Sapphire

My Motherinlaw applied for citizenship last year April and this year in
February she was denied because she was out of the US for more than 1
year. She has her Greencard 10 years now and due to the fact that her
sick husband did not get a Visa and could not travel she was mostly
overseas. Now in April we got a greencard for him as well so he came here.

the question is if we can ask for an exception because she could not
stay here due to her husband.
There seem to be cases where the INS had waived the requirement when the
applicant is older, here she is now 65 her husband 83.

any advise or hint?

kazic

She has 10 years her green card but she was more than 1 year out of USA. In that case she should loose her green card because permanent residents are not allowed to be out of USA for more than 1 year.

You said her naturalization request was denied. But, was she allowed to keep her green card?

How did INS know that she was more than 1 year abroad? I assume that she made that statemenit in her N-400.

The most important info about her case is her track of departures and arivals, but you did not mention anything about it.
If she made that 1+ year stay abroad in the first 5 years, and they allowed her to keep her green card, than there should be no problems.

But, if her 1+ year stay abroad was in her latest 5 years, than she has the problem because she missed the requirement for 5 years physical residence. In that case (and if she was allowed to keep her green card) the counting of 5 years needed for physical residence begins after her return from this long, 1+ year stay.

If you can give her track of all departures and arrivals as stated in her N-400 I think that many participants of this forum would be able to help you with the advice.
This info is given in Part 7: "Time outside the United States" of N-400 and this is one of the most important requirement for the naturalization. In your case, you should focus on sorting out that issue. If you are asking for the advice, you need to be more precise.

Sapphire

Thank you for the answer, I'm currently assembling the data and feel the
immigration consultant who applied for her did a poor job advising her
to do so. She has 2 written remarks in her passport, one out of US more
than 10 month and one out of US 6 month, both in 2003. She had something
she calls a white passport twice which allowed her to outside the US for
2 years each, I guess when she gets her new greencard (if she gets it)
she has to start over with the residency requirements.


kazic wrote:

    > She has 10 years her green card but she was more than 1 year out of USA.
    > In that case she should loose her green card because permanent residents
    > are not allowed to be out of USA for more than 1 year.
    >
    > You said her
    > naturalization request was denied. But, was she allowed to keep her
    > green card?
    >
    > How did INS know that she was more than 1 year abroad? I
    > assume that she made that statemenit in her N-400.
    >
    > The most important
    > info about her case is her track of departures and arivals, but you did
    > not mention anything about it.
    > If she made that 1+ year stay abroad in
    > the first 5 years, and they allowed her to keep her green card, than
    > there should be no problems.
    >
    > But, if her 1+ year stay abroad was in her
    > latest 5 years, than she has the problem because she missed the
    > requirement for 5 years physical residence. In that case (and if she was
    > allowed to keep her green card) the counting of 5 years needed for
    > physical residence begins after her return from this long, 1+ year stay.
    >
    >
    > If you can give her track of all departures and arrivals as stated in
    > her N-400 I think that many participants of this forum would be able to
    > help you with the advice.
    > This info is given in Part 7: "Time outside
    > the United States" of N-400 and this is one of the most important
    > requirement for the naturalization. In your case, you should focus on
    > sorting out that issue. If you are asking for the advice, you need to be
    > more precise.
    >
    >

kazic

OK. You should collect all data and post again. If uou are precise you should get reliable answers.

And try to get precise info about "white passport" which may be a return permit.

After your posting it is still not clear what happened with the green card. She applied for naturalization and had the green card at that time. But now she does not have green card. It is not explained properly what happened to green card.

And that remarks in the passport "out of USA for more than 10 months". How did he get it? Did the officer find it in his computer or he only asked her, and she replied that she was more than 10 months abroad?

jamie01

The white (actually tan beige) passport is a reentry permit. If greencard holders happen to be out of US for more than one year
they get it prior to leaving. When you come back, you present the greencard and the permit and the officer returns the greencard, not the permnit back to you.

kazic

Sapphire,

it would be interesting to hear the end of your story. What happened in the meantime?