Demonstrating strong ties to the US during temporary stay abroad

[AK_2014 113]

Hi all,

 

As we prepare to apply for my wife’s naturalization, we have to prove strong ties to the U.S. during an 11-month window within the three years for naturalization based on marriage.

 

Situation:

• I had a research grant to country X, which is not the country my wife is from; the grant was jointly sponsored by the US and Country X
• The grant was for a temporary, specific time period (10 months), plus a little travel we did immediately before and after
• She accompanied me during this time; as she is a national of a country with an agreement with Country X, she did not need a foreign residence permit or any other official paperwork to join me
• We filed US taxes (married, jointly)
• She maintained her enrollment at a US university (writing dissertation), and we have tuition bills & confirmation of payment statements
• During these 11 months, she returned to the US three times for school-related reasons and a job interview, 4 to 14 days each time (see details on # of days below)
• She received US university reimbursements for two of the US trips, paid to our US bank account, as they were for her research and some consulting she did through a university-sponsored program
• She had US health insurance through the university
• We used and paid off our joint US-based credit cards each month and made occasional withdrawals from our US bank account (my grant was paid to an account in my name only in Country X, but it certainly did not cover all of our living expenses!)
• We paid her US cell phone contract monthly 
• We continued to jointly insure our car in the US, pay registration, etc.
• She attended an official event with me at the US Embassy in country X, and we have paperwork to show this
• She had a re-entry permit on the off chance our stay ended up being extended (it didn’t, but better to be safe than sorry)

 

Within a period of just over 11 months, here’s her schedule.

66 days out of US

    11 days in US

99 days out of US

    14 days in US

24 days out of US

    4 days in US

119 days out of US

The longest continuous chunk of time abroad was just under four months, right at the end of my grant period.

 

Any other ideas on how we might show close ties to the US?

• We had to give up our lease & put belongings in storage (could not afford to pay rent in two countries on the grant stipend)
• We had a US PO box, which a friend checked periodically

 

We know we could just wait until most of this time away drops off the three-year radar, but as a same-sex couple, we're at the mercy of politics, and we'd like to get her citizenship as soon as possible, before anything changes. (If the whole ROC backlog at CSC ever gets through, but that's another matter...)

 

Thanks for any suggestions!

[aleful 1,905]

hi

 

I don't know where you got that, but that's incorrect, you don't have to prove strong ties to the US.

 

if your wife is filing under the 3 year rule, what you do have to is show proof of bona fide marriage, just like the first time and if she had the 2 year GC, then she removed conditions by proving bona fide marriage. the same goes for the 3 year rule

 

 

[AK_2014 113]

31 minutes ago, aleful said:

hi

 

I don't know where you got that, but that's incorrect, you don't have to prove strong ties to the US.

 

if your wife is filing under the 3 year rule, what you do have to is show proof of bona fide marriage, just like the first time and if she had the 2 year GC, then she removed conditions by proving bona fide marriage. the same goes for the 3 year rule

 

 

Thanks -- my understanding is that, for trips of longer than 6 months but less than one year, the applicant must prove strong ties to the US to maintain continuous residence. Now, she wasn't technically out of the country for 6 months in a row, but in the big picture, she was "basically" away for those 11 months, with only very short returns to the US during that time period, as outlined above. I've read that some officers have challenged this kind of travel pattern. But if it turns out that it's really not an issue for our situation, that's grand! :-)

[AK_2014 113]

18 minutes ago, Dee elle said:

Dont you also have to have residency in the US of over18 months in the past 3 years?  and in the state from which you are filing for the previous 90 days? 

Yes -- those two criteria are satisfied. Thanks for the reminder!

[aleful 1,905]

hi

 

as said there is no need to prove with evidence, she will be required to take all her passports to the interview. where the officer can check the stamps in the passport

 

nothing is required to prove strong ties

 

the residency requirement is calculated by the dates submitted on the form and the entries and exits on the passport, plus the date on the GC. all the evidence the OP mentioned is  unnecessary

[AK_2014 113]

1 hour ago, aleful said:

hi

 

as said there is no need to prove with evidence, she will be required to take all her passports to the interview. where the officer can check the stamps in the passport

 

nothing is required to prove strong ties

 

the residency requirement is calculated by the dates submitted on the form and the entries and exits on the passport, plus the date on the GC. all the evidence the OP mentioned is  unnecessary

OK, thanks. To confirm: Is there zero chance the officer might view all of these absences, coming as they do immediately after each other (i.e. she obviously wasn't living in the States at all during the full 11 months) as a prolonged absence according to this link, section C.? I have read that others have had problems with this, and I'm hoping someone who has been in this situation might happen to read this thread and weigh in.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter3.html

C.  Breaks in Continuous Residence

An applicant for naturalization has the burden of establishing that he or she has complied with the continuous residence requirement, if applicable. There are two types of absences from the United States that are automatically presumed to break the continuity of residence for purposes of naturalization.

 

•Absences of more than 6 months but less than one year; and
•Absences of one year or more. 

 

An officer may also review whether an applicant with multiple absences of less than 6 months will be able to satisfy the continuous residence and physical presence requirements. In some cases, an applicant may not be able to establish that his or her principal actual dwelling place is in the United States or establish residence within the United States for the statutorily required period of time.

1. Absence of More than Six Months (but Less than One Year) 

An absence of more than six months (more than 181 days but less than one year (less than 365 days)) during the period for which continuous residence is required is presumed to break the continuity of such residence. This includes any absence that takes place prior to filing the naturalization application or between filing and the applicant’s admission to citizenship.

 

An applicant’s intent is not relevant in determining the location of his or her residence. The period of absence from the United States is the defining factor in determining whether the applicant is presumed to have disrupted his or her residence. 

 

An applicant may overcome the presumption of loss of his or her continuity of residence by providing evidence to establish that the applicant did not disrupt his or her residence. The evidence may include, but is not limited to, documentation that during the absence:

 

•The applicant did not terminate his or her employment in the United States or obtain employment while abroad.
•The applicant’s immediate family remained in the United States.
•The applicant retained full access to his or her United States abode.

[aleful 1,905]

and your wife hasn't broken any of those rules, the longest time she has been out of the country was four months in a single entry, less than the 6 months of breaking continuous presence, she hasn't been out of the country for over a year in one single entry, which would mean she lost her GC

 

short periods of time out of the country aren't taken into account, they are counted as vacation

 

as I said before, if she is applying based on the 3 year rule, you should be gathering evidence of bona fide marriage

 

that's what really matters

[AK_2014 113]

10 hours ago, aleful said:

and your wife hasn't broken any of those rules, the longest time she has been out of the country was four months in a single entry, less than the 6 months of breaking continuous presence, she hasn't been out of the country for over a year in one single entry, which would mean she lost her GC

 

short periods of time out of the country aren't taken into account, they are counted as vacation

 

as I said before, if she is applying based on the 3 year rule, you should be gathering evidence of bona fide marriage

 

that's what really matters

Cool -- this really sounds too easy given her travel pattern, but if that's how it is, that's awesome. Thanks so much! 

[Phillary 45]

I thought I may add my experience in this situation as it's somewhat similar.

I filed 90 days early in early December 2016. Prior to that time I'd only spent 14 days out of the US on 3 trips. Once I filed thought, I was offered a contract overseas and amazingly, my wife was also offered a job in the same country, however her employer still considered her a local employee on the pay records. Anyway, after biometrics, I left for just under 4 months. When I re-entered the US I was grilled a bit. I explained I had a contract job and that my wife was working there as well. I was asked if we planned to move there. I was then back in the US for 2 weeks, left again for 2 weeks, returned to the US for 4 days and then back overseas for 2 weeks and then returned to the US just yesterday for my ceremony. The last two trips were just holidays accompanying my wife as she continued to work overseas.

I was a bit worried that this amount of travel right at the end might raise some flags. I had prepared house utility bills, mortgage payments, recent tax return and my wife's contract. I never had to show this at my interview, and border officials of the two most recent trips didn't ask me anything aside from where I'd been.

I guess I worried a bit but if you look at the whole 3 years period, I was way under the time allowed to be outside of the US so it didn't really matter.

It might be worth taking extra documents to the interview in case the officer does grill your wife on the longer periods overseas. At least evidence can be provided if needed. But looking at your post and considering my experiences, I don't foresee a problem.

[AK_2014 113]

On 6/16/2017 at 5:01 PM, Phillary said:

I thought I may add my experience in this situation as it's somewhat similar.

I filed 90 days early in early December 2016. Prior to that time I'd only spent 14 days out of the US on 3 trips. Once I filed thought, I was offered a contract overseas and amazingly, my wife was also offered a job in the same country, however her employer still considered her a local employee on the pay records. Anyway, after biometrics, I left for just under 4 months. When I re-entered the US I was grilled a bit. I explained I had a contract job and that my wife was working there as well. I was asked if we planned to move there. I was then back in the US for 2 weeks, left again for 2 weeks, returned to the US for 4 days and then back overseas for 2 weeks and then returned to the US just yesterday for my ceremony. The last two trips were just holidays accompanying my wife as she continued to work overseas.

I was a bit worried that this amount of travel right at the end might raise some flags. I had prepared house utility bills, mortgage payments, recent tax return and my wife's contract. I never had to show this at my interview, and border officials of the two most recent trips didn't ask me anything aside from where I'd been.

I guess I worried a bit but if you look at the whole 3 years period, I was way under the time allowed to be outside of the US so it didn't really matter.

It might be worth taking extra documents to the interview in case the officer does grill your wife on the longer periods overseas. At least evidence can be provided if needed. But looking at your post and considering my experiences, I don't foresee a problem.

Thanks for sharing your experience! The "ins and outs" look sort of similar, and I'm so glad to hear that your interview went smoothly. In any case, when she does file and the interview eventually rolls around, I'll update this thread for posterity's sake.

[AK_2014 113]

Interview FINALLY happened yesterday. 😀

 

The multiple somewhat-long trips separated by just a few days or a week in the US were not an issue, since no single trip was over 180 days. None of the info we'd prepared in order to show ties to the US during that period was asked for.

[CarlHamilton 252]

45 minutes ago, AK_2014 said:

😀

None of the info we'd prepared in order to show ties to the US during that period was asked for.

That's usually the case with the tons of info people take with them after reading this site (full disclosure: I will take all my tax transcripts, account transcripts and full returns because what's another dead tree?)

[AK_2014 113]

7 minutes ago, CarlHamilton said:

That's usually the case with the tons of info people take with them after reading this site (full disclosure: I will take all my tax transcripts, account transcripts and full returns because what's another dead tree?)

Definitely a good idea to take everything you can think of! Yes, the officer did tell her that she'd submitted "more than enough" info with the initial application. I've been the one actually doing all the paperwork for this entire journey... SO relieved that, now, only the oath ceremony remains...

[geowrian 22,339]

56 minutes ago, AK_2014 said:

The multiple somewhat-long trips separated by just a few days or a week in the US were not an issue, since no single trip was over 180 days.

First, congrats!

 

That said, I'll just point out that "since no trip was over 180 days" (note that it's 6 months, not 180 days) is a judgement call by the IO based on their review of the circumstances. People have been denied due to a break in continuous residence with no single trip more than 6 months. It's not often form what I've seen, but it can happen.

Key part of the policy guide referenced above: "An officer may also review whether an applicant with multiple absences of less than 6 months will be able to satisfy the continuous residence and physical presence requirements."

Edited December 19, 2018 by geowrian