Time outside USA N-400 question 7 a,

[rizthomson 3]

Hello VJ friends........ i know this may be asked a lot of times before..but i am trying to fill my N-400....i am filing after marriage to us citizen and 3 yrs being LPR On question 7 a , How many days you spend outside the USA in last 5 years ?. { i came to usa 3 and 1/2 years ago....) it says last five years...and not after becoming LPR like in question 7c i searched the net and ....some are saying scratch 5 in the form and write 3 yrs.......and answer Q for the 3 yrs..... Can you all help me please Kindly reply only if you already became a citizen or passed the interview...what have you done on your application.

[NickD 202]

Hello VJ friends........ i know this may be asked a lot of times before..but i am trying to fill my N-400....i am filing after marriage to us citizen and 3 yrs being LPR On question 7 a , How many days you spend outside the USA in last 5 years ?. { i came to usa 3 and 1/2 years ago....) it says last five years...and not after becoming LPR like in question 7c i searched the net and ....some are saying scratch 5 in the form and write 3 yrs.......and answer Q for the 3 yrs..... Can you all help me please Kindly reply only if you already became a citizen or passed the interview...what have you done on your application.

Yes, hundreds of times, some say to change that five to a three, my attorneys opinion on this was not ethical to change the form, so we answered the question the way it was asked, the number of days my wife was out of the country the last five years.

Her IO didn't like that, but was not a problem, her IO wanted the days she was out of the country after she became a LPR. But the question doesn't ask that, my wife replied. Besides that, following that ambiguous question, you have to list all of your trips outside of the USA lasting over 24 hours. What that table lacks is a total number of days you were out that may exceed the residency requirements. So my wifes' IO added up the number of days she was out of the country, scratched out our 410+ days and wrote that in. But she changed the form, not us. And was not a problem for us.

If we had to do it again, would still answer that question like it is written. Its up to the USCIS to correct it, not us. Many here have stated they crossed out that five and made it a three without any problems. Questioned my attorney on this, respect him, wrote many books on immigration and highly respected in his field with lectures and all that. He said they risk getting their application rejected by changing the form.

And its not five or three years, it is since the time you became a LPR that for most of us that applied as the earliest possible date, is 90 days less than three years!

Yet another question is do you count that day you became a LPR as day one? Technically, should be the day before, but we counted my wife's anniversary date as day one. Again this is officer dependent, if you send your application in one day early can be rejected as well. Depends how they read day. Better to be a day late than months late. Then we had a further complication, wife's date fell on a Sunday, so if I sent it off on the Saturday when you can, could be construed as a day early, so waited until Monday to send it off.

Its hope to you how you want to answer this 5 year question, wifes' IO was a b!tch, could have rejected her application because she crossed out that five, but had no alternative as we answered the question the way it was asked. But their are also nice IO's from what I read, then it won't be a problem.

[rizthomson 3]

thank you soo much NickD for your reply....i really appreciate you for taking your time and writing the reply....

i will also go with the same rule as you followed......just answer the Q literally as its being asked.......i am also not in favor of crossing out the Official form.....i mean we are not doing anything wrong if we count the days of last 5 yrs and answer like you did...but i agree with your attorney that we will be doing some thing wrong if we cross out 5 and write 3yrs.....

thanks a lot once again.

Yes, hundreds of times, some say to change that five to a three, my attorneys opinion on this was not ethical to change the form, so we answered the question the way it was asked, the number of days my wife was out of the country the last five years.

Her IO didn't like that, but was not a problem, her IO wanted the days she was out of the country after she became a LPR. But the question doesn't ask that, my wife replied. Besides that, following that ambiguous question, you have to list all of your trips outside of the USA lasting over 24 hours. What that table lacks is a total number of days you were out that may exceed the residency requirements. So my wifes' IO added up the number of days she was out of the country, scratched out our 410+ days and wrote that in. But she changed the form, not us. And was not a problem for us.

If we had to do it again, would still answer that question like it is written. Its up to the USCIS to correct it, not us. Many here have stated they crossed out that five and made it a three without any problems. Questioned my attorney on this, respect him, wrote many books on immigration and highly respected in his field with lectures and all that. He said they risk getting their application rejected by changing the form.

And its not five or three years, it is since the time you became a LPR that for most of us that applied as the earliest possible date, is 90 days less than three years!

Yet another question is do you count that day you became a LPR as day one? Technically, should be the day before, but we counted my wife's anniversary date as day one. Again this is officer dependent, if you send your application in one day early can be rejected as well. Depends how they read day. Better to be a day late than months late. Then we had a further complication, wife's date fell on a Sunday, so if I sent it off on the Saturday when you can, could be construed as a day early, so waited until Monday to send it off.

Its hope to you how you want to answer this 5 year question, wifes' IO was a b!tch, could have rejected her application because she crossed out that five, but had no alternative as we answered the question the way it was asked. But their are also nice IO's from what I read, then it won't be a problem.

[NickD 202]

thank you soo much NickD for your reply....i really appreciate you for taking your time and writing the reply....

i will also go with the same rule as you followed......just answer the Q literally as its being asked.......i am also not in favor of crossing out the Official form.....i mean we are not doing anything wrong if we count the days of last 5 yrs and answer like you did...but i agree with your attorney that we will be doing some thing wrong if we cross out 5 and write 3yrs.....

thanks a lot once again.

Its endless, will be asked again how many days you were out of the country during your interview and the day you sent in your application and again between the time of your interview and oath ceremony. Another extreme advantage of having a same day oath, with all those armed guards running around, really can't be naughty for all those other questions they ask.

[Lansbury 19]

Hello VJ friends........ i know this may be asked a lot of times before..but i am trying to fill my N-400....i am filing after marriage to us citizen and 3 yrs being LPR On question 7 a , How many days you spend outside the USA in last 5 years ?. { i came to usa 3 and 1/2 years ago....) it says last five years...and not after becoming LPR like in question 7c i searched the net and ....some are saying scratch 5 in the form and write 3 yrs.......and answer Q for the 3 yrs..... Can you all help me please Kindly reply only if you already became a citizen or passed the interview...what have you done on your application.

I changed all questions with the 5 years to 3 as I was applying on a 3 year basis and answered that way. Had no problems at all not even mentioned in the interview.