Number of Trips out of US in past 5 years

[thetreble 19]

Hey guys,

I'm getting around to applying for natulization and have a question about Part 7 of form 400. Since I'm Canadian, I make up to 10 trips a year just to Canada to visit friends and family. Most of them are on long weekends so only 3 days max and I just drive there. However, there is no way I can remember every single trip I've made home in the last 5 years. I can hardly remember all the trips I made to Canada last year!

Maybe this is more of a topic for Canadians, Mexicans, or other nationals closer to the US, but it is a bit different for us. A trip home for me doesn't cost 2 grand, it just costs me some gas money, so I do it pretty often.

What do I do for this part of the form if I can't remember every trip I've made?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I looked up the instructions (which may NOT be much more helpful), which say "list every trip that lasted 24+ hours".

[katiemanny 64]

Answer it truthfully and accurately, you are about to be in the last stand with USCIS so every details about trips made outside of the US should and must be disclosed.

I think your Bank statements of charges made during your trips should help you remember or the person you are usually with outside the US can help you remember.

[thetreble 19]

Answer it truthfully and accurately, you are about to be in the last stand with USCIS so every details about trips made outside of the US should and must be disclosed.

I think your Bank statements of charges made during your trips should help you remember or the person you are usually with outside the US can help you remember.

That's not a bad idea, except my bank only keeps the last 3 months on file online. I'd have to call them and ask them for five years worth of transactions.

Edited May 31, 2011 by thetreble

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

Hey guys,

I'm getting around to applying for natulization and have a question about Part 7 of form 400. Since I'm Canadian, I make up to 10 trips a year just to Canada to visit friends and family. Most of them are on long weekends so only 3 days max and I just drive there. However, there is no way I can remember every single trip I've made home in the last 5 years.

Which is why you, knowing that this day was coming, entered the data of every trip in the Excel list you have in your computer. Please don't tell me you had a computer crash and forgot to back it up or print out the latest version of that list!

[thetreble 19]

Which is why you, knowing that this day was coming, entered the data of every trip in the Excel list you have in your computer. Please don't tell me you had a computer crash and forgot to back it up or print out the latest version of that list!

I'm going to dismiss this as a non-intelligent response to my question. Thank you, however, for taking the time to not be helpful.

I'd love to take a vote of all the thousands of people on this website, and how many of them kept track of every single day they entered and left the country for the past 5 years, whether it be personal or business.

[lax75 2]

Hey,

First of all, congratulations on your last step in the "visa journey." I will be filing based on 5 year eligibilty also in the next few months. What I did, was go through every page of my passport and calculate my trips based on my departure and arrival stamps. I believe this is what is on record and this is why they ask to see your passport at the naturalization interview.

Here's what my excel spreadsheet looked like

Trip #/ Destination / Arrival (destination) /Departure (destination) / Days out / Reason

1 / United Kingdom / 20-Sep-03 / 25-Sep-03 / 5 / Vacation

2 / Canada / 9-Feb-05 / 12-Feb-05 / 3 / Vacation

Hope this helps. All the best

Edited June 1, 2011 by lax75

[lovetimhortons 1]

i had to list all visits for 5 years as well for part of my K1 application last year. being a fairly normal person, and having lived pretty close to the border, i had previously traveled often to the US as well.

i basically just did the best i could.

i went through my passport and looked for any stamps, looked through emails for flight itineraries (this part may not apply to you), hotel receipts, etc which helped me remember.

the other thing i wrote was "multiple short visits (1 week or less) for vacationing, visiting friends, shopping, attending work-related conferences which may not have been included on this list." i didn't run into any issues.

good luck.

[thetreble 19]

i had to list all visits for 5 years as well for part of my K1 application last year. being a fairly normal person, and having lived pretty close to the border, i had previously traveled often to the US as well.

i basically just did the best i could.

i went through my passport and looked for any stamps, looked through emails for flight itineraries (this part may not apply to you), hotel receipts, etc which helped me remember.

the other thing i wrote was "multiple short visits (1 week or less) for vacationing, visiting friends, shopping, attending work-related conferences which may not have been included on this list." i didn't run into any issues.

good luck.

Thanks lovetimhortons & lax75. I suppose I've just got to do my best. I wish Canada stamped my passport when I returned because it would definitely help me remember each time I cross. I'm sure I can work it out in the end, I just didn't think I'd actually naturalize until a few weeks ago so I never thought it was important! Lesson learned.

[NickD 202]

Thanks lovetimhortons & lax75. I suppose I've just got to do my best. I wish Canada stamped my passport when I returned because it would definitely help me remember each time I cross. I'm sure I can work it out in the end, I just didn't think I'd actually naturalize until a few weeks ago so I never thought it was important! Lesson learned.

Another obsessive poster that is no longer here had that same problem living in Montana, near the border. Could say I would have had the same problem since we had divisions in Canada, for years traveling to Canada was no different than traveling between our states. All these trips were completely undocumented. All this started with an executive order from Bush as he felt the Canadians were not checking terrorists like he was, even though it was relatives of his buddies that came here legally that caused all of our problems.

Can't think of the number of times I crossed that imaginary line where the guard never even looked at me, just asked with head down, hat covering their eyes if I had any firearms, alcohol, or plants, said no, move on. Key is to be correct on your documented trips, that guy from Canada, said he just made so many short trips to Canada over the years and got by with that.

You want to be as honest as possible, but if these trips were not documented, no way for anybody to check, just do your best.

Thought this immigration stuff would be all over at the AOS, that was tough enough, but learned about the I-751 and N-400, so started keeping records and gathering evidence from day one. Ha, felt compelled to record my wife's last trip, but I don't have to do that anymore.

The USCIS does have a publication like something like the steps to becoming a US citizen that explains all this stuff. Its not like they hand you this booklet when you first come here or even can find a published copy of it. Have to dig hard into the net to find it, and sure doesn't help you, if like me, never even heard of the USCIS. Can't tell you how many people and friends that I have talked to on this subject that were born here and lived here all of their lives, and never even heard of the USCIS. When you do finally learn what you are suppose to do, its way too late.

[metals95 1]

I had my interview today, and I had included my Excel spreadsheet with my original submission. I had updated my spreadsheet for my trips since filing, (I live in the Detroit area and the border is right here). The Officer took my dorky list because I had made it and asked, did you take any trips longer than 6 months? Were you out more than 18 months of the last 3 years? My answers, no & no, and we moved on.

My point with saying this is that if you read the instructions and the M476, the intent of the question is to establish continuous residency and presence. Make your best estimate based on your habits. They will review your Passport stamps anyway.

[Autumnal 25]

Welcome to the world of Canadian transborder travel, I'm there with you. Live in Chicago, frequently fly back to Vancouver and I have started finding myself in southern Ontario more often than I can count! For the rest of the VisaJourney posters, Canada/US do not require a stamped passport so we just drive through the border crossings with minimal fuss. There is often no way to get a concrete record of when you have been.

Since I had to do this myself (albeit at less frequency than you), here are a few tips I had to ease along the way:

• Review your bank statements. Ask your bank for the past year or two at least.
  
• If you get paperless statements, check your email.
  
• Review photographs (which are often dated) so you can see when you were up there.
  
• Do you have Canadian bank accounts or loyalty program cards?
  
• If yes... You can always check with records at Chapters.ca or Costco (for example) to see when you were making purchases.
  
• Call upon friends/family you visited for help.
  
• Look for travel docs from Orbitz, Priceline, etc.
  
• Load up a Google calendar (or calendar of your choice). Plug in dates you *know* you were in Canada, such as Cdn Thanksgiving, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Easter. Flesh these out starting with the most recent year.
  
• Review e-mail, Facebook/social network postings, etc. for dates or updates which might link to when you were there.
  
• Account for the longest trips first, they matter the most.
  
• Be accurate as you can, but don't be afraid to wing it. (ie. You know you visited for a weekend in June '07 but can't remember if it was the 11-13 or 18-20th? Pick one.)
  

The point is to try to give an accurate depiction and go from there. USCIS is going to be more concerned about lengthy travels, being out of the country prolonged periods that would invalidate your citizenship/residency, or questionable forays. It's pretty painless when you explain you were cross-border shopping at least twice a month, or visiting Aunt Millie, Mom, cousin Linda and your best friends from university over the holidays.

Good luck!