filing for citizenship question

[waldron1983 0]

okay...im us citizen overseas working, wife is a perm 10 yr card holder. last address we both hold is with my mother in her house, right now im overseas working and my wife was here for a while (5 mos)...now back in usa. when i get home to usa in october, after out for 1 year, we will file for her citienship based on marriage. instead of getting an apartment/house, we have a small piece of land my father will sign over to us and we will buy a small camper...trying to save money, not in great shape financially. (i had to take teaching job english overseas). will us living in a camper on our land cause any issues when filing or anything else??? we filed our taxes etc so thats fine. i called uscis...they said having a house/apt no way made any issue in getting citizenship...any thoughts guys??? thx a lot

[NickD 203]

okay...im us citizen overseas working, wife is a perm 10 yr card holder. last address we both hold is with my mother in her house, right now im overseas working and my wife was here for a while (5 mos)...now back in usa. when i get home to usa in october, after out for 1 year, we will file for her citienship based on marriage. instead of getting an apartment/house, we have a small piece of land my father will sign over to us and we will buy a small camper...trying to save money, not in great shape financially. (i had to take teaching job english overseas). will us living in a camper on our land cause any issues when filing or anything else??? we filed our taxes etc so thats fine. i called uscis...they said having a house/apt no way made any issue in getting citizenship...any thoughts guys??? thx a lot

Feel a joint lease on the smallest one room apartment is all you need. Even renting a room from you in-laws for a buck a month.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

All your wife has to do (you, my friend, don't matter no more) is list her address. That's a street name, a number, a city, and a ZIP code. She won't state if it's owned or rented, a mansion or a trailer, and also does not have to state how much she pays per month, if any.

Do you think the I.O. will use Google Earth or Zillow.com to zoom in on her residence in order to check out what it's like?

I don't think so either.

[Dakine 26]

okay...im us citizen overseas working, wife is a perm 10 yr card holder. last address we both hold is with my mother in her house, right now im overseas working and my wife was here for a while (5 mos)...now back in usa. when i get home to usa in october, after out for 1 year, we will file for her citienship based on marriage. instead of getting an apartment/house, we have a small piece of land my father will sign over to us and we will buy a small camper...trying to save money, not in great shape financially. (i had to take teaching job english overseas). will us living in a camper on our land cause any issues when filing or anything else??? we filed our taxes etc so thats fine. i called uscis...they said having a house/apt no way made any issue in getting citizenship...any thoughts guys??? thx a lot

Most everything showing joint occupancy/ownership helps in showing you guys have a valid marriage.

[waldron1983 0]

All your wife has to do (you, my friend, don't matter no more) is list her address. That's a street name, a number, a city, and a ZIP code. She won't state if it's owned or rented, a mansion or a trailer, and also does not have to state how much she pays per month, if any.

Do you think the I.O. will use Google Earth or Zillow.com to zoom in on her residence in order to check out what it's like?

I don't think so either.

Google earth??? thanks, made me smile for a minute there

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Most everything showing joint occupancy/ownership helps in showing you guys have a valid marriage.

They don't have to show anything that they have a valid marriage . . . unless something's really fishy.

[NickD 203]

They don't have to show anything that they have a valid marriage . . . unless something's really fishy.

Sounds like you never applied for that three year marriage thing. Almost worth waiting for those extra two years. You are very guilty of committing fraud until you prove yourself innocent.

[warlord 73]

Sounds like you never applied for that three year marriage thing. Almost worth waiting for those extra two years. You are very guilty of committing fraud until you prove yourself innocent.

Yes if this is a marriage based petition which Waldron stated, then there must be valid proof the the marriage and residency ties etc.

Being out of the US for even 5 months can be an issue depending on the IO and evidence that you provide or don't provide proving a) you are still maintaining the marriage, b) she is still maintaining US residency during the entire time.

So it'll just be based on how much evidence you have to show that your wife can meet the two stipulations above. And remember, people are under false pretenses that 6 months out and you're fine. This is not true and USCIS has been known to deny the application to those they feel weren't maintaining US residency even if they were only out a few months. So just be sure to have as much evidence as possible, the more prepared, the better off you are...

[waldron1983 0]

yeah we married in 2007. less than a yr later i lost my job, we were forced to move with my family to my home state. i worked doing some side teaching and she waitressed. we barely made anything and we scraping by, on top of family problems. so we moved from out little apartment. we stayed for a few days with my mother, and changed our address to her house. i left to korea where im at now working. wife departed to her home country to see her family...5 months. she just got back to usa, went to see my mother, and now shes visiting with her family in colorado until i get back home. this is not out of convenience i assure u, its just finding a decent job was not working out. when i get back home, my father is signing over a small piece of property to us and we are getting a camper to live in, temporarily i hope. once thats done we will file her citizenship. i will have our land title and camper title, that will be our residence, unless we get an apartment. honestly, we are a valid married couple, thats not an issue. she was eligible now to file for citizen, but we will do later this year once i get back. she is in the usa right now, just staying with her family, as opposed to my mother.

whats the difference filing now based on marriage v 5 year? i just dont want to put her in the chance of losing that ability to get her citizenship now. very very tired and very very confused. but yeah i can say we are a real married couple, not a fake couple at all. any further advice welcome

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

There is no difference. The 3-year rule applies to applicants who got their Green Card based on marriage to a US citizen spouse and are still married to them and live together in a happy union. Although you guys were apart for some time based on what you stated, I -- personally -- can't conclude from it that she needs to wait until she hits the 5-year mark.

Yes, the I.O. may have questions, doubts even, if you guys are still a happily married couple especially since you were living apart from each other for quite some time, but if what you are outlining is true, you were only apart due to economic hardship. Should the issue come up during the interview, it should not be a deal breaker. I definitely suggest that you go with your wife to the interview though. Even if you won't be allowed in with her at the actual interview, you being there with her sends an important message.

[warlord 73]

yeah we married in 2007. less than a yr later i lost my job, we were forced to move with my family to my home state. i worked doing some side teaching and she waitressed. we barely made anything and we scraping by, on top of family problems. so we moved from out little apartment. we stayed for a few days with my mother, and changed our address to her house. i left to korea where im at now working. wife departed to her home country to see her family...5 months. she just got back to usa, went to see my mother, and now shes visiting with her family in colorado until i get back home. this is not out of convenience i assure u, its just finding a decent job was not working out. when i get back home, my father is signing over a small piece of property to us and we are getting a camper to live in, temporarily i hope. once thats done we will file her citizenship. i will have our land title and camper title, that will be our residence, unless we get an apartment. honestly, we are a valid married couple, thats not an issue. she was eligible now to file for citizen, but we will do later this year once i get back. she is in the usa right now, just staying with her family, as opposed to my mother.

whats the difference filing now based on marriage v 5 year? i just dont want to put her in the chance of losing that ability to get her citizenship now. very very tired and very very confused. but yeah i can say we are a real married couple, not a fake couple at all. any further advice welcome

Well it seems there shouldn't be any issues, but IO's can be IO's. So the more you give them the better off you will be. They will want proof that you are still maintaining your marriage in good faith etc and probably will question why she didn't go to Korea with you rather then stay in the Phillipeans and then back to the US while you were still in Korea. That might be looked into further.

Basically with a marriage based petition you have two things that you need to uphold and demonstrate. a) the marriage is still intacted and b) the non-US did not break any residency ties (which comes in two parts, one is breaking continuous residency, and the second is abandoning the Green Card which is fairly uncommon).

So with your description, it's best you just get everything you can to show the IO and USCIS that you are still in a valid stable relationship and be prepared to answer why she didn't go right to Korea with you...

[waldron1983 0]

thanks for the replies. well, i talked to my wife and we decided that once i return to the US with some savings were just going to head to FL where we have some friends, get an apartment and try to make that work. just dont want to be in the same place we were previously. after a few months we will file her papers.

at that time i will have a rental contract, utility bills, etc. as far as her maintaining ties while outside the US, I can show that we had and still have an active joint US account, she came back and filed our joint US taxes, and she can even show her credit card statement way paid monthly during her absence. as far as her "residence" during that period, her last address as well as mine was and is listed with my mother right now. obviously she will not have any utility bills, however. as far as why she did not come to korea...well, she did visit me briefly, however the main reason was that she would be stuck in the apt all day with nowhere to go or anyone around while I work. I work in a very rural area, no car, subway etc. however, again like I said we have an active joint savings, which i periodically add some money to, and when she has returned to the US she has made withdraws from as well. She has her cell phone, under our joing plan, reactivated now in the US...so I can show that if needed. we were apart for financial reasons, thats all. and she would have stayed in korea longer, but USCIS has their little rules. so when we do file, once we get moved in and settles in our new apartment in FL I will have:

1. a joint residential lease

2. utility bills

3. cell bill

4. joint car registration

5. jointly owned piece of land

6. joint bank acct

7. 3 years taxes filed joint

and since she was not out of US more than 6 mos (out for 5) i wont have to note on her n400 application. so if they dont ask, she wont volunteer, basically.

i think we will be fine doing this, and I dont see any reason she would be denied. IF she were denied...she would have to wait to 5 year mark?

[warlord 73]

and since she was not out of US more than 6 mos (out for 5) i wont have to note on her n400 application. so if they dont ask, she wont volunteer, basically.

i think we will be fine doing this, and I dont see any reason she would be denied. IF she were denied...she would have to wait to 5 year mark?

You have some good evidence and yet getting an apartment first would help out. However, your part about the 5 months is not correct as you stated above. Any absence over 24 must be recorded on the N-400. She will have to document that 5 months and I'm sure they will ask her about that as well. So she will have to explain much of what you explained above to the IO.

Well if the IO denies it for whatever reason (everyone is different) then you can appeal it or wait till she has her continuous residency up to date (usually the 4 year plus a day if I'm not mistaken). Worst case scenerio which is rare, is that the IO deems her for having abandoned her Green Card for residing outside the US.

The last one isn't too common and usually it revolves around an individul who is living and working outside the US and maintaining a foreign residency without having gone through the proper paper work in the US (re-entry permit etc). Generally this is for people who are out more then a year, but can happen for anyone out any amount of time. It has happened to those who have been out under 6 months too. The 6 month thing only means who is accountable for proving residency and that is it. Under 6 months the IO would have to prove you broke your residency, after 6 months of being out, you would instead have to prove to the IO you didn't break your residency. But that still doesn't mean under 6 months anyone is safe. You could be denied for only being 1 month out if the IO can prove you were residing and working abroad.

So it doesn't look like this is your situation and the IO would have to have enough evidence to bring forth about denying her on just that 5 months out. However, they take everything in consideration, including all previous trips as well etc. Failure to mention that 5 months out will mean big problems, so make sure you have that well documented on her N-400 and the IO knows about it...

[waldron1983 0]

what did you mean about the 4 years? you said if they deny her this time based on everything, she would be eligible to file when she hits the 5 year greencard right? wasnt sure if i understood that clearly. by the way thanks for the tip about the 5 months out. and im sure its not an issue but my address is still listed the same as my wife, as I am only overseas working temporarily for a year. thx

You have some good evidence and yet getting an apartment first would help out. However, your part about the 5 months is not correct as you stated above. Any absence over 24 must be recorded on the N-400. She will have to document that 5 months and I'm sure they will ask her about that as well. So she will have to explain much of what you explained above to the IO.

Well if the IO denies it for whatever reason (everyone is different) then you can appeal it or wait till she has her continuous residency up to date (usually the 4 year plus a day if I'm not mistaken). Worst case scenerio which is rare, is that the IO deems her for having abandoned her Green Card for residing outside the US.

The last one isn't too common and usually it revolves around an individul who is living and working outside the US and maintaining a foreign residency without having gone through the proper paper work in the US (re-entry permit etc). Generally this is for people who are out more then a year, but can happen for anyone out any amount of time. It has happened to those who have been out under 6 months too. The 6 month thing only means who is accountable for proving residency and that is it. Under 6 months the IO would have to prove you broke your residency, after 6 months of being out, you would instead have to prove to the IO you didn't break your residency. But that still doesn't mean under 6 months anyone is safe. You could be denied for only being 1 month out if the IO can prove you were residing and working abroad.

So it doesn't look like this is your situation and the IO would have to have enough evidence to bring forth about denying her on just that 5 months out. However, they take everything in consideration, including all previous trips as well etc. Failure to mention that 5 months out will mean big problems, so make sure you have that well documented on her N-400 and the IO knows about it...