I have a 7 month break in continued residence. How can I apply?

[BobTheMedStudent 0]

I am a student studying abroad, and an LPR, who is financially supported by my mom. I am looking to apply for N400 and I have come across an issue in my application. There was an original break in continued residence of more than one year from June 2014-November 2015(I traveled with a re-entry permit). From November 2015 to now, I have many trips but one trip that lasted 6 months and 21 days outside of the US. I understand that I have to submit evidence against this ‘rebuttable presumption’ of a break in continued residence. From my limited understanding of the information from USCIS, this consists of but not limited to: 

 

A) Show employment in US or that I was not looking for employment abroad (I was studying and financially supported by my mom)

- She filed me as a dependent in her tax returns

- Would this be acceptable?

B) Show that immediate family members remained in the US

- My mom remained at our residence in the US and continued to work

- I’m not sure what documentation to prove her residence.

C) Show mortgage or rental payments

- My mom purchased a home during this time and my name is on the house deed

 

Other evidence:

1) I was on my mom’s US health insurance as a dependent

2) I have bank accounts and credit card with my mom as well as my own

3) I have a driver’s license

 

Absence
6/1/2014-11/4/2015	Original break in continued residence
11/28/2015-1/25/2016
2/26/2016-4/28/2016
5/15/2016-9/9/2016
1/26/2017-8/15/2017	6 months, 21 days
9/28/2017-3/8/2018
7/9/2018-12/8/2018
3/2/2019-3/5/2019
9/2/2019-9/29/2019
12/6/2019-1/17/2020

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

If you do not meet the requirements you can wait to apply until you do. 

 

Continuous Residence

Applicants are required to show that they have:

• Resided continuously in the U.S. for five years before applying, (see legal basis), or
• Resided continuously in the U.S. for three years in the case of qualified spouses of U.S. citizens, (see legal basis) 

“Continuous residence” means that the applicant has maintained residence within the United States for the required period of time shown above.

Extended absences outside of the U.S. may disrupt an applicant’s continuous residence.

• Absences of more than six months but less than one year may disrupt an applicant’s continuous residence unless the applicant can prove otherwise, (see legal basis, see policy manual)
• Absences in excess of one year (PDF, 667.32 KB) or more may disrupt an applicant’s continuous residence, (see legal basis, see policy manual)

Physical Presence

Applicants are required to show that they were:

• Physically present in the U.S. for thirty months within the five year period before applying, or (see legal basis)
• Physically present in the U.S. for eighteen months within the three year period before applying in the case of qualified spouses of U.S. citizens (see legal basis)

In addition, applicants are required to show they have resided for at least three months immediately preceding the filing of Form N-400 in the USCIS district or state where the applicant claims to have residency (See 8 CFR §316.2(a)(5) & §319.1(a)(5)).

[BobTheMedStudent 0]

According to USCIS, if I can show evidence that I did not break continued residence then that will allow me to apply now.

[whirlpool 5]

so if someone keep making trips overseas but each time for less than 6 months, but only spend 1 months in the US in a year, that means that person still meet the continued residence requirement?

[Zaidba 39]

2 hours ago, BobTheMedStudent said:

I am a student studying abroad, and an LPR, who is financially supported by my mom. I am looking to apply for N400 and I have come across an issue in my application. There was an original break in continued residence of more than one year from June 2014-November 2015(I traveled with a re-entry permit). From November 2015 to now, I have many trips but one trip that lasted 6 months and 21 days outside of the US. I understand that I have to submit evidence against this ‘rebuttable presumption’ of a break in continued residence. From my limited understanding of the information from USCIS, this consists of but not limited to: 

 

A) Show employment in US or that I was not looking for employment abroad (I was studying and financially supported by my mom)

- She filed me as a dependent in her tax returns

- Would this be acceptable?

B) Show that immediate family members remained in the US

- My mom remained at our residence in the US and continued to work

- I’m not sure what documentation to prove her residence.

C) Show mortgage or rental payments

- My mom purchased a home during this time and my name is on the house deed

 

Other evidence:

1) I was on my mom’s US health insurance as a dependent

2) I have bank accounts and credit card with my mom as well as my own

3) I have a driver’s license

 

Absence
6/1/2014-11/4/2015	Original break in continued residence
11/28/2015-1/25/2016
2/26/2016-4/28/2016
5/15/2016-9/9/2016
1/26/2017-8/15/2017	6 months, 21 days
9/28/2017-3/8/2018
7/9/2018-12/8/2018
3/2/2019-3/5/2019
9/2/2019-9/29/2019
12/6/2019-1/17/2020

My tow sons were in your position and they stayed out for 9 months. They decided to apply, and submitted residence lease, credit cards statements and bank account statement and transcript of a sister studying in the US. They went to the interview in the same day with two different officers, one of them was approved without any question about the 9 months absence, and the other was asked and the officer asked for a copies of evidence (even though they were uploaded with application). he was given "decision cannot be made at this time", but was approved after three days.

I wanted to let you know that with evidence you mentioned, you will most probably be approved., but don't apply before 5th November 2020 to pass your first long trip. You may also be able to apply the 4 years plus one day since you had re-entry permit and apply now but ask a lawyer about this. good luck

Edited August 1, 2020 by Zaidba
more clarification

[AslamBhai 0]

13 hours ago, whirlpool said:

so if someone keep making trips overseas but each time for less than 6 months, but only spend 1 months in the US in a year, that means that person still meet the continued residence requirement?

No, apart from continuous residence requirment, physical residence in US is also required. For 5 years rule application, u have to be living in US physically for at least 36 months out of the total 60 months immediately prior to the date of application. Please read the eligibility on USCIS website. The rules are clearly stated in simple English!

[Unlockable 7,318]

14 hours ago, BobTheMedStudent said:

According to USCIS, if I can show evidence that I did not break continued residence then that will allow me to apply now.

If you have evidence that you were actually residing inside the US then you can provide that. But if you were not actually here then you need to wait until you cover the physical presence requirements. Health insurance and bank accounts don't prove you were physically in the US.
 

13 hours ago, whirlpool said:

so if someone keep making trips overseas but each time for less than 6 months, but only spend 1 months in the US in a year, that means that person still meet the continued residence requirement?

Absolutely NOT. The time spent outside the US will be counted against the person. If you need proof you can search the Naturalization section of this forum and find people who were denied Naturalization because of them doing what you described. 

[BobTheMedStudent 0]

To clarify some things that are being brought up. I fulfill the physical presence requirement of 913 days. That is not the issue. Physical presence can easily be proven by passport and entry/exit stamps at border crossings. The issue is in regards with continuous residence. That requires evidence of residing in the US. In this situation, since I am a student and financially supported by my mom, my primary residence is the address of my mom's home since that is where I reside. This only needs to be proven because of a break in continuous residence by more than 6 months and less than 1 year.

[BobTheMedStudent 0]

53 minutes ago, AslamBhai said:

No, apart from continuous residence requirment, physical residence in US is also required. For 5 years rule application, u have to be living in US physically for at least 36 months out of the total 60 months immediately prior to the date of application. Please read the eligibility on USCIS website. The rules are clearly stated in simple English!

Since I was over 1 year outside the country in 2015, the rule of 4 year and 1 day applies to my case not the 5 year rule.

[BobTheMedStudent 0]

48 minutes ago, Unlockable said:

If you have evidence that you were actually residing inside the US then you can provide that. But if you were not actually here then you need to wait until you cover the physical presence requirements. Health insurance and bank accounts don't prove you were physically in the US.
 

Absolutely NOT. The time spent outside the US will be counted against the person. If you need proof you can search the Naturalization section of this forum and find people who were denied Naturalization because of them doing what you described. 

To clarify some things that are being brought up. I fulfill the physical presence requirement of 913 days. That is not the issue. Physical presence can easily be proven by passport and entry/exit stamps at border crossings. The issue is in regards with continuous residence. That requires evidence of residing in the US. In this situation, since I am a student and financially supported by my mom, my primary residence is the address of my mom's home since that is where I reside. This only needs to be proven because of a break in continuous residence by more than 6 months and less than 1 year.

[BobTheMedStudent 0]

13 hours ago, Zaidba said:

My tow sons were in your position and they stayed out for 9 months. They decided to apply, and submitted residence lease, credit cards statements and bank account statement and transcript of a sister studying in the US. They went to the interview in the same day with two different officers, one of them was approved without any question about the 9 months absence, and the other was asked and the officer asked for a copies of evidence (even though they were uploaded with application). he was given "decision cannot be made at this time", but was approved after three days.

I wanted to let you know that with evidence you mentioned, you will most probably be approved., but don't apply before 5th November 2020 to pass your first long trip. You may also be able to apply the 4 years plus one day since you had re-entry permit and apply now but ask a lawyer about this. good luck

Thank you for sharing this with me. I was also wondering how much they were outside of the country not including the 9 months?

[xyz12345 260]

16 hours ago, Zaidba said:

My tow sons were in your position and they stayed out for 9 months. They decided to apply, and submitted residence lease, credit cards statements and bank account statement and transcript of a sister studying in the US. They went to the interview in the same day with two different officers, one of them was approved without any question about the 9 months absence, and the other was asked and the officer asked for a copies of evidence (even though they were uploaded with application). he was given "decision cannot be made at this time", but was approved after three days.

I wanted to let you know that with evidence you mentioned, you will most probably be approved., but don't apply before 5th November 2020 to pass your first long trip. You may also be able to apply the 4 years plus one day since you had re-entry permit and apply now but ask a lawyer about this. good luck

that's my opinion too except that imo OP can apply after 4 years, 6 months and 1 day after return on 11/5/2015. That way, your first overseas trip (period covered by reentry permit) will have an absence of less than 6 months. If OP can overcome break in continuous residence in 2017, then he is eligible to apply right now.

Edited August 1, 2020 by xyz12345

[whirlpool 5]

3 hours ago, AslamBhai said:

No, apart from continuous residence requirment, physical residence in US is also required. For 5 years rule application, u have to be living in US physically for at least 36 months out of the total 60 months immediately prior to the date of application. Please read the eligibility on USCIS website. The rules are clearly stated in simple English!

 

3 hours ago, Unlockable said:

If you have evidence that you were actually residing inside the US then you can provide that. But if you were not actually here then you need to wait until you cover the physical presence requirements. Health insurance and bank accounts don't prove you were physically in the US.
 

Absolutely NOT. The time spent outside the US will be counted against the person. If you need proof you can search the Naturalization section of this forum and find people who were denied Naturalization because of them doing what you described. 

Well I said within a year, and I am talking about continuous residence requirement. 

 

I wasnt talking about physical presence.

 

And you are wrong, it is:

 

An applicant for naturalization is generally required to have been physically present in the United States for at least half the time for which his or her continuous residence is required. Applicants for naturalization under INA 316(a) are required to demonstrate physical presence in the United States for at least 30 months (at least 913 days) before filing the application.

 

So yes please read my question carefully.

 

[xyz12345 260]

1 hour ago, whirlpool said:

 

Well I said within a year, and I am talking about continuous residence requirement. 

 

I wasnt talking about physical presence.

 

And you are wrong, it is:

 

An applicant for naturalization is generally required to have been physically present in the United States for at least half the time for which his or her continuous residence is required. Applicants for naturalization under INA 316(a) are required to demonstrate physical presence in the United States for at least 30 months (at least 913 days) before filing the application.

 

So yes please read my question carefully.

 

 

18 hours ago, whirlpool said:

so if someone keep making trips overseas but each time for less than 6 months, but only spend 1 months in the US in a year, that means that person still meet the continued residence requirement?

<6 months/yr -- outside US?

1 month/yr    -- inside US?

what happened to the other months/yr? Inside US or outside US?

 

[whirlpool 5]

1 hour ago, xyz12345 said:

 

<6 months/yr -- outside US?

1 month/yr    -- inside US?

what happened to the other months/yr? Inside US or outside US?

 

i didnt say 6 months within a year, i said 6 months "each time"