Eligibility to apply for US citizenship after living apart

[karl_friedrich]

Hi,

I have been a US permanent resident for about 4 years, my wife is a US citizen. To be eligible for applying for US citizenship it says on Form N-400: "...you have been married to and living with the same US citizen spouse for the last 3 years...".
Since I became a permanent resident my wife and I have been living apart for about 2 years because we were not able to find jobs in the same town. We are both scientists so its sometimes hard to find jobs in the same location. Now we are living together again for the last 1.5 years.
Do I still qualify to apply for US citizenship?

I found that in https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/...rt-g-chapter-2 it says the following:

Involuntary Separation

Under very limited circumstances and where there is no indication of marital disunity, an applicant may be able to establish that he or she is living in marital union with his or her U.S. citizen spouse even though the applicant does not actually reside with citizen spouse. An applicant is not made ineligible for naturalization for not living in marital union if the separation is due to circumstances beyond his or her control, such as: [32]

Service in the U.S. armed forces; or

Required travel or relocation for employment.

USCIS does not consider incarceration during the time of required living in marital union to be an involuntary separation.

I am not sure if "Involuntary Separation" applies to us since we were not "forced" to reside apart, but did it to get some first work experience after graduating.
Does anyone has experience with such a case?

Thank you for your help!

[JoeF]

You should discuss your situation with a good immigration lawyer. This is risky without expert guidance.