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I am a permanent resident of US having green card for last three years. This year on 25th July, I traveled to my home country and will go back to states on 17 Jan 2020. I would have spend close to six months outside the states. Now two months of reaching states, I again have to leave for another country for some important project.

Now I am worried that would it effect my naturalization/citizenship process when I apply for it after having PR for five years? I have heard that you have to spend at least six months in a year in US to remain eligible for naturalization. Is that really true? I am unable to find such information on their site. It just says that I need to physically spend 30 months out of 5 years in US to remain eligible.

Can anyone please provide some clarification with some official references if possible?

NewbieProgrammer
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2 Answers2

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I have heard that you have to spend at least six months in a year in US to remain eligible for naturalization. Is that really true?

No, that is not true. There is no requirement regarding amount of time you have to spend in the US in a year. The only requirements are the continuous residence requirement and the physical presence requirement.

You are presumed to break continuous residence if you have an absence of more than 6 months (though it is possible to overcome the presumption with strong evidence for absences of between 6 months and 1 year). Since your trips are less than 6 months, they should be okay. It is possible that if you returned for just a day, and then leave again, the officer might consider the absences are really just one big absence, which would then potentially jeopardize continuous residence. I don't think that should be an issue in your case.

The physical presence requirement is just physical presence for half of the required period (30 months if you are applying under the 5-year rule). So you would not meet it if you were gone for more than half the year every year. But being gone more than half the year for just one or two years, with the other years being here the whole time, should not be a problem for the physical presence requirement.

user102008
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The Apply for Citizenship | USCIS site seems to contain the needed information.

Step 2. Determine if you are eligible to become a U.S. citizen.

Going through the Naturalization Eligibility Worksheet contained in the pdf

  • gives in great detail, with possible rules of exceptions, how your times outside the US will be treated

and if you still qualify.

Also, unless you fulfill any of the clearly stated exceptions, 5*6 is still 30 and if you answer that question (4) with no

  • then you are not eligible

Then comes question 5, which also must be answered with yes.

Since there are many conditions (like Form N-470) that we may know nothing about, you must work this out for yourself.

Mark Johnson
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