to any of the limits (continuous residence or physical presence) it was not an issue and never came up during the interview.

It is important to realize that although none of this appears as stamps in your passport, the border folks did scan your green card every time you re-entered the country. You need to try to be as truthful as possible.

 

[from_bayarea]

Travelling between N400 Interview and Oath

There seems to be a recent law change that requires citizenship applicants to state on the oath day whether they left the country after the interview and till the oath day. (The applicant states this on the application form that he or she fills in on the oath day.)

Do you know if this implies that it is no longer permitted to leave the country between the interview and oath?

Thanks all.

 

[boatbod]

I'm not sure whether this is a "recent" law or not. Certainly I was asked whether I had traveled between interview & oath - in my case no, but many other people at the same ceremony had, and it wasn't a problem for them.

The thing to bear in mind is that you must continue to meet the requirements of both continuous and physical presence, right up until the day you take the oath. Other than that, you are free to travel as you see fit.