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Hello,
It has been 2.5 years since i got my Green card and I am thinking about applying to citizenship after i complete 5 years...
In this 2.5 years, i left the US a few times, all of them for about 2 weeks, and one of them for 4 months. Now I am planning to make a 5 months and 3 weeks trip back to my country due to personal reasons....would this be okay or should i make the duration shorter, in order to retain the card, or may this be a problem when applying for citizenship?
What I read on the requirements sheet for citizenship was this: at least 30 months out of 5 years (60 months) AND no trip longer than 6 months....
SO,
1) does this really mean, even a person who was in the US for 30 months plus one day totally, and with several trips just less than 6 months is eligible - as far as satisfying the duration requirement?
2)is this "no longer trip than 6 months" mean duration of every trip outside the US, or every calendar year you need to be in the US at least 6 months? because you can still make your trips just shorter than 6 months but if you stay here 1 week and go back, in one calendar year you are not here for at least 6 months and can still satisfy 30 month req. totally in the end, if you stayed for very long in another year(s)...
3) so like in my case, if you had travelled outside the US for several months a few times (less than 6 months each) can this create a problem? Because as I said, I have a 4 month leave before, now another 5.5 month, and before 5 years is over, may be another 5 months....I seem to satisfy all the requirements on paper this way by far,both as far as total months and no trip longer than 6 months, but still wanted to know if they might see these few 4-5 month trips as a problem....
thanks
It has been 2.5 years since i got my Green card and I am thinking about applying to citizenship after i complete 5 years...
In this 2.5 years, i left the US a few times, all of them for about 2 weeks, and one of them for 4 months. Now I am planning to make a 5 months and 3 weeks trip back to my country due to personal reasons....would this be okay or should i make the duration shorter, in order to retain the card, or may this be a problem when applying for citizenship?
What I read on the requirements sheet for citizenship was this: at least 30 months out of 5 years (60 months) AND no trip longer than 6 months....
SO,
1) does this really mean, even a person who was in the US for 30 months plus one day totally, and with several trips just less than 6 months is eligible - as far as satisfying the duration requirement?
2)is this "no longer trip than 6 months" mean duration of every trip outside the US, or every calendar year you need to be in the US at least 6 months? because you can still make your trips just shorter than 6 months but if you stay here 1 week and go back, in one calendar year you are not here for at least 6 months and can still satisfy 30 month req. totally in the end, if you stayed for very long in another year(s)...
3) so like in my case, if you had travelled outside the US for several months a few times (less than 6 months each) can this create a problem? Because as I said, I have a 4 month leave before, now another 5.5 month, and before 5 years is over, may be another 5 months....I seem to satisfy all the requirements on paper this way by far,both as far as total months and no trip longer than 6 months, but still wanted to know if they might see these few 4-5 month trips as a problem....
thanks
