Travelling Abroad for more than 6 months after filing N400

[r2ichennai 1]

My parents filed N400 and left out of US, They had 5 year continous residence and physical presence before the application, The interview was scheduled and canceled due to Covid 19,

They were stuck in India due to Covid19 issues as international flight was not permitted so they overstayed in India for about 9 months . They now have an interview next week, When they arrived in US the Immigration officer did not question on why they overstayed but we are worried that the N400 interviewing officer might question about recent trips and this might impact thier N400 qualification . Can you please clarify

 

Thanks,

 

[xyz12345 260]

Acc to USCIS

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3

 

Quote

A. Continuous Residence Requirement

An applicant for naturalization under the general provision^[1] must have resided continuously in the United States after his or her lawful permanent resident (LPR) admission for at least 5 years prior to filing the naturalization application and up to the time of naturalization.

 

Hopefully your parents can justify their 9-month absence but imo unless for medical reason, your parents could have cut their trip shorter and tried to come back earlier esp during the months of Jan to April when regular international and repatriation flights were still available.

 

So please come back after the interview and update us on what happened during the interview. I would be happy to be proven wrong.

 

Good luck!

[r2ichennai 1]

3 hours ago, xyz12345 said:

Acc to USCIS

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3

 

 

Hopefully your parents can justify their 9-month absence but imo unless for medical reason, your parents could have cut their trip shorter and tried to come back earlier esp during the months of Jan to April when regular international and repatriation flights were still available.

 

So please come back after the interview and update us on what happened during the interview. I would be happy to be proven wrong.

 

Good luck!

 

Thanks, They booked tickets for March 9th  and cancelled it due to Covid Scare in US in West coast (Seattle) they are high risk ~75  year old, I am thinking of providing them with documentation to support thier ties in US and cancelled airlines tickets. 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

12 minutes ago, r2ichennai said:

 

Thanks, They booked tickets for March 9th  and cancelled it due to Covid Scare in US in West coast (Seattle) they are high risk ~75  year old, I am thinking of providing them with documentation to support thier ties in US and cancelled airlines tickets. 

Make sure they take proof of the kind of things uscis would use to rebut the presumption of breaking continuous residence (see extract from the uscis manual below). As noted in the manual, intent alone is not sufficient. Good luck, hopefully they will be lenient under current circumstances, please keep us updated after.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3

 

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

However, an applicant may overcome the presumption of a break in the continuity of residence by providing evidence to establish that the applicant did not disrupt the continuity of his or her residence. Such evidence may include, but is not limited to, documentation that during the absence:[14]

-The applicant did not terminate his or her employment in the United States or obtain employment while abroad;

-The applicant’s immediate family members remained in the United States; and

-The applicant retained full access to or continued to own or lease a home in the United States.

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

By the way you talk about a “9 month overstay”, do you mean their total period of absence was 9 months? (This is what I have assumed in using the extract above)

[r2ichennai 1]

Yes they usually travel for 5 months in winter and 7 months in US, this time they couldnt come back and ended up staying 9 months

[r2ichennai 1]

Is there any sample letter or template to proove continous residency ?

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

2 minutes ago, r2ichennai said:

Yes they usually travel for 5 months in winter and 7 months in US, this time they couldnt come back and ended up staying 9 months

Ok, I got a little confused when you talked about overstay and then “not being questioned” about the overstay when they entered - that btw would be because there was no overstay from a green card perspective, it is a year that matters for that. 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

5 minutes ago, r2ichennai said:

Is there any sample letter or template to proove continous residency ?

They don’t want a letter, they want proof of the ties. Do they own or rent their own home? Kept their drivers licenses? Have any business that was earning income? Filed their tax return during the year? Etc?

[r2ichennai 1]

1 minute ago, SusieQQQ said:

They don’t want a letter, they want proof of the ties. Do they own or rent their own home? Kept their drivers licenses? Have any business that was earning income? Filed their tax return during the year? Etc?

They live with me and my family as i am the only child  no rental or employment evidences retired 75 years old, i have proof of income tax filing , state id, medical insurance, cancelled ticket, india cancelling border document, lmedical records, bus pass etc..  They are not super good with english especially american accent so Letter would be easier than explaining . I am trying to find some sample formats

We had a similar letter for port of entry if they sent to secondary inspection, but there was no secondary inspection they were allowed to enter without any hassle.

 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

Just now, r2ichennai said:

They live with me and my family as i am the only child  no rental or employment evidences retired 75 years old, i have proof of income tax filing , state id, medical insurance, cancelled ticket, india cancelling border document, lmedical records, bus pass etc..  They are not super good with english especially american accent so Letter would be easier than explaining . I am trying to find some sample formats

We had a similar letter for port of entry if they sent to secondary inspection, but there was no secondary inspection they were allowed to enter without any hassle.

 

I don’t want to add to your stress about this, but if they are unable to have a conversation about this with the interviewing officer they may not be able to pass the spoken part of the English test (unless they are exempt because they’ve had their green cards longer than 15 years?) Maybe you should role play the interview with them so that they get comfortable explaining it in English.

[r2ichennai 1]

7 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

I don’t want to add to your stress about this, but if they are unable to have a conversation about this with the interviewing officer they may not be able to pass the spoken part of the English test (unless they are exempt because they’ve had their green cards longer than 15 years?) Maybe you should role play the interview with them so that they get comfortable explaining it in English.

It is stressful, they are good with interview and N400 well give it a shot with we have come this long so might as well try till the end