Admitted without a re entry permit

[Ramsis 1]

Hello VJ peeps, 

 

My wife got her first green card 11/09/2012 (1 year after she entered the US on a K1 visa in 11/2011), we removed the conditions in 2014/15 and her new card has an expiration date of 11/2025

 

She only left the US a couple of times since then:

 

1st time - 2.5 months - from 05/2013 to 08/2013

2nd time - 18 months - from 05/2015 to 11/2016

 

Her continuous residency periods:

18 months - 11/2011 to 05/2013

21 months - 08/2013 to 05/2015

19 months - 11/2016 to Present (06/2018)

 

I want to help her apply for citizenship under 3 years requirement. According to my calculations the earliest she can apply is in 11/2019 and that is because she was out of the country for 18 months and reentered on 11/2016.

 

My questions are :

1- Are my calculations correct? the earliest she can apply for Naturalization is 11/2019? 

2- Can she apply earlier?

3- I am wondering why she was not asked for a reentry permit upon returning from her last trip? is it because she had our 2 kids with her and both have US passports? 

 

 

Thank you all in advance & god bless

[CTgal18 157]

I don’t mean to scare you, but I would honestly be very careful about when she applies for citizenship because even though CBP didn’t give her a hard time about the 18 month absence without a re-entry permit, they can look into it during the N-400 process and decide that she abandoned her LPR status then not only deny the N-400 but later issue a notice to appear in immigration court to try to revoke her green card. I have seen on here and another immigration forum a few times where they question the validity of the green card at the N-400 interview. Perhaps it would be worth it to consult with an immigration lawyer. 

Edited June 2, 2018 by CTgal18

[NikLR 13,227]

15 minutes ago, Ramsis said:

Hello VJ peeps, 

 

My wife got her first green card 11/09/2012 (1 year after she entered the US on a K1 visa in 11/2011), we removed the conditions in 2014/15 and her new card has an expiration date of 11/2025

 

She only left the US a couple of times since then:

 

1st time - 2.5 months - from 05/2013 to 08/2013

2nd time - 18 months - from 05/2015 to 11/2016

 

Her continuous residency periods:

18 months - 11/2011 to 05/2013

21 months - 08/2013 to 05/2015

19 months - 11/2016 to Present (06/2018)

 

I want to help her apply for citizenship under 3 years requirement. According to my calculations the earliest she can apply is in 11/2019 and that is because she was out of the country for 18 months and reentered on 11/2016.

 

My questions are :

1- Are my calculations correct? the earliest she can apply for Naturalization is 11/2019? 

2- Can she apply earlier?

3- I am wondering why she was not asked for a reentry permit upon returning from her last trip? is it because she had our 2 kids with her and both have US passports? 

 

 

Thank you all in advance & god bless

Before green card doesn't count so anything before 11/09/2012 won't matter as far as I understand it.  

[Teemo 252]

18 minutes ago, Ramsis said:

She only left the US a couple of times since then:

 

1st time - 2.5 months - from 05/2013 to 08/2013

2nd time - 18 months - from 05/2015 to 11/2016

This reminds me of an old joke: It only rained twice last week - once for 3 days and once for 4 days!

 

Leaving for over a year without a re-entry permit automatically abandons residency unless you have appealed and sufficiently convinced them it was beyond her control. You got lucky they didn't see it the first time when she re-entered, but you should be extremely worried about the consequences to come when USCIS realized that CBP erred, not focused on naturalization.

 

This is a serious issue to be addressed with a great lawyer, not posted on a forum for opinions. The fact that she left for 18 months and you just hoped she'd be let back in (she got lucky!) means you are taking this far too casually.  This is immigration law, take it seriously or suffer the consequences. 

[Alabamak1 688]

the biggest problem you are going to face....is the absence of 18 month while being an LPR. They will know that you where gone and you will have to declare that in the N-400 form. As suggested above, before you even apply for naturalization, consult an immigration attorney.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-naturalization/continuous-residence-and-physical-presence-requirements-naturalization

 

Read this carefully.  You might need to think about starting the calc over from the last time she entered the US and you've put her in a bad situation by exiting the country for 18 months without a travel document or a returning resident visa.  Rulings on that are retroactive.