Newbie here and some questions about N 400

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twc100

Registered Users (C)
I am a newbie here. We are getting ready to apply for citizenship and I have some questions.

1. We were issued green cards on nov 26, 2004. At that time we were out of country(we left on nov 23). When I came back from India after a long vacation, in the first week of March 2005, I was called for a secondary screening by USCIS in sfo. The officer asked me the reason I was out of the country for so long. I explained to him and he let me go. Now, do I need to mention this on N 400?

2. I was given a verbal warning for speeding in mid 2006. No ticket was issued. When I checked my driving record, there was no mention of the warning. But then, the records go back to 3 years only. Do I mention this in N 400?

3. When you have to write the days spent outside the US, do they take into account the day you travel from the US and the day you come back to the US too, for the purpose of determining the days spent outside the country?

Thanks in advance.
 
1. That time out of the USA will count in your total days outside the USA, as it counts from the date you became a permanent resident (the date on your card). That you were taken for secondary screening does not come into play for this.

2. A verbal warning does not need to be noted.

3. Yes the day you leave and the day you return are counted in the total.
 
Father Mike said:
3. Yes the day you leave and the day you return are counted in the total.
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Actually not. The start day and end day of yoru trip are excluded.

The formula is not

end-start

or

end-start+1

but it is end-start-1, very favrorable to applicants.

If you leave Dec 7 and come back on Dec 9, your day outside USAS is 1 daY
 
WBH said:
Actually not. The start day and end day of yoru trip are excluded.

The formula is not

end-start

or

end-start+1

but it is end-start-1, very favrorable to applicants.

If you leave Dec 7 and come back on Dec 9, your day outside USAS is 1 daY
Click to expand...

Hmm, I was counting only start day + outside days (without end day). I guess I can subtract one more day from each trip then.
 
twc100 said:
1. We were issued green cards on nov 26, 2004. At that time we were out of country(we left on nov 23). When I came back from India after a long vacation, in the first week of March 2005, I was called for a secondary screening by USCIS in sfo. The officer asked me the reason I was out of the country for so long. I explained to him and he let me go. Now, do I need to mention this on N 400?
Click to expand...

You do not need to mention this. However, some people who left US immediately after receiving the green card were asked to take their residency status after their first return. This does not happen to everyone though. You should be fine because you are filing almost 4 years 9 months after your return, and not from your GC date ... however, this is just in case they ask questions and you can still explain to them that the first trip was immaterial since you still meet all the requirements.
 
Thank you so much for replying to my queries.

Perhaps I should have been more clear. When I came back from India, I was questioned at the port of entry(SFO). But when I went for stamping of my passport(Is it called I 551?) in March 05, they put the date as nov 26 04, which is when I got the email approving our green cards.

I have taken 3 more trips to India lasting about 2 months each, since then. So I waited for 5 years to complete, to be on the safe side.
 
Also, one more question. My husband has taken about 60 business trips to Canada for his office each lasting a week during the last 5 years. Would that cause any problem?
 
twc100 said:
Also, one more question. My husband has taken about 60 business trips to Canada for his office each lasting a week during the last 5 years. Would that cause any problem?
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60 trips of 5 days == 300 days out. Does not sound bad.

Even if it was 400 days, it is still about 20-25% outside US, which is well within the residence requirements. And most of that can be justified ... that he maintained residence in US but had to travel out for work.

Only question - were these back to back to back to back trips?
 
Thank you for the reply. No, they were not back to back trips. He would go for one week at a time, then be here for 2-3 weeks, again go... So I guess that should not be a problem.
So if they count the days outside of the US, then would that mean 3 days a week because mondays(the day he travels out) and fridays(the day he comes back) are not counted?
 
twc100 said:
Thank you for the reply. No, they were not back to back trips. He would go for one week at a time, then be here for 2-3 weeks, again go... So I guess that should not be a problem.
So if they count the days outside of the US, then would that mean 3 days a week because mondays(the day he travels out) and fridays(the day he comes back) are not counted?
Click to expand...

Correct.
 
twc100 said:
Also, one more question. My husband has taken about 60 business trips to Canada for his office each lasting a week during the last 5 years. Would that cause any problem?
Click to expand...
They only problem is with the task of accurately listing the dates of all those trips, especially if he did not keep records of each trip as the trips were being made.
 
He got the complete record of his visits from his office last week. So that problem is also solved. (Because if you are going to Canada, they don't stamp in passport at all).
 
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