N400 without tax return

[MESBAHI 0]

hello, my mother is 61 years old she has her green card because she came to the us as parent of us citizen .She is permanent resident since March 8th 2005 ,she has never worked ,doen't have any tax return ( I'm claiming her as dependent ) ,doen't have any utility bills on her name and from March 2005 to december 2005 she stayed 2 months overseas , in 2006 she stayed 5 months overseas ,in 2007 she stayed 10 months over seas ,in 2008 she stayed outside the USA 12 months minus 1 days and the immigration officer at the port of entry was about not to stamp her passport ,she told the officer talked a long time with another one and finally stamps her passport but he wrote this mention " 1 year" next to the stamp and now she is oversea from february till now and I don't know when she is planning to come back here. Does she have the right to apply for citizenship next year without tax return, no utility bills and with all this time outside the us. Think you.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

The lack of tax returns may be the least of your worries. Your mother does not appear to meet the residency requirements for US citizenship:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00048f3d6a1RCRD

"has been physically present in the United States for at least 30 months out of the previous five years (absences of more than six months but less than one year shall disrupt the applicant's continuity of residence unless the applicant can establish that he or she did not abandon his or her residence during such period)."

By a quick reckoning of the figures you've given, your mother has only been present in the US 17 months of the last 5 years and outside of the US 33 months of the last 5 years.

As well, she was outside of the US in both 2007 and 2008 for more than 6 months at a time which interrupted her continued residency in the US. She has already been out of the US for 4 months this year and you don't know when she will return which probably means she will interrupt her 'residency' again for this year.

I am pretty sure that any application she submits for citizenship would be denied . Quite seriously, I think you really need to look carefully at whether she is putting her permanent resident status at risk as well for spending so much of the time out of the US.

Edited July 5, 2009 by Kathryn41

[MESBAHI 0]

My mother is taking care of my brothers ( more than 20 year old each) but only my sister is minor ,do you think if we provide them with the proof that she is the only one who takes care of my minor sister they would accept her application for citizenship .If yes does she need to take the test at the time of the interview, she is 61 and when I went for my citizenship interview I saw a lot of people who are more than 60 with somebody from their family as translator and having their interview for citizenship, is their case different from my mother'one because my mother has her green card only from 2004 . Think you.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I'm sorry but they are not going to make exceptions to the requirements for citizenship. Your mother needs to meet all of the requirements including the ones for residency in the US.

The citizenship exam is given at the time of the interview. The person applying for citizenship will be required to read a sentence in English and write a sentence in English as well as get 60% on 10 questions about US history, geography and government. Here is what the link I gave you above says about language requirements:

Language

Applicants for naturalization must be able to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language. Applicants exempt from this requirement are those who on the date of filing:

* have been residing in the United States subsequent to a lawful admission for permanent residence for periods totaling 15 years or more and are over 55 years of age;

* have been residing in the United States subsequent to a lawful admission for permanent residence for periods totaling 20 years or more and are over 50 years of age; or

*have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, where the impairment affects the applicant’s ability to learn English.

From what you have posted, your mother is not yet eligible to file for US citizenship. She needs to spend more time in the US.

Edited July 5, 2009 by Kathryn41