I have a question about the continuous residence requirement.
I have gotten my GC back in Nov 2000 when I was 16yrs old, but my father who is a US citizen by birth has been working overseas in Singapore since more than 10 years ago (my mum has a GC too). Therefore, as a minor naturally I had to stay with my parents in Singapore after becoming a permanent resident of the states. I was having middle and pre-university education in Singapore between Nov 2000 and APR 2005, but I did visit the states every break I get from school while my parents did too to visit my grandmother and relatives here in the US. That is to say, I did absent from the states for more than 6 months but less than a year. And I never ran into any trouble with USCIS or officers at POE. My parents filed for 1040 and Tax return Exemption for Foreign Income each year and I have been claimed as a dependent from time to time depending on my father’s income status.
Before turning 21, which is the legal definition of becoming independent in Singapore, I returned to States permanently for university education and residence since APR 2005 and have since only taken a 26days trip overseas. That mean I have already been physically present in the States for more than 30months (almost 33 months for the past 5 years). I applied naturalization in late Jan, 2008, and since received NOC from VSC with no exceptions or any other inquiries. An officer at the customer service told me that my FP appointment letter has already been mailed out on 1st Feb, 2008. But I have not received it yet. (Anyone knows how long does it take to get it in the mail from the time they sent it out?)
I was wondering if my situation can be demonstrated successfully that I did maintain ties with US as closely as possible during those years between Nov 2000 and APR 2005 in order to prove that I did not break my continuous residency and my original intention is to live in the States but circumstance did not allow as my parents were overseas and I was a minor.
In fact I do have a veteran immigration lawyer (they have been in Immigration and Citizenship Law practices since 1928) in Pennsylvania whom acts on my behalf and he had advised me that there shouldn’t be a problem since it was not my choice but I did what I could have done best for my situation. However, I would just like to see if anyone here does have similar or different view on this.
Thank you and sorry for the long post, can help it but to specify the details >.<
I have gotten my GC back in Nov 2000 when I was 16yrs old, but my father who is a US citizen by birth has been working overseas in Singapore since more than 10 years ago (my mum has a GC too). Therefore, as a minor naturally I had to stay with my parents in Singapore after becoming a permanent resident of the states. I was having middle and pre-university education in Singapore between Nov 2000 and APR 2005, but I did visit the states every break I get from school while my parents did too to visit my grandmother and relatives here in the US. That is to say, I did absent from the states for more than 6 months but less than a year. And I never ran into any trouble with USCIS or officers at POE. My parents filed for 1040 and Tax return Exemption for Foreign Income each year and I have been claimed as a dependent from time to time depending on my father’s income status.
Before turning 21, which is the legal definition of becoming independent in Singapore, I returned to States permanently for university education and residence since APR 2005 and have since only taken a 26days trip overseas. That mean I have already been physically present in the States for more than 30months (almost 33 months for the past 5 years). I applied naturalization in late Jan, 2008, and since received NOC from VSC with no exceptions or any other inquiries. An officer at the customer service told me that my FP appointment letter has already been mailed out on 1st Feb, 2008. But I have not received it yet. (Anyone knows how long does it take to get it in the mail from the time they sent it out?)
I was wondering if my situation can be demonstrated successfully that I did maintain ties with US as closely as possible during those years between Nov 2000 and APR 2005 in order to prove that I did not break my continuous residency and my original intention is to live in the States but circumstance did not allow as my parents were overseas and I was a minor.
In fact I do have a veteran immigration lawyer (they have been in Immigration and Citizenship Law practices since 1928) in Pennsylvania whom acts on my behalf and he had advised me that there shouldn’t be a problem since it was not my choice but I did what I could have done best for my situation. However, I would just like to see if anyone here does have similar or different view on this.
Thank you and sorry for the long post, can help it but to specify the details >.<