physical presence puzzle

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cooldoc80

Registered Users (C)
hi all , i'm new to this site i found it by coincidence its really a heaven here as you gan get alot of information which is difficult to get , i'm really getting benefit from you all guys

my question is after i get my green card in states (by the refugee route) i would already be in the states for atleast a year , if i stay another year and half then return to work outside usa while maintaining continous residency by come a for a couple of weeks each 6 months can i apply for citizenship after 5 years???

in other words do i need to be in states 6 months/ EACH YEAR or its not necessary as long as i collect the 30 months even if continous

thanks alot for your help
 
Physical presence and continuous residence are two different things, and you have to satisfy both.

The physical presence requirement is 30 months physically in the US (technically 913 days) out of the last 5 years before applying, and it doesn't matter how those months and days are split up as long as the total adds up to the required amount or more.

Continuous residence means you have been living your life as a resident of the US for the past 5 years, with your travel patterns and residential ties consistent with a reasonable interpretation of being a resident. When you have extensive travel outside the US, the IO has the discretion to make a subjective decision on whether you have maintained continuous residence.

The 6 month rule is not the be-all and end-all of continuous residence; all it means is that if you take a single trip of 6 months or more, it is presumed you have broken continuous residence and the burden is on you to prove otherwise. If all your trips are under 6 months, you can still be found to have broken continuous residence, but the burden of proof is on the IO to look at the totality of the evidence to arrive at that conclusion.

Spending more than 6 months in the US each year is not necessary, but it is a very safe strategy, as that would show you are consistently spending more time inside the US than outside every year. But simply taking a short trip back to the US twice a year is not safe at all, even if each trip is under 6 months. The bottom line is that you must live like a US resident, and a US resident does not normally spent 11 months of every 12 months outside the US.
 
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thanks my friend

dear Jackolantern

thanx alooooooot friend for taking time and writing this reply , i'm so grateful for you what you said cant simply be found in the official websites

so i guess my plan of staying a bulk of 3o month from the start then travelling in and out from the states is a bad idea , problem is that if i had the chance to go to states early i wouldnt ever left for a minute but being an old doc now i need to get a liscence which takes aloooot of time plus i have a financial commitment in my home country which i have to finish

dear friend another question : if i Marry during the last 2 years of 5 year period and continue come and go each 6 months for a month or so would this be a reasonable proof to the officer for leaving the states (that is waiting for my wife to be able to come to states) as i know it may take years to a GC holder until he can bring his spous

to make it short (I achieve the 30 months as a bulk in begining then the last 2 years come in and out for short times )and my excuse is my sweet heart who is by the way waiting for me to reach the states the dream land for us ......would this be ok

thanks again for everyone who could help
 
cooldoc80 said:
dear friend another question : if i Marry during the last 2 years of 5 year period and continue come and go each 6 months for a month or so would this be a reasonable proof to the officer for leaving the states (that is waiting for my wife to be able to come to states) as i know it may take years to a GC holder until he can bring his spouse
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On the contrary, having a spouse living abroad is a good sign that your real residence is outside the US.
 
cooldoc80 said:
dear friend another question : if i Marry during the last 2 years of 5 year period and continue come and go each 6 months for a month or so would this be a reasonable proof to the officer for leaving the states (that is waiting for my wife to be able to come to states) as i know it may take years to a GC holder until he can bring his spous
Click to expand...


You can't bring your spouse within 1 year if you marry her the last 2 years of 5 year period. A GC holder who have already marriage before becoming GC status can only bring his family within 1 years after becoming permanent resident.

If your potential bride is already holder of Refugee status in other countries, you *might* able to bring her within 1 years of GC holder status through UNHCR. Otherwise, I would suggest that you should wait for the time to become a Citizenship of US then marriage your girlfriend.
 
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