Would getting laid off from the petitioning employer 4 months after receiving my Green Card cause any issues with N-400?

[PeteM 0]

I have been on an employment based Green Card for 5 years and 1 month and just filed my N-400. I'm a bit concerned because when I received my Green Card in early November 2008 I was laid off 4 months later in late March 2009 by the petitioning employer. I was an IT consultant and the client at the time decided to hire another company to continue the work (not due to my own or employer's fault). My employer could not find me another project so they laid me off. I could not find another job in the 2009 recessionary market and filed for unemployment benefits that I was entitled to. I eventually found another job in the same field around February 2010 and have been in that position since then.

Would losing my job so soon after receiving my Green Card and not being employed for almost 1 year after that cause any issues with my Citizenship application and/or interview?

Thank you.

[Hypnos 6,576]

No. It's not a requirement that you are employed to be able to file for citizenship.

[TBoneTX 43,058]

Welcome to VisaJourney! I'm transferring your thread from "Introducing our Members" into the US Citizenship forum, where your topic is even more pertinent. Good luck!

[NickD 202]

Don't even have to show your tax returns for the five year, but for whatever reason, want your employment history, and being a housewife or a college student is perfectly acceptable.

Sounds like you were a victim of a hostile takeover, quite common in this country, work your can off so your company is making a good profit and in comes the greedy people to buy it and put you out of work. Happened to me three times in my life, but in highly technical skills, only satisfaction I received from this is without these highly technical skills, my companies that were taken over bellied up after a year.

Latest was slamming the doors shut and moving my company to China, our idiots running MY country that I fought for are doing this! What the heck, we were fully automated in our production lines. Would reply, would be more than happy to work for a buck a day, just reduce my property taxes to a buck per year.

But as long as you have skills, can find something, but sometimes takes awhile. As long as you were a good kid and didn't get into any trouble with the law, you will be okay. And as a US citizen, more jobs will be opened to you, like working for the government. But I feel after dealing with several government employees, a key requirement is to have an IQ of less than two. If you are a complete idiot, can run for congress.

The IRS is so stupid, don't even realize after the buck leaves this country, they cannot tax it. We use to have laws against stuff like this, and somebody said we need less government. That we got, first thing to go was the FTC.

[bigdog 376]

Good Luck.

[JimmyHou 610]

I have been on an employment based Green Card for 5 years and 1 month and just filed my N-400. I'm a bit concerned because when I received my Green Card in early November 2008 I was laid off 4 months later in late March 2009 by the petitioning employer. I was an IT consultant and the client at the time decided to hire another company to continue the work (not due to my own or employer's fault). My employer could not find me another project so they laid me off. I could not find another job in the 2009 recessionary market and filed for unemployment benefits that I was entitled to. I eventually found another job in the same field around February 2010 and have been in that position since then.

Would losing my job so soon after receiving my Green Card and not being employed for almost 1 year after that cause any issues with my Citizenship application and/or interview?

Thank you.

My understanding is that the only issue with switching employers after receiving your Green Card is that it raises questions about whether or not your application was made in good faith. In other words, did you get and keep the job only in order to get a Green Card

What raises a red flag is when someone leaves a job shortly after getting his/her Green Card and takes another job that may not have been willing to sponsor his/her permanent residency. Since you did not leave your job voluntarily and you did not jump to another more lucrative or convenient (benefits, location, etc.) employer, I don't think you have anything to worry about. There's nothing that indicates that you intended to jump employers when you applied for your Green Card.

That being said, the general rule is that if there is any doubt that you did not apply in good faith, the burden of proof is on USCIS if you've changed jobs 2 years or more after receiving your Green Card, while the burden of proof is on you if you've changed jobs less than 2 years after receiving your Green Card. So, while I think it is very unlikely, USCIS may ask you to prove that you did not intend to change employers when you applied for your permanent residency. This should be easy as long as you can show that you were terminated involuntarily. There's more information on the "2 year rule" here http://www.***removed***/greencard/employmentbasedimmigration/sponsoring-employer.html but I haven't found

That's a lot of background info, but long story short, you're almost certainly going to be fine.