How do they know how much time I spent outside of US?

[Flavia 1]

I just got my CR1 visa and now waiting for my GC to be mailed to me.

Looks like I will have to do a bit of travelling in the next couple of years, and from what I heard there is no record of when you leave the US, they only record when you come back.

SO I was wondering, how do they know how much time you spent outside of the country when you apply for citizenship? How can they verif that you are eligible?

PS. Not that I am going to violate the laws, I'm only curious.

[churipu 4]

I just got my CR1 visa and now waiting for my GC to be mailed to me.

Looks like I will have to do a bit of travelling in the next couple of years, and from what I heard there is no record of when you leave the US, they only record when you come back.

SO I was wondering, how do they know how much time you spent outside of the country when you apply for citizenship? How can they verif that you are eligible?

PS. Not that I am going to violate the laws, I'm only curious.

This is actually a good question...Anyways this is what I found out...I made an Infopass appointment not too long ago because I couldn't remember the exact dates of 2 past trips overseas (I started a thread in this forum about it too) and the IO bluntly told me that "an estimate is ok because it's not like they actually go and check", she just said to try and not put down a date that would be over 30 days wrong (which kinda makes no sense considering she had just told me that they cannot check but anyways...). I also asked if the Immigration Officers at the Airport can check when they swipe your passport and they explained to me that only if you are a non permanent resident there is record of your trips outside the country, once you become a green card holder then they can't track it.

So to answer your question..I have NO idea how they actually know how much time one spends outside the US, but they made it look like it is really no big deal when I talked to them.

Edited July 2, 2007 by churipu

[Lance27 19]

If you travel by air, the airlines send passenger manifests to DHS when you leave the country so to answer your question, they do know when you leave the country.

[SqdnGuns 21]

All they would have to do is look at your passport and see the stamps if they ever asked to see it.

I went through this before with my ex-wife, they actually asked her to bring her passport to the interviews and reviewed it. This was the Tampa office that asked for it.

Better be safe than sorry....................CYA

Edited July 2, 2007 by SqdnGuns

[churipu 4]

All they would have to do is look at your passport and see the stamps if they ever asked to see it.

I went through this before with my ex-wife, they actually asked her to bring her passport to the interviews and reviewed it. This was the Tampa office that asked for it.

Better be safe than sorry....................CYA

Not always that easy. If you are a European citizen (can't speak for the other places) they do not stamp your passport when you enter the country as a national,so you only have a stamp in your passport for the US and not for EU country, therefore they cannot always check the passport to get the exact dates of your trips. That is why I had to go all the way to the local immigration office to find out what I could do about those 2 trips I didn't remember the exact dates of. I had a stamp for when I got back to the US but not one when I entered Italy which is my homecountry.

Edited July 2, 2007 by churipu

[churipu 4]

If you travel by air, the airlines send passenger manifests to DHS when you leave the country so to answer your question, they do know when you leave the country.

I thought there was record of it too and I am sure there actually is and there must be some sort of way of finding this out...but they did tell me they don't check so to give the best estimate in case you don't remeber. They said not even immigration at the airport can track this if you are a permanent resident, they can only if you are a non resident.

Then again if I were the OP I would keep track of all the travelling, I had no idea I would need this kind of info otherwise I would have kept it all handy.

[warlord 73]

Well for citizenship other then the passport they will also check things like your taxes if filed etc. This pertains more to people working overseas which you cannot do on the Green Card (otherwise it's considered abandoned). If it's a vacation, then it's usually not a big deal.

Just remember for citizenship any trip 6 months or less is allowed, 6months to 1 year you will have to prove to them that you maintained residency. After a year, good luck, you'll probably be denied. Now how will they know? Well if you don't answer truthfully and they find out then you are risking getting caught and being denied and possibly deported. So that's a risk...