did i broke the residence requirement?

[promenad 9]

Hi all

To put in the shortest possible form: i was going just for a tourist trip with my wife when we started in april 2015 in a series of countries (none for more than a month). But then, in august, she got a research position abroad (with an american institution not listed in the recognized by the general attorney) so we came back to usa in the beggining of september, stayed a week to get our stuff and we left again until December. We then stayed for a month in usa and left in middle January to just come back in the last day of may. Since then we are in usa. We really didnt think much of it till recently when reading about applying for citizenship as we wait for the removing conditions. We did keep insurance, paying taxes and stuff but we didnt keep our rent after september. And i never had a problem coming and going thru immigration.

So my question is if anyone know about issues that this situation could imply and if there any documentation that i should think about to indicate never having changing our intention of fixing residence in usa.

thanks all!

 

[mindthegap 2,543]

If you didn't spend more than six months in one trip out of the US, (or even worse, a year) and you maintained significant ties to the US and deemed any trip temporary in nature, then there shouldn't be any issues.

Edited October 12, 2017 by mindthegap

[promenad 9]

thanks

my concern is about the short gaps between long periods out. all together is an year and two months with just a month and a half in american soil in between...

if anybody has experience with this sort of case and could share their experience!

[geowrian 22,336]

4 minutes ago, promenad said:

thanks

my concern is about the short gaps between long periods out. all together is an year and two months with just a month and a half in american soil in between...

if anybody has experience with this sort of case and could share their experience!

There's not a presumption of breaking continuous residence since no single trip was over 6 months, but the officer is permitted to look at the totality of the circumstances to make a decision on the requirement. If sufficient ties to the US were maintained then I think you would be alright.

 

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

"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. ^[10] "

[shell20 746]

8 minutes ago, promenad said:

thanks

my concern is about the short gaps between long periods out. all together is an year and two months with just a month and a half in american soil in between...

if anybody has experience with this sort of case and could share their experience!

If you go to the requirements for citizenship you cannot have more than 18 months out of the country in a 3 year period and also as mindthegap and Geowrian have stated no more than 6 months at a time.

 

I think if you look at the N400 section or post there regarding this they might be able to help you a little more as they are applying and going through the process.

[promenad 9]

4 minutes ago, geowrian said:

There's not a presumption of breaking continuous residence since no single trip was over 6 months, but the officer is permitted to look at the totality of the circumstances to make a decision on the requirement. If sufficient ties to the US were maintained then I think you would be alright.

 

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

"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. ^[10] "

Thank you very much. We kept bank accounts, health insurance, paying taxes and so on. Hope is enough! 

Just now, shell20 said:

If you go to the requirements for citizenship you cannot have more than 18 months out of the country in a 3 year period and also as mindthegap and Geowrian have stated no more than 6 months at a time.

 

I think if you look at the N400 section or post there regarding this they might be able to help you a little more as they are applying and going through the process.

Thank you so much! I will try to post it there. No more travels out of usa for a while!

[shell20 746]

Just now, promenad said:

Thank you very much. We kept bank accounts, health insurance, paying taxes and so on. Hope is enough! 

Thank you so much! I will try to post it there. No more travels out of usa for a while!

Just be aware that if you are due for citizenship then you can't really go out of the country much more as you are over 14 months out of the country, this I think if memory serves me correct is 3 years from your conditional GC .https://citizenpath.com/citizenship-requirements-3-year-married-permanent-resident/