The Bloomies

Hello all, As of two weeks ago, I’m finally a US citizen. I know many people wait longer, but as you all know, the process of immigration and dealing with USCIS is arduous even in the best of circumstances! I’ve already registered to vote and applied for my passport so the next thing to cast my mind over is potentially sponsoring my mum. There’s no rush to sponsor her because she’s not in a position right now to move to the US, nor is she sure she wants to given cost of medical, etc. (Although being extra cautious is pretty typical of her and I don’t think that’s a direct reflection of her genuine interest.) Plus, she has a fairly good set up right now—she lives part of the year in the U.K. and part of the year in Dubai so throwing the US in, although an option longterm, might not be in her immediate plans. That being said, it wouldn’t hurt to start the process in case things are different in a few years given how long USCIS takes to process anything. Apart from the cost, what would the drawbacks be to starting the application now? I’m mainly concerned that it might affect her ESTA and I’m also interested in learning if the process of interviewing, etc. can be postponed if in a year’s/two years’ time she’s still not ready. And, lastly, I just wanted to thank everyone for the help they’ve given over the last few years. I’m not a big poster, but a regular reader and it’s astounding how much knowledge you all have on this process. I’m glad that we opted to not pay a lawyer throughout our journey—the information here is invaluable!

Yes, Dublin. Thank you for the responses. I’ll let her know.

I’m thinking that this has been asked before, but I couldn’t find it with a quick search. For a friend, what are the rules about travelling after green card approval but before receiving card itself again? She just got approved and is meant to be flying home to Ireland on Tuesday. Does her advance parole not work anymore? I suppose she could leave and have someone send her the card when it arrives, but that’s risky. Is this the instance when you’re to get a stamp in your passport? She’s not sure if she’ll be able to get an appointment before she has to leave with it being the weekend coming up.

May I run a currently hypothetical/potentially real situation by you all? I few recent threads about immigrating parents to the US have gotten me thinking about this. Let me first set up our particular situation and then I’ll ask the questions. I’m eligible to file for citizenship through marriage next year, which has resulted in some conversations between me and my mum about whether or not she’d like me to sponsor her for a green card one day. She’s open to it because I’m an only child and she would love to be close to me, my husband and her future grandchildren. There’s no rush for her to gain a green card, although I probably will begin the process in January for myself anyway since the U.K. and US allows dual citizenship as many of you know. I think it’s probably the best move for us as a family so that we can potentially move back home (or abroad) without it affecting my status here and so that we can be rid of USCIS for good! The question I have relates to how we’d be able to make it work from a health insurance point of view. I know that one option is that I could sponsor my mum, she could move here and just pay healthcare premiums. But I also recognise what many of you point out on related threads—healthcare costs here are definitely a consideration and potentially cost-prohibitive, particularly if there’s no chance to ever qualify for Medicare in the future. My mum is currently a very young 56 year old so work isn’t out of the question. In fact, she would probably enjoy some part-time work. That said, she hasn’t been able to have a full-time job for many years on account of her husband working abroad and her needing to have a flexible enough schedule to visit him when she wants. A schedule that she could have more control over would be better. Here’s where the hypothetical question comes in. If I sponsored her in the future and she moved here and received her work permit, could she set up, say, a sole prop as a childcare provider so that I could then effectively hire her? I see that the income requirement to earn each quarter is relatively low (currently) so I don’t imagine it would take too long to earn that amount each quarter. And, if she could and worked in this way for 40 quarters, would that then make her eligible for Medicare? My husband and I are just starting our family so we’re looking at many years of childcare and this occurred to me as an option that my mum would enjoy, be able to control and earn her credits if the alternative was too expensive. This is all hypothetical. In the end, we might find that, even if I do take citizenship, it might be better on the whole for us as a family to live either back home or in a third country. Thank you in advance for your comments. I’m not currently in need of any VJ guidance for my own visa journey, but I do still visit every day or so because I learn a lot. In another life I think I may have enjoyed being an immigration lawyer!

Thank you for your response. That is correct. I didn't think it would qualify us, but just wanted to check. We will just have to be careful with how much time we spend outside of the country on any international assignments then. Thanks again.

Thank you for your comment. It doesn’t seem that this person’s situation related to working for a religious organisation though. I’m wondering specifically if anyone knows what kind of work qualifies. For example, my husband works for a construction contractor engaged overseas by a U.S. religious organization. (He’s not in any sort of ecclesiastical role.) Does anyone think this might count? It would probably determine whether he takes international assignment, if it might affect my citizenship process.

Many thanks for your responses!

Spouses of U.S. Citizens Employed Abroad Generally, if your spouse is a U.S. citizen who is employed by the U.S. government, including the military or another qualifying employer, and your spouse is scheduled to be stationed abroad for at least one year at the time you file your Form N-400, you may be eligible for naturalization under Section 319(b) of the INA. Qualifying employers can include: Certain American institutions of research; American firms or corporations engaged in the development of foreign trade and commerce; Certain public international organizations; and Certain religious denominations or interdenominational mission organizations. Does anyone have any experience with using the above bolded reason—"certain religious denominations or interdenominational mission organizations"—as a reason for expedited citizenship and what that might include?

I know that this is an old thread, but I thought it might not be best to start another one on the exact same topic. The reentry permit interests me for a similar reason with a few additional questions yet to be answered. There is a high chance that either my husband will take an assignment abroad or I may decide to study back home which will take us out of the country for an extended period of time. Does the back-to-back reentry permit only apply to studies abroad or would it be. The reason I ask is that my husband's potential job assignment might be for 3-4 year. I know that to apply for citizenship I have to be resident in the US for at least 18 months of the last 3 years and have lived in the jurisdiction from which I'll be applying for at least 3 months. Does the reason for being abroad make a difference to that rule? Are there any exceptions i.e. for study? If not, after we returned to the US permanently, the clock would start from 0 again? No previous time is counted even with the reentry permit? If we decided to wait until I applied for citizenship (which would be April 2024), could I leave the country whilst that application was pending, with the intention of coming back to the US for any appointments, etc.? If so, would my husband need to be with me during any appointments for taking citizenship? For more information, my husband and I have been married since October 2018 and I've had my green card since April 2021 (took 2 years to be approved because of COVID). Many thanks in advance.