Questions

[hr33 0]

My N-400 is under process. My green card is marriage based. I was interviewed (and passed the test) on August 10,2007. Since then I am waiting for the oath ceremony. I have contacted USCIS many times and even my congressman's office (on my request) contacted them, they told that the delay is not because of name check , but they are not telling how long it will take to call me for the oath ceremony.

Now I am planning to go out of USA with my wife and kids, may be for more than 1-2 year. I am thinking to get a re-entry permit. The problem is that I am renting the house and if I leave the country, I will have to vacate the house and find another one on coming back. Of course, it will change my address.

My questions are:

1. how long it will take to get the re-entry permit ?

2. can any one give me any suggestion, as to what should I do in this situation ?

3. Do I have to inform the USCIS that I am leaving the country for a long time?

4. Can I give them my address (that is outside USA) and request them to send me call letter for the oath ceremony at that address?

5. Would USCIS people do this?

6. Is it going to affect my naturalization process?

I want to know all these answers. I would highly appreciate if any one could answer all these questions. Thanks.

[so2008 0]

My N-400 is under process. My green card is marriage based. I was interviewed (and passed the test) on August 10,2007. Since then I am waiting for the oath ceremony. I have contacted USCIS many times and even my congressman's office (on my request) contacted them, they told that the delay is not because of name check , but they are not telling how long it will take to call me for the oath ceremony.

Now I am planning to go out of USA with my wife and kids, may be for more than 1-2 year. I am thinking to get a re-entry permit. The problem is that I am renting the house and if I leave the country, I will have to vacate the house and find another one on coming back. Of course, it will change my address.

My questions are:

1. how long it will take to get the re-entry permit ?

2. can any one give me any suggestion, as to what should I do in this situation ?

3. Do I have to inform the USCIS that I am leaving the country for a long time?

4. Can I give them my address (that is outside USA) and request them to send me call letter for the oath ceremony at that address?

5. Would USCIS people do this?

6. Is it going to affect my naturalization process?

I want to know all these answers. I would highly appreciate if any one could answer all these questions. Thanks.

I will advice against leaving the country for more than 6 months since you are not citizen yet. I know somebody who left the country before the oath for over 6 month. USCIS sent him the oath letter; he came back but was removed from the oath ceremony. He has been waiting for over a year now for a decision. You will lose all the time you spent so far in US since your clock will be rested if you spent more that a year outside the country.

[AusCal 3]

I would not leave the country for longer than a six month period until you have received your oath. Until you have done so, you are not a US citizen, and you still need to fulfill the requirements of the N-400 until that oath is done. This means you need to remain a resident of the US, and , amongst other requirements, not be out of the country for more than 6 months at a time. Moving with your family out of the US for 1-2 years is not maintaining residency, and would, very very likely cause your application for citizenship to be rejected.

I would be making an infopass appointment, and recontacting my congressman.

[warlord 73]

A re-entry permit may or may not preserve your Green Card, it would still be up to the IO upon returning that you still met the requirements (like not working for a foreign government etc and other criteria). It definatly does not preserve your continous residency at all. I think the form for that is the N-470 and that has another list of qualifications you need to have (like working for a US company over seas etc).

So if you do get the re-entry permit, leave for 1 or 2 years can get back in, then you would start your count down from the start so that would be 3 years from your return date before you could apply again for citizenship. 4-5 years from now if you think of it that way.

If immigration isn't important to you then by all means go and do the citizenship 5 or so years from now if you get allowed back into the US. If it is, then it should be your number 1 priority and you need to just wait for that oath.

If you are living outside the US and you come back and attend the Oath they will deny you. You still need to maintain all the rules as before your interview up until the Oath. They can deny you citizenship if you break these rules right at the Oath ceremony. It's not uncommon for people to be pulled out of it...