Reentry permit and continuous residence

[jimbrackets 2]

Hi all!

 

Quote

“Continuous Residence” Example

• An applicant became a Permanent Resident on January 1, 1994.
• She lived in the United States for 3 years, then returned to her native country for 1 year and 3 months.
• She got a Re-entry Permit before leaving the United States so that she could keep her Permanent Resident status.
• The applicant re-entered the United States with Permanent Resident status on April 1, 1998.
  
  Question: When is the applicant eligible for naturalization?
  
  Answer: On April 2, 2002, 4 years and 1 day after she returned to the United States. The last 364 days the applicant was out of the United States count toward her time as a Permanent Resident in “continuous residence,” but the 3 years in the United States before leaving do not.

Does this mean that time spent outside the country WITH reentry permit counts towards your total for naturalization purposes? I just spent six months outside the country (due to corona) on the reentry permit; does that count towards my total or not?

 

Secondly, I read certain jobs enable you to be abroad and count as an exception to physical presence requirement. Does anyone have experience applying for this? My wife (US citizen) works for a US university abroad. Would that count as "US research institution" and thus count towards physical presence requirements?

 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Edited October 3, 2020 by jimbrackets

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

No, you misunderstood the example (in which “she” had a REP because she was out the US for more than a year, and was an example of the 4 year and 1 day rule). Having a re-entry permit does not change the fact that you are physically outside the US and the impact it has on continuous residence/physical presence. 
 

The form for preserving residence for naturalizing, n470, lists qualifying employers abroad, which include “An entity that is currently recognized by USCIS as an American institution of research.” The list is here https://www.uscis.gov/list-of-recognized-american-institutions-of-research-and-other-recognized-organizations , so you can see if your wife’s institution is listed. However, note this list is for the employer of the applicant - I think it is but am not certain if it is the same list as a spouse’s employer that makes you eligible for 319b, which is what you are actually asking. There are also other requirements to be able to use this. The section of the manual for this is https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-g-chapter-4

[jimbrackets 2]

Thanks Susie that is super useful.