travel after citizenship

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citiappln

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

I am now eligible to apply for citizenship (4 yrs, 9mths). If I apply for it, do FP, then go away to india, come back for interview and oath , then leave for several yrs abroad, is this a pblm to re-enter the country at any point in the future? I know this is not exactly desirable behaviour fom their point of view but technically is it OK? At what point will they ask questions, - at some future re-entry? Is the passport likely to be revoked?

with this scenario, can one apply and get social security benefits 15-20 yrs later while still living abroad? Assume our job situation works out well there and we dont want to come back....

Thanks
Karmarkar
 
Once you get citizenship, you can travel as much as you want and live wherever you want in the world without losing your citizenship.

But extended travel during the citizenship process, coming back to the US for short visits only for FP and interview and oath, is a bad idea and can lead to your citizenship being denied. It creates the impression that you're already living overseas; you're supposed to be still living in the US during the entire process, with only short visits abroad, not living abroad and taking short visits to the US.

Citizens can collect Social Security no matter where they live in the world, except for a few blacklisted countries (I think Cuba and North Korea are on the blacklist).
 
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citiappln said:
with this scenario, can one apply and get social security benefits 15-20 yrs later while still living abroad? Assume our job situation works out well there and we dont want to come back....

Thanks
Karmarkar
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I wouldn't count on social security being available in 15-20 years the way the US government debt has spiraled out of control.
 
You should also keep in mind that as a US Citizen residing abroad - you still have to file income tax although you may be eligible for some tax credits. Not filing tax could result in the refusal to renew your passport by the State Dept until thing are resolved with the IRS - although your citizenship will not be in jeopardy.

In addition, I would advise for all citizens living abroad to keep abreast of all new immigration laws as you never know when they may change the requirements. I believe in the recent past they had a clause that required all naturalized citizens live in the US for a period of no less than 1 year after acquiring citizenship. You never know when something like that is reacted.
 
LolaLi said:
In addition, I would advise for all citizens living abroad to keep abreast of all new immigration laws as you never know when they may change the requirements. I believe in the recent past they had a clause that required all naturalized citizens live in the US for a period of no less than 1 year after acquiring citizenship. You never know when something like that is reacted.
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The only thing a naturalized citizen should be aware of is if they repeal the 14th Amendment. So long as it remains in place, they cannot change the immigration laws to unfairly treat naturalized citizens.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
The only thing a naturalized citizen should be aware of is if they repeal the 14th Amendment. So long as it remains in place, they cannot change the immigration laws to unfairly treat naturalized citizens.
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They used to revoke the citizenship of naturalized citizens who moved back to their original country, long after the 14th Amendment was in place.
 
LolaLi said:
I believe in the recent past they had a clause that required all naturalized citizens live in the US for a period of no less than 1 year after acquiring citizenship. You never know when something like that is reacted.
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What is up with living at least one year in US after being naturalized?
 
Rafiq said:
What is the point of being naturalized if you are just going to return to your country of origin?
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IMO, for some it allows you to have more options..option to give your future children possibility of US citizenship, option to make yourself more "sellable" by the potential US citizenship brings to foreign employers or future in laws(in areas with arranged marriages), or simply option to travel and work back to US freely.
 
No.
It is extremely hard for USCIS to withdraw citizenship. They have 15 million illegal immigrants living and working and now will avail the goodies from Obama to reduce the value of their liar loans. I don't think USCIS has time and energy to pursue cases such as your in a court of law.

truedesi said:
So is there any requirement of living 1 year in US after being naturalized?
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There only way they can de-natruralize your citizenship, if they prove that you lied during your N400 process, or you were not eligible for citizenship in the first place. There are no restrictions on travel or stay in the country.
 
Thanks all, for your replies. As somebody pointed out, sometimes there are advantages to getting a citizenship. And there is always the option of giving it up and going back to an Indian citizenship later down the line if we want to. Does anybody know if there are any issues with that or is that a simple process?

By the way, in response to the last point raised, what kind of lies are they trying to catch in the N400 process? I mean, isn't the interview process supposed to be to catch any discrepancies?

Thanks
 
Yes it is, but people stil lget away with lies and misrepresentation. Hence if a lie/misrepresentation is caught years down, USCIS can still revoke the citizenship of the person in question.

citiappln said:
I mean, isn't the interview process supposed to be to catch any discrepancies?
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citiappln said:
By the way, in response to the last point raised, what kind of lies are they trying to catch in the N400 process? I mean, isn't the interview process supposed to be to catch any discrepancies?

Thanks
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Any lies to the questions they ask. If you respond untruthfully, those are lies and those are the ones that could get you in trouble. As someone else mentioned, you might be better off not getting US citizenship if you plan on revoking it down the road. Seems kind of a waste of time, energy and money if you aren't going to uphold it...
 
citiappln said:
By the way, in response to the last point raised, what kind of lies are they trying to catch in the N400 process? I mean, isn't the interview process supposed to be to catch any discrepancies?

Thanks
Click to expand...

They won't be actively monitoring all naturalized citizens, but if you get into legal trouble in the future, they can open your files and check. The most common one is "have you ever claimed to be a US Citizen?" There have been several cases where they haved used that question to denaturalize people.
 
harvydonald said:
They won't be actively monitoring all naturalized citizens, but if you get into legal trouble in the future, they can open your files and check.
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And people should not get complacent and think "I am not going to commit any crimes, so I don't have to worry about that." It is common for them to resort to using immigration discrepancies against you when they can't produce enough evidence that you committed whatever you are suspected of. If you didn't commit the crime, they probably won't have much (if any) evidence against you, so that's when they go to the next step of checking your naturalization records and cross-checking other files to see if you lied. They have used that strategy to deport suspected terrorists when they couldn't find evidence of terrorism.
 
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