NEED ADVICE: Filing N-400 for spouse who has spent 10 months outside the US

[WAD]

Hello All,

I am a new user to the forum but it came highly recommended from a friend.

My situation is that I am preparing to file my spouse's N-400 where she was recently outside the US for 10 months (our last trip b/w 2009-2010).

Background.
1) I am a US Citizen
2) GC recieved for spouse in 2005
3) I had to travel for work outside the US in 2006 (wife accompanied me - she does not work, my work for US firm abroad for 1 yr then and Non-US firm for remaining time)
4) We have made continuous trips to the US since 2006 ever 6 months or less, trips were usually short lasting 2-10 weeks; Most recent trip outside of US was more than 10 month
5) We had a daughter in 2007, born outside the US, but US citizen from me
6) We have now returned to the US as of Mar. 10
7) Mailing address during travel outside US was in VA (parents), have just returned to NJ

Intention / Ties to the US: We have always intended and maintained relationships to US since mycontract/ assignment outside US was expiring in 2009 upon which we were returning to US
1) We own a property (NJ) since 2005, and continued to make mortgage payments to date
2) Filed joint taxes since 2005, both federal and NJ state
3) Continue to have active joint and single bank accts. and credit cards (with coninuous usage and excellent payment history)
4) My family (parents and brothers) still live in the US (VA), where we continuously visited them since 2006
5) Paid for health insurance in US up to end of 2007
6) Traveled to US every 6 months since 2006 to visit family, healthcare, vacation and shopping (receipts available for all activities mentioned)

Reason for 10 months outside of US:
1) 2 family deaths back to back outside the country
2) Daughter became very ill, asthma like, and could not travel . Had to be bed-ridden for almost 6 months

My questions:
1) I changed our mailing address to parents in VA from NJ in 2007 after leaving the US
2) Have just returned in Mar. 10 and would like to file N-400, any advice on the continuous presence, since she has one trip over 6 months but <1 yr
3) What documentation should be sent with N-400 as support and which ones should be held back and brought to interview date?
4) Should I file in VA or NJ, since most of our assets are NJ based and VA has just been a mailing address, or should wait to file in NJ after changing address.

Apologies for the long posting. And appreciate your feedback at the earliest.

Rgds,

 

[sanjoseaug20]

You have mentioned about the 10 month long trip, but not about the trips before although you indicated you have made many trips. Continuous residence is only one of the issues, you need to worry about PHYSICAL presence also. Can you provide her travel dates for the last 3 years? - she only needs to worry about 3 years because she will presumably file for marriage based naturalization.

 

[sanjoseaug20]

On re-reading your post, you seem to be talking about "trips to US" lasting a max of 10 weeks, sometimes even less. It is my strong suspicion that she might not be eligible as she should have spent at least half of the days (again physical presence) in US. It does not look like that.

Your first priority is to validate whether she is eligible, then only worry about NJ vs VA. Your post and the 4 questions you posed seem to assume the eligibility and is only asking tactical questions, and hence my second comment.

 

[WAD]

Thanks for your input, my answers below

1) Since end of 2006, when we left the US, we have made 2-3 trips to US per yr expect for last yr, each for short period of months, max was for 4 months stay in the US
2) and assuming I can still apply suding the 5 yr travel history (she has had GC since 2005), where we spent all of 20 months in US during that period and then accumulated the remaining 10 months over the next 3 yrs.

 

[Jackolantern]

3) I had to travel for work outside the US in 2006 (wife accompanied me - she does not work, my work for US firm abroad for 1 yr then and Non-US firm for remaining time)

As a result of your 1 year of overseas employment with a US firm, she might have been able to qualify for expedited citizenship under Section 319(b). Unfortunately, it's way too late for that now.

Intention / Ties to the US: We have always intended and maintained relationships to US since mycontract/ assignment outside US was expiring in 2009 upon which we were returning to US
1) We own a property (NJ) since 2005, and continued to make mortgage payments to date

That's good ... but not so good if you rented it out.

2) Filed joint taxes since 2005, both federal and NJ state

Good.

4) My family (parents and brothers) still live in the US (VA), where we continuously visited them since 2006

Doesn't count. When evaluating residence ties based on family, they only care about spouse and minor children.

1) I changed our mailing address to parents in VA from NJ in 2007 after leaving the US

Just your mailing address? Or your primary residence?

3) What documentation should be sent with N-400 as support and which ones should be held back and brought to interview date?

Only send the basics ... don't send stuff related to proving residential ties. Bring that to the interview.

4) Should I file in VA or NJ, since most of our assets are NJ based and VA has just been a mailing address, or should wait to file in NJ after changing address.

File based on what her primary residence is; the place she lives in most of the time and plans to stay in most of the time going forward. Official documents like driver's license and car registration* and the state for which she files a resident tax return should be consistent whichever place she considers to be her primary residence. Be aware of the 3-month district/state residence requirement; she has not completed 3 months in VA, so if she wants to file as a VA resident she needs to live for 3 months in VA first.

I notice you've written as if you are filing N-400 for her ... bear in mind that N-400 is considered a self-driven application. You can physically drop it in the mail box for her, but technically she is still the one who will be signing and filing it and bearing responsibility for any misinformation on it.

Her chances don't look good, with a 10-month trip plus multiple consecutive 5+ month trips. However, it is a subjective decision for USCIS to make, not us, so you won't know until she applies and see what happens. Still, I would advise waiting at least 6 months after the end of the last long trip before applying, in order to create a better impression and improve her chances.


*it is normally acceptable to have a car registered in state A even though you are a resident of state B, as long as the car is primarily garaged in state A. Some people with a secondary or vacation home do that; they keep a car at the second/vacation home.

 

[sanjoseaug20]

I agree with Jack. Build some history. However, I suspect that as you add in the days of the "new residency", you start losing the days in the "old residency" within the 3 or 5 year sliding window. But, still wait a while.