Postponing the interview and the oath dates, Good or Bad?

[mahanaim]

I’m a permanent resident and qualified to apply for a U.S. citizenship. Next month, I’m moving into the Philippines for missionary work. The departing date is set on January 29, so I believe at least I have enough time for a fingerprinting if I apply for a citizenship ASAP. I will be staying and traveling many other countries outside of the U.S.A for almost 11months.

I’d like to know if it is a good decision if I apply for a citizenship and get a fingerprinting done before I leave to the Philippines and postpone(change the dates) the appointments for the interview and the oath dates. I heard some people it’s the worst decision I can make since USCIS will put my application to the very last. Many people informed me that I should never try to delay the dates.

What would you do if you were in my situation?

I wonder living in other countries more than 6 months will cause any problems later whether I apply or do not apply before the departure.

I’m also considering coming back for the citizenship interview if I can not postpone the interview and the oath date for a short amount of time. Do you know if I can have an interview and an oath in same day? If not, how long do I need to wait? Between the interview and the oath dates what would you postpone if you have to choose? Or Should I never consider delaying the dates?

Please input your ideas. I’m in the need of help.
I want to make a best decision so I’ll be worry free while I’m abroad under busy schedules.

Thank you for your time.

 

[boatbod]

If you are seriously committed to obtaining citizenship, you'd be well advised to get it finalized BEFORE you embark on an 11 month absence from the US.

Although it is possible, any trip over 6 months and less than 1 year requires you to prove to USCIS that you did not break continuous residence by living and (more importantly) working abroad.

Note that the requirements for physical presence and continuous residence must be met up to the point at which you take the oath. It is not sufficient to simply meet them at the time you submit your application.

 

[baikal3]

I agree with what boatbod wrote. A few additional comments:

I’m a permanent resident and qualified to apply for a U.S. citizenship. Next month, I’m moving into the Philippines for missionary work. The departing date is set on January 29, so I believe at least I have enough time for a fingerprinting if I apply for a citizenship ASAP.

Perhaps but even that is not guaranteed, with the holidays slowdown.

Do you know if I can have an interview and an oath in same day? If not, how long do I need to wait?

The availability of same-day oath depends on the
District Office responsible for your application and you have to check with them directlly. A few of them do administer same-day oaths but most do not.


In general, there is no way to predict how long you will have to wait between the interview and the oath. It could be from a couple of weeks to several months.




As boatbod wrote, there are several things to keep in mind in a situation like yours:

1) while abroad for any period of time, you still have to maintain a U.S. Permanent Resident status

2) at the time of naturalization (oath date) you must satisfy both the physical presence and the countinuous presence naturalization requirements; read "A Guide to Naturalization" for details and get yourself educated.

An absence of longer than 6 months and less than a year is presumed to break the continuous residence requirement, unless you can convince the USCIS otherwise (a tall order these days) and an absence of longer than a year essentially always breaks the continuous residence requirement.


In my opinion you basically have the following options:

A) [The best option from the naturalization point of view]
Postpone the trip to Phillipines by about 4-5 months and file N-400 immediately.
Given the current processing speeds, there is a good chance that this will be enough time for you to complete the naturalization process.

B) Apply for N-400 now and leave on Jan 29 as scheduled.

In this case it would be best if you were able to come back for the interview and oath without postponing them. This will cost yu quite a bit of money but is probably possible. You still need to worry about items 1), 2) above.

You could request postponing interview and/or oath. I don't think they will want to allow anything than a few weeks/a couple of months long postponment, though. The actual revised interview/oath dates will be more or less impossible to predict precisely, but anything over 3 months would seem to be a stretch. But I don't know much about this aspect.


C) Go to Phillipines as planned and apply for N-400 after you return. You still will have to worry about items 1) and 2) and a short trip ot two back to the U.S. somewhere in the middle of that 11 month period would be very advisable (to make sure that every single absence from the U.S. is less than 6 months).


There are a couple of things that you may want to do regarding 1) and 2) for options B) and C).

First, apply for a reentry permit before you leave on Jan 29. This will make it easier to prove later on that your absence was intended to be temporary.


Second, before leaving on Jan 29, you can file form N-470 "Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes". As a religious worker, you appear to qualify to file this form. This form allows you to avoid breaking the continuous presence requirement even with an absence longer than a year (and I think it is the only way to do that with an absence longer than a year).

 

[mahanaim]

Thanks Baikal3 for your well informed and explained answers. You answered ALL my questions ans concerns! Thank you very much.