SB-1 Visa, continuous residency requirements for Naturalization

Richard Ferguson

New Member
Hello, my wife received her GC in June of 2009. She had to return to the P.I. in Sept. 2010 for health reasons, she needed an emergency operation. She did not have a re-entry permit as time was of the essence.
She had 2 major operations while abroad and gave birth to our son in February 2011, he is a US citizen. My wife and have filed all of our taxes married filing jointly, we also have our bank accounts together to show continuous residency status. These were circumstances beyond our control. I also had an operation in the US and was out of work for 2 months we had no insurance, finances played an important in role in why she could not return sooner. We applied for an SB-1 Visa which took approximately 4 months. My wife was approved and then we applied for the immigrant visa which she received in February 2012 and she returned to the US in May of 2012. She was given her original GC which does not expire until 2019, at Customs. We recently discovered there was another A- number given to her when she applied for the Immigrant Visa. We went to Homeland Security and they finally determined that her original A-number was still good and she could use it, and now she has 2 numbers on file with Homeland Security for her GC. The person at Homeland Security said that as far as Naturalization was concerned she now had to wait the full 3 years from the date of entry in May of 2012. Can anyone tell us when she will be able to file the N-400 application. Thanks in advance for any help.
 
If you are a US citizen, she would be eligible for naturalization 3 years after her status was reinstated in May 2013 (assuming you were already a US citizen at that time, and all other requirements such as good moral character have been met). She can apply as early as 90 days before the 3 years mark, but will not be allowed to complete the oath and become a US citizen before the full 3 years are done.

But if you are not a US citizen, she would have to wait to become eligible with the 5-year rule.
 
Thank you for your reply, but since my wife was here for over 1 year before she had to leave shouldn't she qualify for 2 yrs and 1 day? Thank you
 
Thank you for your reply, but since my wife was here for over 1 year before she had to leave shouldn't she qualify for 2 yrs and 1 day? Thank you

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how they view the fact that she needed an SB-1 to return. It would be safer to wait out the 3 years, but given that they gave her back the original GC it probably means they don't view her SB-1 as "starting over" so she could be OK to apply this year with the 2 years and 1 day rule.
 
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