US Citizenship Eligibility

[sunshine_84 11]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum and this is my first post. So pls be gentle if I'm asking something against the rule of this forum.

(1) I am a USA Permanent resident since June, 2001. Stayed in USA for 2 months and then I went back to home country to finish my studies and lived there for two years with re-entry permit.

(2) I came back to USA in 2003 to renew my residency before my re-entry permit expired and stayed in USA for 1 month.

(3) Again I went back to home country to finish my last two years of study and got re-entry permit for second time.

(4) I finished my studies in 2005 and came to USA in August, 2005. Since then I am in USA permanently. I just went out of USA since 2005 for approx. 30 days only.

In August, 2009 I will complete my four years of continuous stay in USA. But I am not sure when can I apply for my citizenship. Can you experts please answer me that when (month/year) will I be eligible to apply?

Anybody having an answer to my question will be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[lucyrich 20]

The general requirement is five years of continuous permanent residence for citizenship. It's three years if married to and living with a US Citizen spouse, as many on this board are, but you don't mention a US citizen spouse, so I'll assume you aren't married to a US Citizen.

You'll have five years of continuous residence in August of 2010.

You're allowed to send the paperwork up to 90 days before meeting the continuous residence requirement, as long as you meet all the other requirements at the time you send it in. So you could probably send your N-400 in May of 2010.

See the M-476 for details. There are a number of other requirements besides the continuous residence one.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

[sunshine_84 11]

The general requirement is five years of continuous permanent residence for citizenship. It's three years if married to and living with a US Citizen spouse, as many on this board are, but you don't mention a US citizen spouse, so I'll assume you aren't married to a US Citizen.

You'll have five years of continuous residence in August of 2010.

You're allowed to send the paperwork up to 90 days before meeting the continuous residence requirement, as long as you meet all the other requirements at the time you send it in. So you could probably send your N-400 in May of 2010.

See the M-476 for details. There are a number of other requirements besides the continuous residence one.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

Thanks a lot for your prompt response. Yes, you are right I'm single rightnow.

You mentioned that I will be eligible to apply after 5 years of continuous stay. But I thought I will be eligible to apply after 4.75 years of continuous stay if I have a green card for more than 5years. That's why I calculated that I should be eligible on November, 2009. Here's what I calculated:

1. My continuous stay started from August, 2005. So I am going to add previous 5 months and 29 days on my continuous stay. That means I will start my continuous stay from February, 2005.

2. From February,2005 I need to have a continuous stay for 4 years and 9 months and can apply anytime after that, which completes on November, 2009.

Do you think my calculation is wrong?

I don't fall into any special category. I got green card from my mother's file.

Thanks a ton again for sharing your precious time to help me.

Edited February 2, 2009 by smart84

[lucyrich 20]

You mentioned that I will be eligible to apply after 5 years of continuous stay. But I thought I will be eligible to apply after 4.75 years

You misquote me. I said you would be eligible for citizenship after five years of continuous permanent residence. I further said you could apply 90 days before you would be eligible for citizenship, provided you meet all the other requirements on the date you apply.

But there are some interesting subtleties on what time you can count toward continuous residence.

Where do you get that five months and 29 days figure?

How long were you outside the US before you returned in August 2005? You said you had two years of study, but if it was slightly less than two years, that becomes significant.

Note from the M-476:

What if I was outside the United States for 1 year or longer? In almost all cases, if you leave the United States for 1 year or more, you have disrupted your continuous residence. This is true even if you have a Re-entry Permit.

If you leave the country for 1 year or longer, you may be eligible to re-enter as a Permanent Resident if you have a Re-entry Permit. But none of the time you were in the United States before you left the country counts toward your time in continuous residence.

If you return within 2 years, some of your time out of the country does count. In fact, the last 364 days of your time out of the country (1 year minus 1 day) counts toward meeting your continuous residence requirement.

So if you were out of the country less than 2 years, you might be eligible to send in your application in May of 2009, and eligible for citizenship in August of 2009, almost a year earlier than I had first stated. This is because the last 364 days which you had spent outside the US would count toward your permanent residence time.

[sunshine_84 11]

You mentioned that I will be eligible to apply after 5 years of continuous stay. But I thought I will be eligible to apply after 4.75 years

You misquote me. I said you would be eligible for citizenship after five years of continuous permanent residence. I further said you could apply 90 days before you would be eligible for citizenship, provided you meet all the other requirements on the date you apply.

But there are some interesting subtleties on what time you can count toward continuous residence.

Where do you get that five months and 29 days figure?

How long were you outside the US before you returned in August 2005? You said you had two years of study, but if it was slightly less than two years, that becomes significant.

Note from the M-476:

What if I was outside the United States for 1 year or longer? In almost all cases, if you leave the United States for 1 year or more, you have disrupted your continuous residence. This is true even if you have a Re-entry Permit.

If you leave the country for 1 year or longer, you may be eligible to re-enter as a Permanent Resident if you have a Re-entry Permit. But none of the time you were in the United States before you left the country counts toward your time in continuous residence.

If you return within 2 years, some of your time out of the country does count. In fact, the last 364 days of your time out of the country (1 year minus 1 day) counts toward meeting your continuous residence requirement.

So if you were out of the country less than 2 years, you might be eligible to send in your application in May of 2009, and eligible for citizenship in August of 2009, almost a year earlier than I had first stated. This is because the last 364 days which you had spent outside the US would count toward your permanent residence time.

I see what you mean now. I just checked my stay in USA since I received the Permanent Resident Card. Here's the info on that, which may give you an exact idea about when I will be eligible to apply for the citizenship.

[1] Arrival Date to USA: 6/26/01 Departure Date from USA: 8/14/01 (Received re-entry permit for 2 years)

[2] Arrival Date to USA: 6/17/03 Departure Date from USA: 7/29/03 (Received re-entry permit for 2 years)

[3] Arrival Date to USA: 7/31/05 Departure Date from USA: Continuous stay till today

If you have noticed, I stayed slightly above 2 years between my 2nd trip and 3rd trip. So I am confused that how much of time period I should consider before 7/05 towards my eligibility for naturalization.

If you can suggest me the exact time from this info that will be really great! Thanks again for your time for helping me on this.

[sunshine_84 11]

I see what you mean now. I just checked my stay in USA since I received the Permanent Resident Card. Here's the info on that, which may give you an exact idea about when I will be eligible to apply for the citizenship.

[1] Arrival Date to USA: 6/26/01 Departure Date from USA: 8/14/01 (Received re-entry permit for 2 years)

[2] Arrival Date to USA: 6/17/03 Departure Date from USA: 7/29/03 (Received re-entry permit for 2 years)

[3] Arrival Date to USA: 7/31/05 Departure Date from USA: Continuous stay till today

If you have noticed, I stayed slightly above 2 years between my 2nd trip and 3rd trip. So I am confused that how much of time period I should consider before 7/05 towards my eligibility for naturalization.

If you can suggest me the exact time from this info that will be really great! Thanks again for your time for helping me on this.

Can someone help me out on my this question? Thanks in advance for your help.

[queendlee 1]

I see what you mean now. I just checked my stay in USA since I received the Permanent Resident Card. Here's the info on that, which may give you an exact idea about when I will be eligible to apply for the citizenship.

[1] Arrival Date to USA: 6/26/01 Departure Date from USA: 8/14/01 (Received re-entry permit for 2 years)

[2] Arrival Date to USA: 6/17/03 Departure Date from USA: 7/29/03 (Received re-entry permit for 2 years)

[3] Arrival Date to USA: 7/31/05 Departure Date from USA: Continuous stay till today

If you have noticed, I stayed slightly above 2 years between my 2nd trip and 3rd trip. So I am confused that how much of time period I should consider before 7/05 towards my eligibility for naturalization.

If you can suggest me the exact time from this info that will be really great! Thanks again for your time for helping me on this.

Can someone help me out on my this question? Thanks in advance for your help.

from what i understand since 7/29/2003 to 7/31/2005 you were outside the country, therefore you disrupted the continuous stay requirement, the 364 does not apply to you (as you were way more than 2 yrs) and anytime before 7/31/2005 does not could, so add 4 years and 9 months to this date.