Working abroad with Green card

[mdupreez 0]

Hi,

I have had my green card since Sept 2010. Since then I have spent 14 months in the US and the rest out of the country on various international contracts. these have brought me home every 4th month so I have not had any issues thus far. Since then I have had an offer to work abroad in Dubai on a more long term basis. The US will remain "home" though I will resettle in the Dubai for a while. I only have 4 more months to qualify for my 50% of time in the US before I apply for my citizenship Sept 2013. ( I qualify for the 3 year citizenship)

Is there anything else I need to be concerned about if I plan to be out of the US for longer periods. I am going to be trying to qualify for the Physical Presence test for tax purposes by spending more than 330 days abroad and the rest would be in the US on visits back home.

Will me applying the Physical Presence test to my tax return have any affect on my application for citizenship even though I have completed the 50% of time in the US?

Would appreciate input..

[jhm3 15]

Hi,

I have had my green card since Sept 2010. Since then I have spent 14 months in the US and the rest out of the country on various international contracts. these have brought me home every 4th month so I have not had any issues thus far. Since then I have had an offer to work abroad in Dubai on a more long term basis. The US will remain "home" though I will resettle in the Dubai for a while. I only have 4 more months to qualify for my 50% of time in the US before I apply for my citizenship Sept 2013. ( I qualify for the 3 year citizenship)

Is there anything else I need to be concerned about if I plan to be out of the US for longer periods. I am going to be trying to qualify for the Physical Presence test for tax purposes by spending more than 330 days abroad and the rest would be in the US on visits back home.

Will me applying the Physical Presence test to my tax return have any affect on my application for citizenship even though I have completed the 50% of time in the US?

Would appreciate input..

Briefly, there are two issues to keep in mind.

First, to keep your Green Card while working for an extended period abroad, you must be able to demonstrate that you have not abandoned your status as a permanent resident. While you are based overseas, returning to the US at least once a year (or, better yet, at least once every six months, as absences of more than six months are subjected to greater scrutiny) is necessary but not sufficient to preserve permanent residency (unless you have obtained a Reentry Permit from USCIS in advance of departure, in which case you can remain outside the country for up to two years). You must also be able to demonstrate that your absence is fundamentally temporary in nature. To determine whether or not your absence is "temporary," the relevant case law calls for an examination of (1) the “purpose for departing,” stipulating that the “traveller should normally have a definite reason for proceeding abroad temporarily”; (2) the expected “termination date” of the visit abroad, with such a date generally being “fixed by some early event”; and (3) the alien’s intention “to return to the United States … as an actual home,” with that intention established at the time of departure, maintained throughout all periods spent abroad, and documented through an examination of the alien’s family, property, and other ties to the United States. It's a good idea to carry documentation relating to those points when traveling back to the US after any absence of several months, just in case questions about possible abandonment of residency arise.

Secondly, the requirements for maintenance of "continuous residency" for naturalization purposes are more stringent that the requirements for preserving a permanent resident status. According to the regulations, an applicant for naturalization must show not just that he intends to return from a temporary absence abroad to make a permanent home in the United States but rather that his "domicile, or principal actual dwelling place" has been in the US continuously throughout the period of residency required for citizenship (and beyond, up to the date of his/her oath). At the very least, then, the requirements call for the continuous maintenance of a physical residence that is in some sense the applicant's primary home, and if the applicant spends more time away from that home than he/she spends there, he/she might face some pointed questions from the immigration officer at the naturalization interview. In cases that might be said to lie in a gray area (e.g., when an applicant is spending a "temporary" but extended period working abroad), it would depend on the IO's mood and temperament ...

Good luck!

[mdupreez 0]

Thanks for the info. Think I will be ok since I will be keeping my house and car in the US and all utilities running whilst I am away. I also intend on coming back here at least a couple times a year.

This might actually work.. Excited.

[jhm3 15]

Thanks for the info. Think I will be ok since I will be keeping my house and car in the US and all utilities running whilst I am away. I also intend on coming back here at least a couple times a year.

This might actually work.. Excited.

You're welcome. Here are just a couple of other points to keep in mind: coming back at least every six months, as you apparently plan to do, is important, not because doing so will by itself preserve permanent residency or residency for naturalization purposes (it won't) but because any absence of more than six months will be assumed to break the continuity of residency for naturalization purposes, unless the applicant can show that he or she did in fact maintain his/her "principal actual dwelling place" in the United States throughout the absence. That's something you might well be called upon to prove anyway (for instance, by showing that you maintained access to a US residence, that immediate family members remained in the US, and/or that you retained US-based employment, as applicable), even if your individual absences from the US are of less than six months each, but the regulations stipulate that the burden of proof of residency shifts towards the applicant when an absence exceeds six months. Any absence of more than a year will definitely break the continuity of residence for naturalization purposes (so while you can maintain permanent residency during an absence of more than a year if you have a re-entry permit, your continuity of residence for naturalization purposes will be broken in that situation).

The other thing to look into would be the possibility of applying to USCIS before your departure to preserve residency for naturalization purposes while you are abroad, which can be done (using Form N-470) if you will be working for the US government, a contractor to the US government, a US research institution, or an international organization. See the section on "Exceptions" at:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=399faf4c0adb4210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=399faf4c0adb4210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

Again, good luck!

[hmh33 117]

It can be a good idea to file for a re-entry permit even if it's not strictly necessary, because you can later use that application as a piece of evidence showing that you did not intend to abandon your status.

[Narad Muni 0]

FYI, I got my citizenship a week ago. I applied from abroad with an approved N-470. My interview and oath were on the same day at the San Francisco USCIS office. Mine was an administrative oath in front of a USCIS official in his office.

Bottom line:

1. If you have an approved N-470, and have accumulated the required physical residence, you CAN apply from abroad.

2. When applying, you can submit fingerprints on the FBI FD-258 cards and save a trip to the US for biometrics. I did not do this myself as I was not aware this was possible.

3. The 90-day residence requirement is NOT for the 90 days immediately preceding the filing of the N-400. Basically, you should have resided in that district for that period at SOME time in the past.

4. USCIS takes the view that an approved N-470 preserved BOTH continuous residence in general AND residence in the last district you lived in before leaving the US.