Continuous Residency for Naturalization

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

It's not about CMP officers being dumb. In case of green cards (don't know about naturalization), it's the law - 6 months per year is enough of residency in the US. if no other issues in your immigration file, they CANNOT take away your green card if you have been in the US for 6 months and 10 days, and in another country the other 5+ months. Of course, if that other country is on some sort of flagged list, etc., then it's a different story.

That's not true. More than just 6 months and 1 day in the year is required to show that you are actually resident. The most obvious example is filing your tax returns, but you also need to be able to show that the US is your main place of residence through exclusive use of an address, employment etc. In fact, if you read the USCIS guide, even less than 6 months absence can be deemed to have abandoned residence, depending on the reason for absence.

It's so bad that people spread this type of misinformation and potentially risk other people getting into trouble by following the bad advice.

And I notice you conveniently sidestepped the question of those myriad lottery winners you claim to know. Hope people treat your "advice" with the skepticism it deserves.

[lana2005 1]

That's not true. More than just 6 months and 1 day in the year is required to show that you are actually resident. The most obvious example is filing your tax returns, but you also need to be able to show that the US is your main place of residence through exclusive use of an address, employment etc. In fact, if you read the USCIS guide, even less than 6 months absence can be deemed to have abandoned residence, depending on the reason for absence.

It's so bad that people spread this type of misinformation and potentially risk other people getting into trouble by following the bad advice.

And I notice you conveniently sidestepped the question of those myriad lottery winners you claim to know. Hope people treat your "advice" with the skepticism it deserves.

The question of my acquaintances is irrelevant. I cannot prove to you that I know them, and you cannot prove that I don't. I didn't sidestep the issue - it's simply a pointless and circular argument.

Sure, filing you tax return is also required - if you have bothered reading my other post, you'll see this is mentioned. But OP's question wasn't about the other requirements, just about the residency/travel abroad issue. And on the travel issue by itself - 6 months/year in the US is enough. In fact, on the USCIS official website, you'll see even up to a full year of absence can be legitimate. Of course, you need a valid reason like professional travel, or caring for a family member, etc., but why in the world else would you live somewhere else? I don't know many people who can just take a full year travelling around the world and not having a permanent address. The ones who can afford, probably can afford to pay for citizenship too, so I doubt they're getting 'misinformed' on this forum. Aside from them, the rest of us don't need to be so paranoid and have our lives ruled by the fear that USCIS is out to get us. As long as you have no other immigration issues in your file, you will not be deported if you dare spend a couple of months abroad caring for a sick family member or getting some international work experience.

Edited May 5, 2016 by lana2005

[newacct 688]

Sure, filing you tax return is also required - if you have bothered reading my other post, you'll see this is mentioned. But OP's question wasn't about the other requirements, just about the residency/travel abroad issue. And on the travel issue by itself - 6 months/year in the US is enough. In fact, on the USCIS official website, you'll see even up to a full year of absence can be legitimate. Of course, you need a valid reason like professional travel, or caring for a family member, etc., but why in the world else would you live somewhere else? I don't know many people who can just take a full year travelling around the world and not having a permanent address. The ones who can afford, probably can afford to pay for citizenship too, so I doubt they're getting 'misinformed' on this forum. Aside from them, the rest of us don't need to be so paranoid and have our lives ruled by the fear that USCIS is out to get us. As long as you have no other immigration issues in your file, you will not be deported if you dare spend a couple of months abroad caring for a sick family member or getting some international work experience.

The OP's question was about naturalization. You made a claim about "In case of green cards (don't know about naturalization)", so it doesn't directly relate to the OP's question. You claim that somewhere in the law it says permanent residency cannot be lost as long as you have "6 months per year" in the US or something like that, but you have shown nowhere in the law that says that.

[aaron2020 11,651]

It's not about CMP officers being dumb. In case of green cards (don't know about naturalization), it's the law - 6 months per year is enough of residency in the US. if no other issues in your immigration file, they CANNOT take away your green card if you have been in the US for 6 months and 10 days, and in another country the other 5+ months. Of course, if that other country is on some sort of flagged list, etc., then it's a different story.

Bwaaa!!!!!!! You may want to read up on the law rather than make stuff up. ANY AMOUNT OF TIME OUTSIDE THE US can be considered in determining if a person has abandoned their LPR status. It's fact specific.

From USCIS; https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/maintaining-permanent-residence

Accept that you are wrong. But you will not because you're smarter than 3 long time members right?

Edited May 5, 2016 by aaron2020

[lana2005 1]

Bwaaa!!!!!!! You may want to read up on the law rather than make stuff up. ANY AMOUNT OF TIME OUTSIDE THE US can be considered in determining if a person has abandoned their LPR status. It's fact specific.

From USCIS; https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/maintaining-permanent-residence

Accept that you are wrong. But you will not because you're smarter than 3 long time members right?

It 'can' be but it's not going to be to unless you have other issues in your file such as not filing US taxes, not having a U.S. mailing address, etc. Trips of up to a year are fine actually for a legit reason.

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/international-travel-permanent-resident