Continuous residence after applying for citizenship

[danielenglish 3]

Good Sunday everyone,

I would love your help for a friend that has a question about continuous residency requirement after applying for American citizenship.

 

She applied for citizenship in October 2020 and then had to go back to Italy for a few months.

She returned to the States few weeks ago but will have to go back to Italy in a month or so to take care of her baby (the father lives in Italy).

 

She knows the “general rule” that requires to spend in America at least 6 months and a day every year; however, she is not sure if this requirement applies in exactly the same way also after applying for citizenship.

 

Would you please share your knowledges on this regard?

She is very confused right now and your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you so much 

[RasDig 13]

31 minutes ago, danielenglish said:

Good Sunday everyone,

I would love your help for a friend that has a question about continuous residency requirement after applying for American citizenship.

 

She applied for citizenship in October 2020 and then had to go back to Italy for a few months.

She returned to the States few weeks ago but will have to go back to Italy in a month or so to take care of her baby (the father lives in Italy).

 

She knows the “general rule” that requires to spend in America at least 6 months and a day every year; however, she is not sure if this requirement applies in exactly the same way also after applying for citizenship.

 

Would you please share your knowledges on this regard?

She is very confused right now and your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you so much 

This is my understanding of physical presence. When you apply you report your travel history (3 or 5 year) and at the time of interview, you also provide any updated travel information since you applied. All this will be used to calculate the physical presence requirement at the interview to determine if you meet the specific requirement in your case. For 3 year marriage based GC filing n400, the physical presence requirement is 18 months in the USA and for 5 year based GC filing is 30 months. Hopefully your friend’s total travel time based on her category of filing will meet the requirement by the time of her interview. I’m not a lawyer though so maybe consulting one may be the best in this case so your friend has no issues.

[AlexUSA 23]

3 hours ago, danielenglish said:

Good Sunday everyone,

I would love your help for a friend that has a question about continuous residency requirement after applying for American citizenship.

 

She applied for citizenship in October 2020 and then had to go back to Italy for a few months.

She returned to the States few weeks ago but will have to go back to Italy in a month or so to take care of her baby (the father lives in Italy).

 

She knows the “general rule” that requires to spend in America at least 6 months and a day every year; however, she is not sure if this requirement applies in exactly the same way also after applying for citizenship.

 

Would you please share your knowledges on this regard?

She is very confused right now and your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you so much 

I don't see any problem here as long as the trips are not longer than 6 months. The problem mostly is at the border when CBP officer checks and finds out you're staying outside of the US 6 months then 1 month here and then leave, they might remind you and if sees a pattern after the first reminder, put a note in your passport and then after repeating again get the green card which is the final state. So better keep them less than 4-5 months and have an open bank account and etc to show her connection to the US.

[danielenglish 3]

Thank you so much guys for your contribution.

It is truly appreciated.