What was your answer to these questions?

[ilovecookies 0]

What was your answer to the question re: time spent outside the U.S. last 5 years when I've only been here since 2004. Since coming here, I haven't travelled outside the U.S. at all. Prior to my coming here though in July 2004 I went to Hong Kong and China. Any suggestions?

questions:

1. How many total days did you spend outside of the U.S. during the past five years?

2. How many trips of 24 hours or more have you taken outside of the U.S. during the past five years?

Thanks so much!!

Ives

[Lexa 0]

What was your answer to the question re: time spent outside the U.S. last 5 years when I've only been here since 2004. Since coming here, I haven't travelled outside the U.S. at all. Prior to my coming here though in July 2004 I went to Hong Kong and China. Any suggestions?

questions:

1. How many total days did you spend outside of the U.S. during the past five years?

2. How many trips of 24 hours or more have you taken outside of the U.S. during the past five years?

Thanks so much!!

Ives

At the time when I was filling N-400 I was not in US for 5 years either. If you didn't travel outside USA then put down NONE.

[RICHIE07 0]

I haven't been out of the country since I got here.

Mine I just put 0 days, and 0 trips since I can't write None in the box and also I didn't write anything in the box below, I just leave them blank. I hope it was okay.

Edited January 14, 2008 by RICHIE07

[nin 1]

Cool, I've filled it out but didn't even think about the 5 there. I only put in the 2 trips and the number of days of those trips, not the amount of days I was still living in my home country during that 5 year time frame.

I did see the 5 on the previous addresses though, I had to dig through the file cabinet to get zipcodes and street numbers.

[miri 0]

I was also wondering about this question since the N-400 application is used for both the "normal" and "marriage-based" applications. Since we can apply after 3 years post-GC, rather than 5, counting the days for the past 5 years seems somewhat irrelevant -- especially since we only need to itemize the trips taken since we got our GC. Do we still need to do this or can we just count the past 3 years (which would make more sense given our circumstances)? I suspect it's the former, as I've not read anything in any of the USCIS literature to the contrary, but I wanted to get another opinion.

[sparkofcreation 0]

I counted the days accurately (it was like 410), then in the longest box (I think it's "List all countries visited") I wrote "all time outside US was accumulated prior to LPR status being granted on mm/dd/yy."

If there'd been a trip outside the US I'd have put a note saying "All OTHER time outside US..." and so on.

[zyggy 9]

In one of the guides it states that for persons applying under the 3 year exemption, you only put the trips over 24 hours you have taken since you became a PR

[sparkofcreation 0]

In one of the guides it states that for persons applying under the 3 year exemption, you only put the trips over 24 hours you have taken since you became a PR

That's what the N-400 itself says, but that wasn't the question. The question being asked about was the one two questions *before* the question about listing trips over 24 hours, where it says "How many days have you spent out of the US in the last 5 years?"

[JoeCanuk 3]

In one of the guides it states that for persons applying under the 3 year exemption, you only put the trips over 24 hours you have taken since you became a PR

If there's one thing I've learned in my time on this site, it's this: NEVER trust the guides!

[zyggy 9]

In one of the guides it states that for persons applying under the 3 year exemption, you only put the trips over 24 hours you have taken since you became a PR

That's what the N-400 itself says, but that wasn't the question. The question being asked about was the one two questions *before* the question about listing trips over 24 hours, where it says "How many days have you spent out of the US in the last 5 years?"

The answer is the same... this question is asked to determine if you've met the continuous residency requirement. In this case, it's since you have been a PR or 5 years if you have been a PR for more than 5 years.

[ilovecookies 0]

thanks for the many replies....sorry i'm still confused as to what exactly i need to write.

for the how many days did you spend outside the u.s. the last 5 years, should i put......none??? then write under the question...since becoming a PR i haven't left the u.s.??? or should i sit and count the number of days i spent before coming here????

with regards to question 2, should i just put the travels to china and hong kong even though i lived in the philippines at the time???

please help! i'm so lost!!!

[Jasman0717 9]

Ives, is it already the time you can file for citizenship?

[zyggy 9]

thanks for the many replies....sorry i'm still confused as to what exactly i need to write.

for the how many days did you spend outside the u.s. the last 5 years, should i put......none??? then write under the question...since becoming a PR i haven't left the u.s.??? or should i sit and count the number of days i spent before coming here????

with regards to question 2, should i just put the travels to china and hong kong even though i lived in the philippines at the time???

please help! i'm so lost!!!

In your case, you do not count any time out of the US before you became a PR...

[ilovecookies 0]

Ives, is it already the time you can file for citizenship?

yup....the time has come. i'll be eligible january 28th. still getting stuff together, not in a particular rush....

hope things are well with you guys!!!

thanks for the many replies....sorry i'm still confused as to what exactly i need to write.

for the how many days did you spend outside the u.s. the last 5 years, should i put......none??? then write under the question...since becoming a PR i haven't left the u.s.??? or should i sit and count the number of days i spent before coming here????

with regards to question 2, should i just put the travels to china and hong kong even though i lived in the philippines at the time???

please help! i'm so lost!!!

In your case, you do not count any time out of the US before you became a PR...

thanks zyggy!!!