Sebas&Lily

Thank you KASH

Good luck to you, I see yours is pending!

Hello all, my wife has passed her US Citizenship test on Sep 28th (Monday), everything went smooth, the Seattle office was running about 1hr behind schedule but her interview only lasted about 15mins. Came back same day for Ceremony and Certificate, everything went smooth, we are finally done Well gotta notify the Social Security office I think but that's it!

Please update my line under Arizona lockbox, I think some dates got switched around.

UserName.........|GC-Date.|Sent.|Cashd|NOA..|Fprints.|In Line..|Int Ltr..|Intview..|Oath.....|Field Office

Sebas&Lily.......|12/10/10|02/21|02/27|03/03|--/--/--|03/26/15.|03/30/15.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|Seattle,WA

Fprints were on 3/26/15, not sur e what In Line means, Int Ltr arrived 8/24/15 and Intview was 9/28/15, Oath same d ay. Thanks!

Forgot to mention that my wife was the only applicant from Romania and at the Ceremony, when they called each country, they completely missed ours Everyone else was standing up because their country got called and my wife was the only person still sitting...they finally asked where she is from and added that to their list... Wasn't very nice of them and they didn't even try to be apologetic.

Just received text from USCIS, interview has been scheduled. It took 148 days, or 5 month, since I was in-line.

Thanks for the update, good luck!

Same here, received notification via text and checked online, IN LINE for Interview 3/30/15, FINGERPRINTS completed 3/26/15. Thank you

Received the NOA today!! YaY! Thanks for updating my stuff KASH!

Oh how nice, thanks USCIS. The first time we applied and got turned down only took 5 months...we waited a few more years to re-apply only to wait another 9months to complete the process. Wow. Just wow.

Quick update, check has been cashed by USCIS on Friday, 2/27/15. Thanks

^ What Jimmy said Gotta love it when people reply to a topic they did not read..

Good luck Moe, looks like you're on the right path, do let us know the outcome, we're rooting for you

Forgot to send in the form for electronic notification Will I still be able to add my case though to the USCIS Check My Case Status site? That would be once they assign us a case number

Also thanks Kash2011 for updating the list with our names on it

Just sent our package in today, wish us luck Good luck to everyone else also! Oh yeah, sent it to the Phoenix, AZ lockbox and we are in Seattle

Thank you Just looking to get some support, to re-build our confidence We are gathering the necessary documents as we speak, in order to re-file.

Right, as I've said in my reply, we were denied for breaking continuous residency. Is that not the same thing you just posted about my case? I even told my wife we might have issues because of her long trip, my fault was not reading more into it. I was under the impression that if you spend that much time outside of the country, that they will just delay your case by the amount of time you were gone. I was obviously wrong. I should've done more research, then I would've seen that you can actually get denied citizenship for being gone that long. The RFE in our case was another delay that I did not expect, especially after all the organized and required documents I have sent in. I feel it's completely normal to feel afraid to file again, we don't have money growing on trees. Maybe USCIS thinks we do, but we do not. We were obviously crushed when we found out, especially after my wife was so stressed out about the Civics test and then ended up passing it with flying colors.

USCIS honestly should DELAY applicants after breaking residency, not DENY the original application and then start over. But someone has to finance them, right? We have nothing to hide, we have always been up front about everything, maybe even too honest sometimes, unlike others who carry on pretend relationships or pretend they are a gipsy in order to receive refugee status and GC. Trust me, I've seen and heard plenty.

I'm with Reach449 on this, last time me and my wife filed for her citizenship, we got back a RFE (Request for Evidence), even though we sent in everything we had, so I sent everything once again, she took her test and all, then got denied for breaking continuous residency. I'm sick of it all, sick of the ridiculous system, sick of not being able to fight back, sick of wasting money and now we have to start over and of course, we are still afraid we might get denied even though we haven't left the country in more than 3 years... it sure is nice not being able to see your family overseas.

Anyone else? Just looking for a little more support here

I don't know the details of your case, but if you have a break in continuous residency AND you are applying based on marriage to US citizen AND you have lived in the US for a full year before breaking your continuous residency AND you were not considered to have abandoned your green card, then you can apply 2 years and 1 day after your return to the US. You still have to meet all other conditions.

But since you say that you returned in January 2012, this does not really apply to you because you've already been here for a full three years So if you meet all the other conditions, it sounds like you're already eligible to apply based on three years of marriage to a US citizen.

Right, me and my wife, both returned in January 2012, we haven't left the country since but when we apply, we still have to mention that trip because it falls within the last 5 years, the period in which they want to know if you've left the country and for how long But like you said, it should not affect us this time around because in the last three years, we did not break continuous residency.

That is what Im afraid of losing the 700$ in a snap. Anyways, are you going to apply for this year?

Yes, we are gathering the documents needed and will re-apply.

The 2 years plus 1 day rule (or 4 years plus 1 day rule if not applying based on marriage) only applies if USCIS determines that your trip broke your continuous residency. It is very unlikely (although possible) that a trip under 6 months will break continuous residency.

So what you're saying is, in my case, since our application got denied based on breaking the continuous residency, we can re-apply after 2 years and 1 day from us returning to the US, which was January 2012, am I understanding this right?

Thanks, yeah we are getting everything together and will re-file but it's really frustrating.. I wish I would've had more information when we filed and I would've waited.

That's true, I might do that, we'll see Thanks and good luck to you!

The 11months was in one whole trip, in 2011. Me and my wife returned together in January 22, 2012 then applied for citizenship on January 28, 2014. This alone should qualify for USCIS rule that you can re-apply after being denied, based on the 3yr rule, after 2 years and 1 day, which we did but still got denied. We went to the interview, I waited in the waiting room, they only wanted her inside, she passed the test without any issues, waited almost a month and no ceremony invite, instead we receive the denial letter explaining their decision. $700 down the drain.

Hmm, she was out of the country for 11months in 2011 and I think 1month in 2010. She returned in January 2012, we applied January 2014 (2 years and a few days later), and got denied. It has been 3 years now since our return in 2012 but we are still scared to re-apply. I don't know what to do.

Also I'd love to challenge the denial because we applied 2 years and a few days later, after our return from Romania on Jan 22, 2012 and according to them, that should be ok.

Sorry, meant to say we applied for citizenship in January 2014, more than 2 years and 1 day later, yet we still got denied. Gotta love rules, right?

I would recommend reading this: http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter3.html

My wife was denied citizenship for being outside of the country for 11months in 2011, we returned to the US in Jan 2012, applied for Citizenship in December 2013. We should have waited until January 2014 and then apply but we didn't know it would affect us. Basically if you apply for citizenship based on 3 year rule, then you can apply 2 years and 1 day after the last day you returned from your trip. At least that's how I understand it.

Trips of more than 6 months will negatively affect the process and sometimes even means abandonment of greencard. However, it is wrong to assume that trips of less than 6 months will not affect the process at all. We all know that to be eligible for citizenship, one must stay in the US 18 out of 36 months (for marriage-based), so even if your wife will not be outside of US for more than 6 months, you also want to make sure that the total time she is physically in the US must be 18 or more months.

We applied for Citizenship very confident like, with the 18 out of 36 month rule in our heads, turns out it's not true. Wife still got denied. I'll quote USCIS:

​

An applicant who is required to establish ​continuous​ residence for at least five years​ ^[14] See INA 316(a). and whose application for naturalization is denied for an absence of one year or longer​,​ may apply for naturalization four years and one day after returning to the United States to resume permanent residence.​ An applicant who is subject to the three-year continuous residence ​requirement​ ^[15] See INA 319(a). may apply two years and one day after returning to the United States to resume permanent residence.​ ^[16] See 8 CFR 316.5©(1)(ii).

From this link: http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter3.html

Hello all, my wife was denied US Citizenship because she was out of the country for 11months in 2011 and we are looking to re-apply this month. She did not intend to break the continuous residence but her mother was sick and she had surgery, therefore my wife spent some time back home. Now we haven't left the country in more than 3 years, do you think we will have any issues this time around? Only reason I am asking is because the N400 application wants you to list every trip outside of the country in the last 5 years, not 3, so we will have to list her absence all over again.

The USCIS website states the following:

"3. Eligibility after Break in Residence​

​

An applicant who is required to establish ​continuous​ residence for at least five years​ ^[14] See INA 316(a). and whose application for naturalization is denied for an absence of one year or longer​,​ may apply for naturalization four years and one day after returning to the United States to resume permanent residence.​ An applicant who is subject to the three-year continuous residence ​requirement​ ^[15] See INA 319(a). may apply two years and one day after returning to the United States to resume permanent residence.​ ^[16] See 8 CFR 316.5©(1)(ii). "

Link here: http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter3.html

Also after being denied for citizenship, how long do we have to fight the outcome? I'll have to dig up the USCIS letter and see if it's specified on it.

Thank you all and a late Happy New Year