Reentry Permit VS. Naturalization

[TimotheeG 0]

Hello,

 

I am a 22 year old student who is outside of the US with only a legal permanent resident status. I left the US August 16th, 2017 and I intend on returning to the US between Feb. 5th and Feb 10th, 2018 a little under 180 days, to avoid abandonment (should I come back sooner? or will that be fine? That is when my second academic quarter ends.). 

 

Prior to leaving August 16th I had been a LPR for 10+ years continuously, I was just unaware of the entire citizenship process... 

 

I am leaving my Masters program from early February until the start of the next academic school year in September (~6 months) to deal with my LPR status. 

 

My question is: Should I apply for a reentry permit, or should I just apply for naturalization? Will the past 6 months i've been out of the US delay the processes? Will 6 months be enough to get a reentry permit/citizenship? 

 

Also: do I have to be in the US to begin the naturalization process? (Edit)

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

Thank you,

Tim

Edited October 10, 2017 by TimotheeG

[Starkilla09 366]

A re entry permit is needed if you plan on staying out of the U.S. for more than a year. It allows you to stay stay for up to 2 years maximum and preserve your permanent residency status. Applying for naturalization will fix all of this, however; it will take a couple of months down the road and you’ll need to be back in the U.S as well and keep any overseas travel under 6 months to preserve physical residency requirements to be eligible for it.

[TimotheeG 0]

5 minutes ago, Starkilla09 said:

A re entry permit is needed if you plan on staying out of the U.S. for more than a year. It allows you to stay stay for up to 2 years maximum and preserve your permanent residency status. Applying for naturalization will fix all of this, however; it will take a couple of months down the road and you’ll need to be back in the U.S as well and keep any overseas travel under 6 months to preserve physical residency requirements to be eligible for it.

Starkilla09 thank you for your response,

I will have to be out of the US for additional 1.5 years to finish my graduate degree. Will me significant LPR status of 10+ years facilitate the naturalization process? 

Edited October 10, 2017 by TimotheeG

[Starkilla09 366]

No your lengthy permanent resident status unfortunately has no way of facilitating this process whatsoever. It can only be expedited under limited circumstances mainly for military members and their spouses. If you’re going to be out that long for educational reasons, your best bet will be to apply for a re entry permit once you get back to the U.S. On your I-131 form request to have your re entry permit be picked up in person at the U.S. embassy in the country you’ll be staying. You can depart the U.S. then after your biometrics have been taken by USCIS. Keep in mind that even though you’ll be preserving your permanent resident status, you’ll break your physical residency requirements even with a re entry permit. So once you get back to the U.S. you’ll need to stay again for sometime to be eligible for naturalization.

Edited October 10, 2017 by Starkilla09

[SteveG1003 1]

Get the citizenship just to be safe!