Exact Dates for Trips out of Country?

[krelkor 0]

Hi everyone!

Quick question.

Canadian citizen, and have lived in the US for 11 years, though for 5 I was back and forth to Canada for school. I just hit my 30 month mark, and am about to send in my application(very excited).

My question is about how picky USCIS will be about my travel dates, and if they will compare to computer records.

I go back and forth quite a bit, very much actually. Going back for the required 5 years, From what I have managed to piece together, I have left the USA 54 times. For the majority I have been able to correlate the exact travel dates based on passport stamps, creditcard transactions, or picture timestamps. But for a few I have no idea other than sometime within the first two weeks of X month.

How much of a problem is this going to represent?

Thanks

[antda 13]

Hi Krelkor,

Lol..I totally understand your dilemma here, as I'm a Canadian too, and travel a lot back and forth between the USA and Canada, especially since I live so close to the border too..lol...

However, (as I mentioned in another message thread post on the Canada boards):

I haven't had any of my Canadian passports stamped...(I travel by land by car to Canada, frequently, since I live so close to the border...)

Regardless, whenever I travel, I still show the border officials (on both sides of the border) my valid Canadian Passport and Green Card, and they do scan such in their computer system. So yes, they may have "official records" of such trips, even though we don't have records of such in our passports.

It shouldn't be a problem there that we as Canadians have no passport stamps in our passports for trips back to Canada.

According to the N-400 citizenship application form, they specifically ask the applicant to list "trips more than 24 hours" outside of the USA, which includes the following information: date you left the USA, date you returned to the USA, did your trip last more than 6 months, countries you traveled to, total days outside of the USA. The reason they ask this is to see if you have met the 'continuous residency' requirement in your eligibility for citizenship at the time and to see if you still have premanent residency status in the USA (you can't be more than 6 months outside of the country at one time or risk losing your permanent residency status, and not be eligible for citizenship). Try to remember as many trips as you can, to tbe best of your ability, and have as much evidence as you can about these trips to help jog your memory, as yes, they will ask for such specific dates when you apply for citizenship.

Anything that you remember about these trips will certainly help. For example, did you travel back during a special occasion/event, season, etc., which hence will help you remember which exact dates you travelled on? Did you have any photos, ticket stubs, trip itineries, etc. when you went on these trips? Is there anyone you can ask that can help you remember such trips too (for example, did you visit anyone there?). Lol..I don't have any official records of my many trips driving over either..so I just have to rely on memory (and a little bit of help from others in remembering) there...So, start making a list and keeping a record now, if you haven't done such already, so that you will be ready when the time comes for citizenship

Hope this helps. Good luck with the rest of your immigration journey too.

Ant

Hi everyone!

Quick question.

Canadian citizen, and have lived in the US for 11 years, though for 5 I was back and forth to Canada for school. I just hit my 30 month mark, and am about to send in my application(very excited).

My question is about how picky USCIS will be about my travel dates, and if they will compare to computer records.

I go back and forth quite a bit, very much actually. Going back for the required 5 years, From what I have managed to piece together, I have left the USA 54 times. For the majority I have been able to correlate the exact travel dates based on passport stamps, creditcard transactions, or picture timestamps. But for a few I have no idea other than sometime within the first two weeks of X month.

How much of a problem is this going to represent?

Thanks