Principal EB-1A not working - Will that affect Derivative N-400?

[CalStan]

Hey everyone,

I have a question that I would really appreciate your answer:

My background: I am a derivative beneficiary (under 21) of my father's EB1-EA application and our family received GC after completed consular processing (CP) in 2013. My dad is an (sorta) acclaimed medical practitioner/scholar, which allowed him to get EB1-EA. During the CP process, he also presented a letter from a prestigious US research institution that indicated their willingness to hire him after GC.

Problem: My father recently received job offers both at home and somewhere in middle east that are more attractive than the packages he got in US. While he can not care less about not applying for naturalization, I am currently completing studies in an US college and would probably want to apply for naturalization after 5 years. (I have lived in US since 2009 but received GC in 2013) If he take either the offer at home or in middle east, he should be able to fly back to US regularly to maintain his GC status.
However, I am worried that the fact that my father has never worked in US would be a problem during the N400 interview after seeing some GC getting revoked during the naturalization process in some threads.

Can anyone give me any suggestions about my worries and should I try to convince to work in US?

 

[Jackolantern]

EB1-EA does not require a job offer, nor a promise to work anywhere specific in the US. So I doubt his lack of working in the US would cause a problem for you.

However, failing to work anywhere in the field of claimed expertise, and at a high level which requires extraordinary ability, could result in investigations of fraud. If he doesn't work anywhere in the world for the next 5 years, or if he only works as a taxi driver, that could be a problem for you. But if his work elsewhere in the world is of a level that reflects extraordinary ability in his field of expertise, you should be OK for naturalization and he should also be OK (provided he eventually returns to the US to stay for the required amount of time to build eligibility for naturalization).

However, your potential problem is with possibly having to prove that he worked in his field, like what happened to this other poster: http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?555991

So if you can't convince your father to stay in the US, you should at least try to convince him to keep evidence of his work abroad (including the salary) in case you need it in your citizenship interview.

But still keep trying to convince him to stay ... urge him to take the offer at the US institution and then look for a better offer in the US. Once he's living and working in the US, that would make it much easier for him to interview for and get hired at a better job in the US, and get even better offers than whatever they're offering now to work abroad.

If he take either the offer at home or in middle east, he should be able to fly back to US regularly to maintain his GC status.

But that won't work forever. Even with reentry permits, after 3 to 5 consecutive years of spending nearly the whole year outside the US they will notice his travel pattern and may order him to immigration court for proceedings to revoke his green card for abandonment of residence. By the time you apply for naturalization in 5 years, either he'll be back living in the US or they probably would have taken away his green card.