Can you leave the country while your I-751 is being processed? Also citizenship question

[Antrim 0]

Hi everybody.

I'm European and my wife is American, born and raised in the US. We got married on July 2011 and I received my GC on November 2011, so it expires on November 2013, which is 5 months from now. I know that we need to file the I-751 during the 90 days before my GC expires in order to receive another one. However, I've read that this process can take up to a year. Me and my wife are seriously considering the possibility of moving to the UK shortly after November 2013, so how would it affect us if we were out of the country while the I-751 is being processed?

And my second and last question: what about citizenship? As far as I know, it requires 3 years of being married to the American citizen. What if we move to the UK before the 3 years are over, would I have to start over from scratch if we moved back to the US? Or as long as you're married to that person, it doesn't matter where you've been living?

Thanks!

[Hypnos 6,579]

As part of the I-751 filing you would need to have biometrics captured within the US; you would not be able to do this from outside the country.

Should you permanently leave the US (and surrender your green card as a part of this process) then you would be starting from scratch should you ever wish to return. Your wife would have to petition you for a green card all over again, and three years after you receive your green card you would then be eligible for citizenship.

[Little_My 464]

You have to be in the US for biometrics after you have filed the I-751 for ROC, and there is a possibility you might be called in for an interview which you would have to attend - other than that, nothing stops you from being abroad while ROC is being processed. I'm not sure if you can have a foreign address for the ROC paperwork, so if not, you have to make sure your mail goes to someone in the US who you trust and who will make sure you get each and every piece of mail that comes from USCIS.

In terms of citizenship, you are eligible to apply after having been a GC holder for three years. Out of that three years, you've had to have spent at least 18 months in the US (physical presence rule) and never have been abroad for more than 6 months consecutively (continuous residence). However, trips of 6 months or less can also be used to determine that a GC holder has abandoned his or her residency, so you would have to make sure you maintain strong ties to the US by, for example, keeping bank accounts open, maintaining a US address, filing taxes, etc.

Basically, moving abroad at that point does not necessarily mean you won't be able to apply for citizenship after being a GC holder for three years, but you have to make sure to maintain ties to the US, that you're preferably not gone for more than 6 months at a time and definitely not more than 12 months. If you're abroad between 180 and 365 days, the assumption is that you have broken your continuous residence, but you have a possibility to prove that you've maintained ties to the US and show that you did not break residence here while living abroad - but the burden to prove that is on you. If you spend more than a year abroad consecutively, it will automatically break continuous residence and set your citizenship clock to zero. I am pretty sure you'd have to be in the US to carry out the naturalization process as well.

You could get a re-entry permit to protect your greencard status for up to 2 years abroad, but that won't protect the citizenship clock - even with the re-entry permit, you'll be back to zero in terms of citizenship if you stay abroad for more than 365 days.

[Antrim 0]

I see, that's pretty bad then.

What if we stay in the US until I can apply for citizenship, which would be either July 2014 or November 2014 (from what you say, November, but I read somewhere else that citizenship is based on the marriage date, could this be true?), and then leave the country while the application is being processed, simply to go back for the citizenship interview/test?

We really would like to move to the UK, but it seems like a bad idea to waste all this time I've spent here, and then have to go through the same stinky process in the future if we decide to come back and live here.

I guess a simpler question to ask would be: knowing that we got married in July 2011 and I received my GC in November 2011, what's the earliest time we could move permanently to the UK without having to fear any issue with my GC/citizenship process?

Edited June 29, 2013 by Antrim

[Hypnos 6,579]

You can apply for citizenship two years and nine months after your "Resident Since" date on your (conditional) green card. Factor in ~3 - 5 months for the processing of your N-400, so say around six months from application to oath ceremony, and you should have citizenship by around February 2015. Trying to game the system by moving to another country but trying to keep your green card is not a good idea, and if caught your green card can be permanently revoked.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Hypnos

[Antrim 0]

Thank you. I was especially interested in the typical processing time for the N-400, as with these legal things, it can take a very long time. I'm glad it's such a "short" amount, anything under or around 6 months doesn't seem too bad. I remember I got my GC after exactly 3 months after I applied for it, so maybe I'll get lucky again.

I'm not quite sure I understand you when you say

Factor in ~3 - 5 months for the processing of your N-400, so say around six months from application to oath ceremony

Do you mean that they will take around 3-5 months to process my case, and then give me a later date for the oath ceremony, up to 1 or 2 months later? I don't know how the process work, but I think that's what you meant.

And I wasn't talking about gaming the system, I plan on following the rules. But I just read that in order to apply for the N-400 you need to have spent at least 18 months out of the 36 in the US, and never be out for longer than 6 months. Given that I've been here the whole time (besides a couple of short vacations to my home country), that means that if I went to live to the UK right now for 4 months and then came back to the US for 2 months, and repeated this process twice, I would find myself at the end of August 2014 and ready to apply for citizenship, while not having broken any rules (I would have only spent 12 months abroad out of the 36, so 24 in the US; and I wouldn't have been out for longer than 6 months at any time). As far as I know, that'd be perfectly legal and work, am I right?

[christeen 966]

Yes, that would work as long as you maintained ties in the USA and do not abandon residency requirements. For processing time, a lot depends on the processing center. For example, we completed the whole citizenship process her in west palm beach from filing the form to oath in 72 days... But New York processes are taking about 6 months. Where are you filing?

[christeen 966]

I might add that if doing this, I would not refer to what you are doing as "living" in the UK as you are supposed to be "living" in the US. I would refer to it as visiting... Just be careful establishing residence overseas as GC is for residing in the USA

[Hypnos 6,579]

That is what I was trying to allude to above when I mentioned "gaming the system". If you permanently move to another country (say the UK) then you can lose your green card immediately, regardless of it not being six months or over any other arbitrary amount of time, because your country of residence is no longer the US.

Now, if you want to visit the UK for a couple of months then obviously that's fine, provided you still meet the "physical presence" requirement of the N-400 when it comes time to file it.

And yes, it will take a few months to process your N-400 (typically 3 - 4 right now) and then another couple of months for the interview and oath ceremony. Six months from start to finish sounds about right, but of course this is only a guesstimate.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Hypnos

[Antrim 0]

Thanks for the clarifications, guys.

I'm in Houston, TX. Any way to know how long it would take from here?

[Hypnos 6,579]

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do

Houston is currently at 5 months.

[Antrim 0]

Thanks! But does that mean only processing time (without counting the time until the interview/test/oath) or the whole thing from beginning to end?

[Hypnos 6,579]

I believe it means from filing to being approved, then you have to wait for your oath ceremony beyond that. Some offices do same-day ceremonies.

[christeen 966]

In the past year, it looks like Houston is working around the 5 month mark from filing to oath....

[Antrim 0]

I see, thanks! Stupid question: I remember when I filed for my AOS, I sent the papers to Chicago like you guys did because that was the only place one could do it. Regarding the naturalization process and the N-400, is there flexibility regarding where to file? Because I can see that it took you only 3 months filing in Dallas, could I do the same even if I live in Houston? I wouldn't mind having to go to Dallas each time for biometrics/interview/oath if the waiting time is cut on 2 months.