N400: Listing trips out of country and 90 day rule

[citizen797 0]

Hi folks - 

 

I complete the requirements for the 5 years permanent residence including continuous residence as of April 2021 and planning on filing 90 calendar days prior (Jan 2021) to completing the permanent residence requirement based on the early filing option.

 

With that said in the application should I be listing travel out of the country from:

A] April 2016 to January 2021 (file date)

B] January 2016 to January 2021 (file date)

 

Thanks for the support!

Frank

[Thegirl 224]

3 hours ago, citizen797 said:

Hi folks - 

 

I complete the requirements for the 5 years permanent residence including continuous residence as of April 2021 and planning on filing 90 calendar days prior (Jan 2021) to completing the permanent residence requirement based on the early filing option.

 

With that said in the application should I be listing travel out of the country from:

A] April 2016 to January 2021 (file date)

B] January 2016 to January 2021 (file date)

 

Thanks for the support!

Frank

April 

[Zaidba 39]

13 hours ago, citizen797 said:

Hi folks - 

 

I complete the requirements for the 5 years permanent residence including continuous residence as of April 2021 and planning on filing 90 calendar days prior (Jan 2021) to completing the permanent residence requirement based on the early filing option.

 

With that said in the application should I be listing travel out of the country from:

A] April 2016 to January 2021 (file date)

B] January 2016 to January 2021 (file date)

 

Thanks for the support!

Frank

If you are filing online, you will have to list your presence, addresses, and work for the previous 5 years from the date of filing, otherwise the software will ask you to complete missing dates before you can submit your application. That means January.

[citizen797 0]

Thanks both!

 

56 minutes ago, Zaidba said:

If you are filing online, you will have to list your presence, addresses, and work for the previous 5 years from the date of filing, otherwise the software will ask you to complete missing dates before you can submit your application. That means January.

Understood, I’m aware and that would not be an issue however don’t believe there are filters for travel dates as the system wouldn’t know if you travelled or not in a certain year or month. Or am I missing something? 

[Zaidba 39]

5 hours ago, citizen797 said:

Thanks both!

 

Understood, I’m aware and that would not be an issue however don’t believe there are filters for travel dates as the system wouldn’t know if you travelled or not in a certain year or month. Or am I missing something? 

The filing system knows your travel dates from the information you feed it to the application, and there is part of the application to list dates outside the US and duration of your stay outside the US. In addition, the I94 tracks your entry and exit dates.

You may check yours for the last 5 years here:

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home

 

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

10 hours ago, citizen797 said:

Thanks both!

 

Understood, I’m aware and that would not be an issue however don’t believe there are filters for travel dates as the system wouldn’t know if you travelled or not in a certain year or month. Or am I missing something? 

 

4 hours ago, Zaidba said:

The filing system knows your travel dates from the information you feed it to the application, and there is part of the application to list dates outside the US and duration of your stay outside the US. In addition, the I94 tracks your entry and exit dates.

You may check yours for the last 5 years here:

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home

 

You fill it in and the system calculates your days.

My interview officer checked my dates listed against my passport and something else, I presume the CBP record.

 

[citizen797 0]

Thanks all!

If showing also the period Jan - April 2016 I would be needing to list a trip that could be deemed to break continuous residence with a departure date out of the country earlier in 2015. 
So starting to get a little confused with regards to the 90 days. 

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

48 minutes ago, citizen797 said:

Thanks all!

If showing also the period Jan - April 2016 I would be needing to list a trip that could be deemed to break continuous residence with a departure date out of the country earlier in 2015. 
So starting to get a little confused with regards to the 90 days. 

The system calculates the start of the out of country date as the 5 years ago date, rather than the full trip if it started before that (I think that’s what you’re asking?)

[citizen797 0]

9 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

The system calculates the start of the out of country date as the 5 years ago date, rather than the full trip if it started before that (I think that’s what you’re asking?)

Got it - that is super interesting. 

I wasn't aware, thanks for sharing

[Zaidba 39]

18 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

The system calculates the start of the out of country date as the 5 years ago date, rather than the full trip if it started before that (I think that’s what you’re asking?)

You are right about days counting. I was in this same situation and I consulted a lawyer who told me that I can apply six months before completing 5 years from my return from the long trip that broke my continuous residency, and if I am not comfortable with that to apply 3 months before completing 5 years since 3 months early filing is allowed for everyone. However, few weeks after the meeting with the lawyer, i read in this forum somebody in this situation was denied because the officer read his departure and entry dates and decided that he broke the continuous residency requirement because he stayed more than 6 months outside the US even though most of it was outside the last 5 years.

I called the attorney and told him about this situation, he said this is not normal but he can see that somebody may say that.

You can guess that I decided to wait until I completed 5 years from my long absence and now have been waiting for more than 6 months for my biometrics!

I do not mean to discourage "Citizen 797" from applying early because the possibility of denial is actually very slim, but he should be comfortable with the decision he takes.

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

15 minutes ago, Zaidba said:

You are right about days counting. I was in this same situation and I consulted a lawyer who told me that I can apply six months before completing 5 years from my return from the long trip that broke my continuous residency, and if I am not comfortable with that to apply 3 months before completing 5 years since 3 months early filing is allowed for everyone. However, few weeks after the meeting with the lawyer, i read in this forum somebody in this situation was denied because the officer read his departure and entry dates and decided that he broke the continuous residency requirement because he stayed more than 6 months outside the US even though most of it was outside the last 5 years.

I called the attorney and told him about this situation, he said this is not normal but he can see that somebody may say that.

You can guess that I decided to wait until I completed 5 years from my long absence and now have been waiting for more than 6 months for my biometrics!

I do not mean to discourage "Citizen 797" from applying early because the possibility of denial is actually very slim, but he should be comfortable with the decision he takes.

I don’t know about what you read or why that person did not appeal the decision, but I know how the system works because my husband was in this situation, and it only counted the days from the beginning of the 5 year period.  

[Simple123 4]

So I have a question , if you are filling 90 days early and before you immigrate you just arrived from your home country to here.

 

may be that means you spent those 90 days outside of the US but how can you fit that in the table when you list all trips out of the US and first questions is “ date you travelled from the US”.

 

 

[Jay_N 9]

On 11/12/2020 at 12:45 AM, SusieQQQ said:

The system calculates the start of the out of country date as the 5 years ago date, rather than the full trip if it started before that (I think that’s what you’re asking?)

Hi @SusieQQQ

Does it mean if your trip started outside the 5 year window the system will not allow you to put the actual departure date since it falls outside the window? Or does it allow you to put the actual departure date but then does its own calculation on your length of absence? Thanks

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

1 hour ago, Jay_N said:

Hi @SusieQQQ

Does it mean if your trip started outside the 5 year window the system will not allow you to put the actual departure date since it falls outside the window? Or does it allow you to put the actual departure date but then does its own calculation on your length of absence? Thanks

To be honest it was so long ago (I filled in form like 2 years ago) I don’t recall which, I think it was the second but cannot be 100% sude.

[Jay_N 9]

1 hour ago, SusieQQQ said:

To be honest it was so long ago (I filled in form like 2 years ago) I don’t recall which, I think it was the second but cannot be 100% sude.

No problem, thank you though!