Physical Presence Test

C

cypriot

New Member
I was married in 2001 to US citizen. Because we were leaving in US with my spouse and working was not in a rush to get green card. Got my green card in Nov 2004. After that we had continued living in US and working till 2006. After 2006 I started travelling overseas on continuous basis none of the trips were more than 6 months long but they were definitely long trips that I have spent more time outside the US then inside, since 2006.

My question is that the 18 months physical presence test is calculated from the last three years or is it calculated initially after the establishment of permanent residency. (For me between the years of 2004 and 2007).

If it is calculated immediately after obtaining GC, I have lived 3 years continuously in US so I pass the test. But if it is calculated in the last three years before naturalization application I fail the test.

Somebody had told me that because I have lived in US on continuous basis for 3 years after obtaining GC, I earn the right the pass the test, and it really doesn't matter what happens after that. Is that right?

Thanks.
 
Physical presence is calculated for the last 3 years immediately before you apply. So if you apply in the beginning of January, you must have at least 18 months (548 days, to be exact) of physical presence from January 2008 until the date you applied.

If you don't have the required number of days right now, don't apply the instant when you have the 548 days. Wait until you have a few days extra, in order to avoid counting disputes with USCIS. There was another poster who applied on the exact day when he first had the minimum number of days for the physical presence test, and USCIS denied him saying he was short by a couple days (he didn't list his series of trips, so I don't know if he was wrong or USCIS was wrong).
 
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I had a question regarding physical presence, hence rather than start a new post, thought I'd add it to this thread.

Here is a theoretical situation. Lets say at the time of filing an applicant has 33 months of physical presence in the US, with 3 months in and 3 months out on average. However the first of the 3 month periods in the 5 year period was inside with the US, and the last 3 months was outside.

Now it comes time to apply. Ofcourse ties are met, continous residence is met, as well as physical presence. However if the application takes a while and the applicant leaves for 2/3 months, at the time of the interview will the IO only test the physical presence at the time of application, or a rolling 5 year period the day of the interview? If its from the date of the interview, then the applicant looses his first 3 month block in the US and may not meet the requirement?

Had the applicant been out the first 3 months, and in the US the first 3 months, he would be OK, if the IO looks back 5 years from the date of the interview. In this case, his time out would be excluded, and he'd be ok.

Any clarifications? BigJoe5 any views on such a scenario?
 
Physical Presence must be met up to the time of filing.
Continuous residence must be met up to the interview and the oath I guess.
However, if you are so borderline, be prepared to face a litany of questions.
 
The physical presence lookback window is a one-time thing which is evaluated based on the filing date. Not the interview date, nor the oath date. Trips after the filing date don't affect the physical presence determination.

Continuous residence is different, as it has a rolling window that is first evaluated on the filing date, and then reevaluated on the interview date and again on the oath date based on trips taken after filing.
 
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