short trip around citizenship application sending

K

ketanco

Banned
Hello I have a few questions:

1- I will be eligible to apply for citizenship mid-june and was wondering if i can make a 2-3 week trip outside the usa right before sending my application, or right after sending it. does it affect anything negatively in any way? i know that there is a 90 day residency requirement of the state you will file it from. does it affect that for instance? or something else?

2-do i have to be in the usa when my application is mailed? for instance what if my 2-3 weeks trip starts a week before my eligilibity date... can i make all my paperwork ready and tell my friend in usa to mail it for me? what i am trying to avoid is to loose any time... i want to mail it as soon as i become eligible.

3-after i mail my application and it is in process, can i again make occasional short duration (say a few days or a week) trips outside the country?
 
welcome back ketan, you have been away far too long.
you can make a trip before or after mailing it in. the 90 day requirement will NOT be violated if you return to the same place / state you were at before the trip.
i think you have to be in US at the time of mailing, but will let senior members to correct this (or not).
 
You don't have to be inside the US when submitting the N-400. Of course, you have to be in the US for the fingerprinting, oath, and interview. And you should not take trips during the process that are so many or so long that they jeopardize your continuous residence.

If you met the 3 month state/district residence requirement before traveling, and you return to the same state/district where you resided before the trip, you would have still met the requirement.
 
ketanco said:
2-do i have to be in the usa when my application is mailed? for instance what if my 2-3 weeks trip starts a week before my eligilibity date... can i make all my paperwork ready and tell my friend in usa to mail it for me? what i am trying to avoid is to loose any time... i want to mail it as soon as i become eligible.
Click to expand...

Although you don't have to be in the U.S. at the time of submitting N-400, the method you describe (telling a friend back in the U.S. to mail the N-400 for you) does not sound OK to me.

You are required to sign and date the N-400 before submitting it and it is not really kosher to post-date it (that is, sign it, say, on May 1 and leave the U.S. then but to date it June 1). By signing and dating the application you are certifying that all the information given there is true, complete and correct as of the date indicated. This is not possible with post-dating, since you can't know for sure what will happen to you in the period between signing and the date you put on N-400 (You could get arrested, for example).

Also, on the N-400 you must indicate all the foreign trips since becoming an LPR. If you post-date the N-400 and include the 3 weeks trip you are planning to take, you may also run into problems - e.g. if you get sick and are actually unable to take the trip, but included the trip in the N-400; or if the IO realizes that the N-400 was submitted by somebody else while you were abroad and that you must have post-dated it before departure.

Dating the N-400 by the date earlier than you are eligible to file (be it a week earlier or 6 months earlier) presents its own set of problems.

Submitting N-400 a couple of weeks later (after you come back from the trip) is not going to delay your naturalization by much but it would let you avoid a bunch of potential complications. If you really want to submit N-400 while you are abroad, mail it yourself from abroad, and don't ask any friends back in the U.S. to mail it for you.
 
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INA 334. [8 U.S.C. 1445]

(a) An applicant for naturalization shall make and file with the Attorney General a sworn application in writing, signed by the applicant in the applicant's own handwriting, if physically able to write, which application shall be on a form prescribed by the Attorney General and shall include averments of all facts which in the opinion of the Attorney General may be material to the applicant's naturalization, and required to be proved under this title. In the case of an applicant subject to a requirement of continuous residence under section 316(a) or 319(a) , the application for naturalization may be filed up to 3 months before the date the applicant would first otherwise meet such continuous residence requirement.

(b) No person shall file a valid application for naturalization unless he shall have attained the age of eighteen years. An application for naturalization by an alien shall contain an averment of lawful admission for permanent residence. .................


The allegation of facts or claims in an application or petition for any benefit under this entire Act = “averment”.

You sign your N-400 by certifying under penalty of perjury....

18 USC § 1621. Perjury generally

Whoever—

(1) having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true; or

(2) in any declaration, certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, willfully subscribes as true any material matter which he does not believe to be true;

is guilty of perjury and shall, except as otherwise expressly provided by law, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. This section is applicable whether the statement or subscription is made within or without the United States.
 
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