Student currently abroad, need help filing N-400 Please help!

F

Fruckus

New Member
Hello,

I am a Canadian citizen who grew up in The States. I have had a green card since 2007 and I have been attending a Canadian university for the last year. I am now eligible to apply for Citizenship but I have some questions regarding certain fields of the N-400. If anyone could shed some light or speak from experience, I would greatly appreciate it. The questions are as follows:

1. In section 6. part b. I am asked to list "Where you have worked (or, if you were a student, what schools did you attend) during the last five years?"Now I have attended Universities in the last five years but I have also worked on the side. Am I supposed to list places I worked as well as school? Or should I only list schools since I was technically a student.

2. In section 7 it asks me to list all the trips I have made outside The States in the last 5 years. I currently am studying in Canada so my most recent trip does not have a return date as I am still abroad. I have a flight home booked for Christmas so should I list my return date as the day I intend to return to The States? Also it asks for total days spent abroad. Should the total reflect the remaining days I will spend abroad on this current trip?

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it. Regards.
 
You don't need to list the short-term part-time jobs you had as a full-time student.

2. In section 7 it asks me to list all the trips I have made outside The States in the last 5 years. I currently am studying in Canada so my most recent trip does not have a return date as I am still abroad. I have a flight home booked for Christmas so should I list my return date as the day I intend to return to The States? Also it asks for total days spent abroad. Should the total reflect the remaining days I will spend abroad on this current trip?
Click to expand...
Finish your studies, return to the US and stay for a few months, then file the N-400. Your extended time abroad has already jeoparded your naturalization eligibility, and if you apply when you're still studying abroad your chances of approval will be even lower.
 
I have been making periodic trips back home so that I was never away for more than 6 months. A USCIS rep. told me as long as I did that, nothing would happen. However, I still have 2 years of school left in Canada which is why I want to get this taken care of asap. I will only be home for 3 weeks during Christmas, at which point I have to go back to Canada for school. I was hoping that if I filed the N-400 in the next week that hopefully either my fingerprinting or interview would be scheduled while I was home.
 
A USCIS rep. told me as long as I did that, nothing would happen.
Click to expand...

They tell people many wrong things that get people in trouble. Keeping every trip under 6 months doesn't make you safe.

You can go ahead and file the N-400 and see what happens, but you may have to gather documentation and expend some effort to convince the interviewer that your time in Canada is not a permanent relocation, such as evidence of being supported by parents who live in the US. If denied, reapply after your studies have ended and you've stayed in the US for a while.
 
Yup, you need a lot of evidence to prove your ties, and that you did not work abroad. All or some of this could be just as a precaution as the IO might understand your situation completely and approve you, but you have to be prepared for a nasty person too.

I had the same issue. I applied with only 917 days in the country (out of a minimum of 913 days required) and several long back to back trips that never went over 6 months each. The IO was rude and unfriendly, and she expressed concern about my situation. She seemed to imply I could NOT have paid for all this studying without working even though some of us have parents who can afford to, or at least, are willing to. In the end, I sued them because they were sitting on the application, so I don't know how they would have decided my application. I have a feeling they just wanted to get it over with when the lawsuit was filed, and since technically, I had met the requirements, this was ok.

If you can afford it, go ahead and file, but if you can wait and want to avoid the possible hassles, do so. I also applied once I had finished my studies and returned to the US for about a year. You're STILL studying.
 
cafeconleche said:
Yup, you need a lot of evidence to prove your ties, and that you did not work abroad.
Click to expand...

Am I screwed? Because I have been working to support myself. However, I filed myself as a U.S. resident in my previous tax return and reported my Canadian income. Due to the tax treaty though I was still able to claim residency in the States and pay U.S. taxes, not Canadian.
 
Also, that same rep told me I would have to make sure I showed proof of intent to live in the U.S. So I have kept a U.S. drivers license, kept a U.S. bank account, also my student loans are U.S. federal loans. I am assuming all these things are proof of intent.
 
That might work, you just have to hope you get an interviewer who interprets your situation favorably.

The main problem is that if you apply while STILL studying abroad, that casts doubt on whether your stay in Canada is really temporary. After you're done studying and returned to the US, your claim that it was temporary has more credibility.

I know you're not going to stop studying before you graduate, and you clearly don't want to delay applying for another couple years, so go ahead and apply now and see what happens. If denied, it's just a loss of time and money, and you can reapply after you're done studying.

So I have kept a U.S. drivers license, kept a U.S. bank account, also my student loans are U.S. federal loans.
Click to expand...
I didn't know you could get US student loans to attend non-US universities.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top