Continuous residence question

[Sebas&Lily 3]

Hello all, my wife was denied US Citizenship because she was out of the country for 11months in 2011 and we are looking to re-apply this month. She did not intend to break the continuous residence but her mother was sick and she had surgery, therefore my wife spent some time back home. Now we haven't left the country in more than 3 years, do you think we will have any issues this time around? Only reason I am asking is because the N400 application wants you to list every trip outside of the country in the last 5 years, not 3, so we will have to list her absence all over again.

The USCIS website states the following:

"3. Eligibility after Break in Residence​

​

An applicant who is required to establish ​continuous​ residence for at least five years​ ^[14] See INA 316(a). and whose application for naturalization is denied for an absence of one year or longer​,​ may apply for naturalization four years and one day after returning to the United States to resume permanent residence.​ An applicant who is subject to the three-year continuous residence ​requirement​ ^[15] See INA 319(a). may apply two years and one day after returning to the United States to resume permanent residence.​ ^[16] See 8 CFR 316.5©(1)(ii). "

Link here: http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter3.html

Also after being denied for citizenship, how long do we have to fight the outcome? I'll have to dig up the USCIS letter and see if it's specified on it.

Thank you all and a late Happy New Year

[Sebas&Lily 3]

Also I'd love to challenge the denial because we applied 2 years and a few days later, after our return from Romania on Jan 22, 2012 and according to them, that should be ok.

[Dave&Roza 748]

Also I'd love to challenge the denial because we applied 2 years and a few days later, after our return from Romania on Jan 22, 2012 and according to them, that should be ok.

I bet for some reason they were thinking she was filing based on the five year rule and made a mistake. She will have to list all trips since becoming a LPR even though she is using the three year rule. One would like to hope that they can see that from 2012 to 2015, which is three years, she has had no trips outside the US and that she was really eligible last January to file.

You can fight or just re-file. My bet is re-filing will be faster.

Good luck,

Dave

[Sebas&Lily 3]

Thanks, yeah we are getting everything together and will re-file but it's really frustrating.. I wish I would've had more information when we filed and I would've waited.

[Sebas&Lily 3]

Anyone else? Just looking for a little more support here