devoted2him3

Hello all! I've been searching this forum for ages now without success so thought I'd post a new thread. Apologies if this is a current thread somewhere!

My husband will be applying for citizenship soon. He is a LPR and I am a USC. We've been married for 14 years and in the US coming up on 3 years. We know he can apply 90 days before meeting the required 3-year period of continuous residence as an LPR, but have read that we should exclude any time outside of the US from these 90 days. For example, the date of 90 days prior is September 6, 2020. We have been outside the country a total of 34 days in the past 3 years.

Does this mean we can't file until October 10, 2020? OR can we still file 90 days prior to the 3 year date? Does anyone know if this is correct??

civilservant

I would not apply before October 15th to be safe. As a general rule, never apply right on the day you think you're eligible just in case you've made a mistake.

steph0scope

The requirement is to be physically present for at least 18 months of the 3 years less 90 days prior to filing. 34 days on vacation elsewhere is fine. You didn’t break your residency here. Where did you read that you can’t count any time spent out of the country?

newacct

He heard wrong or misunderstood. There is no rule that you exclude any days outside the US.

There are 2 requirements for naturalization:

• Continuous residence. For the 3-year rule, you need to had "continuous residence" as a permanent resident for the last 3 years (and can apply 90 days before reaching that). Brief trips outside the US do not interrupt continuous residence, and days outside the US that do not interrupt continuous residence do not get "subtracted" or delay the time when the continuous residence requirement is met. An absence of between 6 months and 1 year is presumed to interrupt continuous residence, but this can be overcome with strong evidence of ties. An absence of more than 1 year definitely interrupts continuous residence. If continuous residence is interrupted, then the person must wait (in the case of the 3-year rule) 2 years and 6 months or 2 years and 1 day after returning before they can apply. So continuous residence is an all-or-nothing thing -- either it is not interrupted and you can apply 3 years minus 90 days after becoming a permanent resident (assuming you have been married to a US citizen for 3 years), or it is interrupted and you must wait years. It is never the case that you "delay" it by the length of the absence.
• Physical presence. For the 3-year rule, you need to have been physically present for half of the 3 years (i.e. 18 months) in the last 3 years. For this requirement, days outside the US, even for brief trips, would subtract from the amount of time physically present. However, this would only matter if you were only barely meeting the physical presence requirement, i.e. if you had already been out for almost half of the 3 years. Most people applying for naturalization have far more than half of the time inside the US, so trips outside the US would not come close to affecting the time when one qualifies for naturalization.

S Folinsky

Slight twists on break of continuity: in one breaks continuity of physical presence is that when the presence is resumed there is 364 days of qualifying residence on the “clock” for physical presence. However, the government interpretation is that the 90 day “early” filing canNOT be piggybacked to allow use of both rules. (Don’t ask me to explain inasmuch as I don’t understand it. Because of the time frames involved in contesting this is one of those times where it does not pay to “fight city hall.” Government wins by default.)

devoted2him3

Thanks so much all, this is definitely clearer! I think my husband must have misunderstood. He peruses this forum regularly which is where he read this but perhaps he was reading someone's situation that HAD interrupted their continuous residency. This clearly doesn't apply to us as we've only left for 2 weeks at a time. Thanks again!