Wording on N-400

[CanAmCharlotte 0]

I'm getting a little ahead of myself here as I'm still in the lifting of conditions phase (approval hopefully any day now) BUT looking ahead at the naturalization process I have a question about the N-400 application. I'm quite sure it has been addressd before but bear with me, I have not been able to locate the thread....

...the question about how many days you have been outside the country in the last five years is confusing. I can apply 90 days prior to my three year anniversary of living here so in the past five years, I wasn't in the US for the majority of the first two years. Do I answer it with an explanation or do I change the '5' to a '3' or what?

Thanks for any advice!

[YuAndDan 153]

They are talking about the period that you have had green-card, and period of time outside that period as in BEFORE you became an LPR does not need to be counted. And you do not need to alter the form to show 3 years.

[CanAmCharlotte 0]

Thanks for your help!

[NickD 202]

They are talking about the period that you have had green-card, and period of time outside that period as in BEFORE you became an LPR does not need to be counted. And you do not need to alter the form to show 3 years.

This is a very who's your IO kind of question, almost would suggest to leave that question blank. From the date we signed the application, going back five years, wife was out of the country for 400 and some odd days. That is what the question asked, pure and simple and that is what my attorney suggested to put it. Her IO wanted the number of days she was out of the country that was the sum of the days we listed for her trips outside of the country since becoming a LPR. Wife just replied, then they should ask that, her IO changed that.

Her IO didn't have to be a mathematical genius, we took just two trips from the time she became a LPR and the date she signed the application that was exactly 90 days including the day of her 3rd anniversary of her green card with one at 14 days, the other was 10 days, so wrote in 24. So why don't they ask how many days you were out of the country since becoming a LPR? And none of this 3 or 5 year #######?

She was also asked how many days she was out of the country since she filed her application, that was zero, but if it was any number of days, have no idea how they deal with that, no place on the form for that. To verify those two trips, wife needed her old and renew passport as one trip was on the old one, the other one was on the new one, so if you made trips, make sure your passport/s cover those and you bring those.

I did find an old N-400 on the net before all this Homeland Security #######, that form was written in English and asked the questions precisely. Bush made the USCIS a part of Homeland Security, yet another agency, and put Emilio in charge, a Cuban refugee, whos only qualifications was he help Bush win the presidency and really made a mess out of the USCIS, the board of immigration attorneys got rid of him, but they still haven't corrected these forms yet!

Bush did the same thing with heads of the FAA and FCC, guys that don't know ####### about aviation or electronics, and can't even speak clear English, that was also a mess to deal with. I hate politics.