Apply for US Citizenship???

[aquraishi 0]

Hello All,

My father in-law has green card but spent most of his time outside of USA in the past 5 years. Can he apply for citizenship? Can you please guide me what are the guidelines and rules for the process?

Thank you,

[Okalian 41]

Hello All,

My father in-law has green card but spent most of his time outside of USA in the past 5 years. Can he apply for citizenship? Can you please guide me what are the guidelines and rules for the process?

Thank you,

Rules of thumb:

1. Should wait 5 years since becoming a permanent resident while maintaining continuous residency (3-years if married to a US citizen)
2. Shouldn't have spend more than a year in a row, otherwise the clock will reset back to zero
3. Should've spent atleast 30 months inside the US over the last 5 years (18 months if married to a US citizen)

If the above conditions are met, i believe he's eligible. Assuming ofcourse his criminal record is clean of certain "blemishes" that may hinder his eligibility,

Edited June 27, 2011 by Okalian

[v333k 59]

Okalian is absolutely correct. The rules of thumb are the ones to check your eligibility with.

There is also a document that guides you through eligibility, the M477. Here is the link and it starts at page 4 http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/attachments.pdf

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

If what you are stating is correct, then he would lose his Green Card as soon as his excessive absence from the US would be detected.

[aquraishi 0]

Hello Everybody,

Thanks for your quick responses. However, I am looking for more clarification on this even after reading the document to avoid any confusion.

My father in-law got the perm status back in 2005 and since then he has visited states every year for 1 month or so (let say 10 months all together) but he has not stayed there for consecutive months. I believe he is not eligible to apply for citizenship please correct me if I am wrong here. Now please tell me for how many consecutive months does he have to stay in states before he can apply? also does the consecutive months matter?

Thanks,

[Jojo92122 1,924]

Hello Everybody,

Thanks for your quick responses. However, I am looking for more clarification on this even after reading the document to avoid any confusion.

My father in-law got the perm status back in 2005 and since then he has visited states every year for 1 month or so (let say 10 months all together) but he has not stayed there for consecutive months. I believe he is not eligible to apply for citizenship please correct me if I am wrong here. Now please tell me for how many consecutive months does he have to stay in states before he can apply? also does the consecutive months matter?

Thanks,

Your father has not spent enough time in the US to apply for US citizenship. In fact, spending most of his time outside the US could cause him to lose his legal permanent residency status (green card). Your father is suppose to "permanently resided" in the US and visit outside the US. He is not suppose to live outside the US with occasional visits to the US.

If you want to figure out when your father can apply to be a US citizen, you should go through the link that v333k posted earlier in this thread and do the "Naturalization Eligibility Worksheet." We can't figure it out for you because we have no idea when your dad has living in the US.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Again, assuming what you initially stated and what you stated in response, your dad not only does NOT meet the residency requirements, he's also abandoned his US residency already and abused his Green Card as a tourist visa for vacations in the US. I repeat: if this will be detected he will lose his Green Card and it's only a matter of time until this happens.