Hi
I am married to a US citizen. I got my green card in June 2006. I have been offered a job in Asia. I read that i need to complete 3 years of residency before i apply for US citizenship of which 1.5 years at least each year. What does it mean??
3 years means June 2009. 1.5 years means each year or each calender year. Help will be appreciated.
First off, moving overseas and taking up open-ended foreign employment can be viewed very negatively while trying to obtain citizenship. The big issue being that you would be rather clearly demonstrating an intent to abandon your US residency.
As far as naturalization is concerned, there are 2 major requirements you must meet (plus a bunch of smaller ones). Since you would be applying under the 3-yr marriage to a USC route, I'll describe what applies to you:-
Continuous Residence
You must must maintain "continuous residence" for a period of 3 years from the date you became a permanent resident. During this waiting period, you may travel outside the US, but no single trip can be 6 months or longer (180 days) without triggering the
presumption that you broke residence. There are also rules specifying what happens for trips between 180 and 365 days, and also for those over 365 days, however I'll not go into that here. Read the N-400 guide to naturalization for more details.
Physical Presence
During the 3 year waiting period, you must accumulate a minimum of 18 months (540 days) physical presence. You are given credit for any partial days (i.e. days when you travel in to or out of the US).
The final thing to understand, is that just because you technically still meet both requirements (by for example repeatedly flying back to the US for short visits) doesn't mean USCIS will approve your naturalization. They look at the overall picture of whether you are truly
resident in the US and act accordingly.
Sort out your citizenship BEFORE moving abroad.
