N-400 filling out time outside of the U.S.

[coolKid1984 1]

Does anyone know the answer to this question (would appreciate it). On filling out N-400, I am on question 7 (how many total days did you spend outside of the United States during the past five years? How many trips of 24 hours or more have you taken outside the United States during the past five years?). My wife came to the U.S. 3.5 years ago and we got married, she got her Green Card 3 years ago. Since we are filing under the "Spouse" clause she only needed to be here for 3 years. So on this question, do I count the days for the 1.5 years before she came over (540) and enter that or should I only count days in the past three years (not 5 as the question asks) that she has spent outside the U.S. (none). Seems like this question was not thought through by USCIS but not sure. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know. Thanks. -Alex

[mozplay 29]

When filing under the three year option, you can assume that any question that asks for five year timelines should be regarded as a three year timeline. In other words, replace five for three.

[Grant PDX 183]

When doing this for my then wife, we counted all the days. She had a fairly high number of days outside the US because of the same situation you have, but in the section showing the periods of time outside the US it was pretty clear those days were prior to her immigrating to the US.

I don't know if it's the "right" way, but in our case it didn't cause any problems.

[NickD 202]

You filll out that table underneath for days out of the country, only counting days greater than 24 hours since becoming a LPR. No total under there, should be one. If there was, that total should be listed in that how many days outside of the country preceding that table. Backwards and also states for five years, not three when applying for marriage.

It's not ethical to change the form, so I just put in the days my wife was outside the country for the last five years. Emilio appointed by Bush when the USCIS was formed after 9/11 that couldn't even speak English composed this new form. Would think with the number of directors the USCIS had since then would correct these and other errors.

I just put in the number of days my wife was out of the country for the last five years, but with further thought, maybe an N/A would be more appropriate. Since my wife only took two trips, one was 13 days, other was 12 days, most IO's should be able to add that up to 25. They also want you to bring in your passports to verify those dates, wife said her IO just glanced at it. These POE guys are really sloppy putting stamps on top of stamps or all over you book. Can take hours to decipher that.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

They are basically asking for all of the days outside of the US since your wife legally became a permanent resident of the US OR the last 5 years. Since she is not eligible for citizenship until she has been a green card holder married to a US citizen for 3 years, then that means they are only interested in the time since she legally became a resident of the US. She is applying under the 3 year qualification but the form is written as if the applicant is filing under a 5 year qualification. Rather than produce a separate form, they use the same form for both qualifications. Do not include any time prior to her receipt of her green card - the application only applies to the time since she has become a permanent resident.

What I did is I crossed out 'five/5' where ever it appeared in the petition and wrote in 'three/3'. I had no problems at all since all of my documentation supported the 3 year qualification. Good luck .