When should "We" apply for Naturalization ??

Z

zed350

New Member
Hello All,

I am really impressed by wealth of knowledge people seem to have on this forum and was hoping you guys could help me out with my Dilemma.

I came to United States with my Mom and Dad, as a Permanent resident, in April 2002.My Aunt had applied for my mom's, dad's and mine immmigration.We stayed here for 10 days and went back to our native country (Australia) as I was about to finish my school and parents were trying to wrap up our business there.We returned to US in March 2003 (11 months) and have been living here in US,since then.

The question i have, deals with the "Continuous Residence" part of applying for naturalization.I am aware of the Fact that you break continuous residence if you leave US for more than 6 months.We did break that requirement since we did not establish any permanent ties with US, within 10 days ( who can :confused: ) and we were outside US for 11 months.

I am also aware that if you stay outside US for more that 1 year.Then you can apply for citizenship 4 years and 1 day after the day you return back to US and stay here.i.e. your last 364 days outside US are counted towards your 5 year wait period.

So, now after a bit lengthy explanation.. :p , my question is.. would my 11 months outside US counted towards my 5 year wait period, which would mean i can apply for my citizenship this year or do i need to wait 1 more year to apply for naturalization.

All help would be greatly appreciated !!
Thanks a lot !:) :)
 
As far as I know, you need to wait until Dec 2007 (90 days less than 5 years of continuous stay in the US as permanent resident). However, if you are in a hurry, I would strongly recommend consulting an attorney for legal advice.
 
I don't think the 4yr+1day rule applies since your trip was only 11 months, which is of course shorter than 1 year. Your eligibility will be 5yrs-90days from when you returned to the US in March 2003, because there's basically no way you could argue you were "resident" after such a short initial stay.
 
Thanks a lot for your replies takadigi,boatbod. I agree with you guys and thats the impression i have but this rule kindda seems weird because think about this..if i was out for 1 more month (making my trip more than 12 months) all my 364 days out of US would have counted..:p ..lol.Right now with 11 months im just asking for a discount of ~335 days and im not sure if USCIS is flexible enough to understand that.:rolleyes:

thanks:D
 
Yeah, but if you'd left for more than a year, you'd probably have a hard time convincing someone that you really intended to be a resident. It would be fairly easy for the USCIS to argue that you abandoned your residency.
 
Flydog said:
Yeah, but if you'd left for more than a year, you'd probably have a hard time convincing someone that you really intended to be a resident. It would be fairly easy for the USCIS to argue that you abandoned your residency.
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Yes, especially if he didn't have a reentry permit!

zed350 - USCIS are totally inflexible!
 
Oh we all had re-entry permits..:D

Its just matter of logic and common sense, We were just trying to follow their rules, to not stay outside US for more than 1 year, if we did not need to. I guess at the end, USCIS is just out to screw you..one way or another..:D
 
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