Conitnous residence question

[fcbguy99 0]

Here is my situation:

Became Permannet Resident in 1997 through marriage to US born citizen and have 2 us born children (both US citizens)

Lived in the US from 1997 to 2004

Nov 2004 took a job overseas until Feb 2006 (with a non-us company). During those 16 months I came back to the US every 4-5 months. I maintained a residence in the US, bank accounts, filed tax returns, etc...

In Feb 2006 I came back to the US and have been working in the US since then.

I have now decided I would like to apply for naturalization/citizenship.

Does the 3 year rule or the 5 year rule apply to me for continous residency rule (since I am still married, do I only have to meet the rule for the past 3 years)? Will I have any problems since I worked overseas for 16 months? If I can do the 3 year rule I would just wait until 2009 so that the past 3 years would not inlcude any of that time working abroad.

[YuAndDan 153]

3 Year rule, and has to be residency over the past 3 years. And you have been continuously married to the same US citizen for the past 3 years

So you should be able to start filing the N-400 within 90 days before Feb 2009.