Residency requirements for US naturalization

A few days ago a lady came to see me and showed me a copy of a USCIS decision denying her application for naturalization citing she failed to comply with the residency requirements. I asked for a copy of her passport and we tallied the days that she resided inside the US as well as the days that she lived in her home country. True enough, the period of her absence from the US exceeded the time that she resided in New York. She did not meet the residency test for US naturalization.

To successfully apply for US naturalization, you must meet three different kinds of residency requirements: continuous residence, physical presence, and residence within the state or USCIS district. You should also have residence from the date of application up to the time of naturalization.

To qualify as a continuous resident in the US, a permanent resident or a green card holder must have reside dfo rat least five years immediately preceding the date of the filing and three years for those who obtained their green card through marriage to a US citizen. You can file your naturalization application three months before your fifth year or third

year after you became a permanent resident. Take note of the two operative words --continuous and residency. Residency means one's principal, actual dwelling place, without regard to intent. Continuous means you have not been away from the US for a long period of time during one trip.

How long is too long? Absence from the US for six months or less is still acceptable as it does not break the "continuous" requirement. Absence of more than six months and less than one year puts you in a defensive mode since this raises the presumption of abandonment of continuous residency. However, this is still rebuttable; you can still produce evidence of continuous residency by maintaining a home in the US, continuing employment, presence of family members in the US, paying taxes, possessing properties in the US, etc. Absence of one year or more is no longer rebuttable as you may already be considered to have abandoned permanent residence in the US.

Next is physical presence. You must be actually, physically present in the US for at least 30 months out of the five years immediately preceding the date of filing. If you are filing on the basis of marriage to a US citizen, then you must have physical presence of at least 18 months.

The next kind is residence within the state or USCIS district. You must have lived within the state, or USCIS district with jurisdiction over your place of residence, for at least 3 months prior to the date of filing. Travel outside your state is still allowed but you must not change your residence within this period.

Exceptions to the residency requirement include serving in the military, religious or missionary work, work board a vessel operated by or registered in the US, and work with certain US government agencies and companies, and international groups of which the US is a member.

The residency requirement of five years or three years (for continuous residence), 30 or 18 months (for physical presence) and three months (for USCIS district residence) is counted from the day you first became a US permanent resident. Your time with a nonimmigrant visa such as a student, tourist, temporary worker, or even time spent on unauthorized stay don't count.