Urgent help please! N400 interview.

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kazafi

Registered Users (C)
Hi. I'm going to have my citizenship interview next week and I'm quite anxious as they might pick on me regarding the fact that I made one of the trips out of the US for 182 days. I received my GC in 2005.

During the last 5 years, I made 8 trips out of the states for a total of 492 days.I was an intern at a trading company while I was in the states and then after I graduated, I went to work in the company's office in China as they are looking to expand their market in Asia. The office in China is an affiliate of the partent company(headquater) here in the the US. I understand I need to provide proof at the interview that I did not abandon my US residency.

After gathering necessary information, the following is all I have: 1)bank statements/credit card statements; 2)mobile phone bill; 3)Birth certificat and house deed that's under my father's name; 4)past 5 years tax income and 5)employment letter. Now my question is, as I was hired by the China office, my company could only provide me with a letter stating that I was an intern from 2008 to 2009 and then went off to work in the China office, the letter also states that the company provides online trading platform for customers all around the world and has regulated offices in differen contries, the CHina office is an affliate to the parent company located in the US.

Do I have a chance to pass the interview and get my N400 approved? How should I answer if the IO asked me about my trips? I read from the internet that sometimes the IO doesn't even look at what proof you've got to show them. I'm really worried. Please advise! Thank you!!
 
You should be fine. You have good evidence to show that you did not intend to break residency for the one trip of 182 days due to an internship. Did you return to live with your parents and did your parents remain US while you were in China?
 
My father remains in the US while I was away and he owns a house. All the bank statements and phone bills that are under my name were still being sent to our house. I need to apologize but I guess I did not explain my matter quite clearly in the previous post. I actually started as an intern @ this trading company from Oct 2008 till July 2009. After I graduated from college in July 2009, my company's office in China hired me as a full-time operation associate. So then I went there to work from Aug 2009 and returned to NY once in Jan 2010 for 2 weeks(out 182 days). I then went back to the CHina office again and returned in this May and never left again till now. My concern is, the employment letter only states that the CHina office is an affilate of the parent company in the US and I'm worried if the IO would assume that I was hired aboard =(
 
kazafi said:
My concern is, the employment letter only states that the CHina office is an affilate of the parent company in the US and I'm worried if the IO would assume that I was hired aboard =(
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Does the letter the affiliate provided you state it was a full time permanent position?

However, if it was a temporary position or for a set period of time, can they provide that in a letter to you?
 
Looks like this 182 day trip wasn't an isolated short-term foreign assignment, it was part of a longer series of overseas trips and employment going on for nearly a year. That makes your chances of approval low, but not hopeless. But since you already applied, all you can do now is gather your supporting evidence and go to the interview and see what happens.
 
Nope. They did not write the term Permanent and the HR was neither able to write that the job is temporary. Since i came back in May, I've been working in the NY office till now. It's a global company and has its headquater in the US. The reason that I went to work in China was because I'm a billingual speaker so I was able to learn new information and brought them back with me to the headquater. Is my chance to get approved slim? or do you think I should hire a lawyer to go with me on the interview day?
 
kazafi said:
Nope. They did not write the term Permanent and the HR was neither able to write that the job is temporary. Since i came back in May, I've been working in the NY office till now. It's a global company and has its headquater in the US. The reason that I went to work in China was because I'm a billingual speaker so I was able to learn new information and brought them back with me to the headquater. Is my chance to get approved slim? or do you think I should hire a lawyer to go with me on the interview day?
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You mentioned you made 8 trips out of US since 2005 for a total of 492 days. From August 2009 to May 2010 you were out of US for 182 days + ~150 days = 332 days. How was the remainder of the time outside US spread out during the remanding 6 trips (~160 days) and for what purpose?

I don't see the 182 days and ~150 days outside the US working for the affiliate of the US company you started with as an intern as a pattern for strong evidence that you intended to break continuous residence. Also, the fact that you have since returned to the same company in US further shows that you didn't intend to break continuous residence. If you had multiple back to back trips for employment outside the US for a different company, then it would be another story.
 
Thanks so much Bob.Following are days that each trip took:
02/22/2010-05/29/2010 - 95 days - for work
08/08/2009-02/07/2010 - 182 days - for work

For the remaining trips below, I went back to visit my grandparents and trips were made either during summber/winter when school were closed for vacation.

12/30/2008-01/26/2009
05/27/2008-08/26/2008
04/07/2008-05/02/2008
12/26/2007-01/25/2008
12/30/2006-01/19/2007
12/27/2005-01/24/2006

In addtion, the letter the affiliate provided me is dated May 27,2010 before I returned to NY. Do you think I should ask my US HR to write me a new one with the updated date?

Once again, thanks for helping me out Bob.
 
Sorry, forgot to give the days for the following trip:

12/30/2008-01/26/2009 - 26
05/27/2008-08/26/2008 - 90
04/07/2008-05/02/2008 - 24
12/26/2007-01/25/2008 - 29
12/30/2006-01/19/2007 - 19
12/27/2005-01/24/2006 - 27
 
Not to be a stickler, but make sure your travel dates are consistent. You previously mentioned you came back in January 2010 for 2 weeks, but your travel dates show you returned in February 2010.

Your previous trips are small and spread out, so not an issue for continuous residency. The IO will look at all the facts of your case, not just focus on the 182 day trip. if you can get a more recent letter from your HR indicating how employment history along with your relatively short tenure with affiliate, that would be great.
 
Sorry Bob my fault. Yes I returned in Feb (mistakenly it as Jan in the previous post). I'm going to ask my HR here in NYC to provide a letter stating that I returned and work in the NY office since May till present (as a continuation of the letter dated May 27 provided by the China office HR). Do you this will work out? Thanks =)
 
kazafi said:
Sorry Bob my fault. Yes I returned in Feb (mistakenly it as Jan in the previous post). I'm going to ask my HR here in NYC to provide a letter stating that I returned and work in the NY office since May till present (as a continuation of the letter dated May 27 provided by the China office HR). Do you this will work out? Thanks =)
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Yes, along with your other proof I believe you have a good chance to show that you did not intend to break continuous residency with the one trip over 182 days. There's even a chance the IO will not even bother asking for evidence given that he/she can determine from N-400 that you still work for same employer and conclude it was a temporary trip.
 
Thank you so so much Bob! God you put me at ease. I was really worried. So yeah, let me obtain that letter and hope everything goes well next week. Will definitely update you after the interview. =)
 
Upon seeing the bigger picture I now agree that your chances of approval are decent. Just go to the interview prepared with the relevant evidence and be ready to explain yourself clearly (better than you were originally doing in this thread). But don't volunteer a ton of documents though. Show what you need to show based on what they say and ask.
 
Bobsmyth said:
Yes, along with your other proof I believe you have a good chance to show that you did not intend to break continuous residency with the one trip over 182 days. There's even a chance the IO will not even bother asking for evidence given that he/she can determine from N-400 that you still work for same employer and conclude it was a temporary trip.
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Hey Bob, I've gotten my employment letter from the HR. The main content looks like the following, Could you please review to see if this is sufficient? I appreciate your help!

By way of writing, please be advised that XXX is currently employed with XXX Asia Ltd in the capacity of xxxxx. xxx started his employment with us on Aug 2009. Prior to working with xxx Asia Ltd, xxx worked at our parent company from Oct 08-July 09 as an intern. He has returned to work at our parent company in June, 2010.

xxx is in good standing with our company and we anticipate his continued employment.
 
The problem is that the letter is missing the locations of employment.

"By way of writing, please be advised that XXX is currently employed [where?] with XXX Asia Ltd in the capacity of xxxxx. xxx started his employment with us [where?] on Aug 2009. Prior to working with xxx Asia Ltd, xxx worked at our parent company [where?] from Oct 08-July 09 as an intern. He has returned to work at our parent company in June, 2010".
 
Jackolantern said:
The problem is that the letter is missing the locations of employment.

"By way of writing, please be advised that XXX is currently employed [where?] with XXX Asia Ltd in the capacity of xxxxx. xxx started his employment with us [where?] on Aug 2009. Prior to working with xxx Asia Ltd, xxx worked at our parent company [where?] from Oct 08-July 09 as an intern. He has returned to work at our parent company in June, 2010".
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Hey Jack. But the letter head has the company's address in New York. Is that gd enough?
 
kazafi said:
By way of writing, please be advised that XXX is currently employed with XXX Asia Ltd in the capacity of xxxxx. xxx started his employment with us on Aug 2009. Prior to working with xxx Asia Ltd, xxx worked at our parent company from Oct 08-July 09 as an intern. He has returned to work at our parent company in June, 2010.

.
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It says you are currently employed with xxx Asia ltd, but that you have returned to parent company. Does that mean you are a xxx Asia ltd employee working at parent company location?

Also, the letter should indicate your employers physical work location when you were employed with xxx Asia ltd, and well as your current employers physical work location now.
 
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