4 year 1 day rule for Wife to apply for US Citizenship

[goutham31]

Wife came to the US in 2008, lived in USA until 2012, went out of USA in Nov 2012 for her Masters and then came back to USA Nov 2014 (out of country for full 2 years). 

Stayed for 2 weeks in USA until end of Nov 2014, went out of USA, and came back again in July 2015 and living in USA ever since. I think her eligibility to apply for citizenship broke because she was out of country for 2 years. Want to check if she is eligible to apply for citizenship based on the 4 year 1 day rule on or after Nov 2018? (counting 4 years from Nov. 2014).

Your valuable inputs would be very helpful. Thanks!

 

[goutham31]

Can somebody please check and respond?

 

Thank you.

[cap-gap]

Restart your counting from July 2015...n you need to mention when exactly the GC was obtained?

[goutham31]

Thank you, Wife obtained GC in December 2008.

Can we not count from November 2014?

 

[JoeF]

Between Nov 2014 and July 2015 is more than 6 months, so that may be considered as breaking the continuous residency, in particular with the long trip abroad shortly before that.

Because of that, it is best to wait for 5 years after the July 2015 return.

[cap-gap]

consider yourself lucky that the GC was not considered abandoned for that full two year overseas stay.. and hope no silly tricks were played on your tax returns for those two years...that would be a nightmare in itself..

it’s been 10 years ..so what’s the rush to wait till July...though a claim can be made to count it from nov 2014, you will be bringing it upon yourself for intense scrutiny on what she did overseas during that 8 months..

[goutham31]

On 6/15/2018 at 4:57 PM, JoeF said:

Between Nov 2014 and July 2015 is more than 6 months, so that may be considered as breaking the continuous residency, in particular with the long trip abroad shortly before that.

Because of that, it is best to wait for 5 years after the July 2015 return.

Thank you

[goutham31]

12 hours ago, cap-gap said:

consider yourself lucky that the GC was not considered abandoned for that full two year overseas stay.. and hope no silly tricks were played on your tax returns for those two years...that would be a nightmare in itself..

it’s been 10 years ..so what’s the rush to wait till July...though a claim can be made to count it from nov 2014, you will be bringing it upon yourself for intense scrutiny on what she did overseas during that 8 months..

Thank you for your response. Wife was in India doing Masters during 2012 to 2014..went back after Nov 2014 to give her final exams and returned back to USA in July 2015..had a valid travel permit from 2012 to 2014 when she left in 2012..has not been questioned or grilled in Port of Entry any time regarding long absence from USA during all these trips..no silly tricks were played on tax returns.