Naturalization for my stepson

[yemmie]

Hi all,

I have a couple of tricky questions. First a little background. Wife and her son came to US in 2008. He just barely made it, got permanent residence with condition in May 20009 just before he turned 21 in September. Then, they both removed conditions on schedule, no problems. He enrolled in College here, graduated in May 2014.

Problems: Each year, he went back to China for about one month during Christmas break. He also went back during Summer at least one of those years. We did some calculating, and he still did seem to qualify for continuous permanent resident and continuous physical presence at the time of his graduation, but he went back to China for an internship around July 31, 2014. The internship led to a permanent full time job for a Chinese Investment Bank. We did have the foresight to apply for a 2 year re-entry permit on his green card and it was approved. Now, however, he and his mother are talking about him applying for naturalization. And, they even want him to do it in Hong Kong. As I read the guidelines, he does not qualify for citizenship now because he broke the continuous physical presence rule (30 months immediately preceding application) so he will have to start over when he returns and stay here continuously (more or less) for another 5 years. Finally, even if he did qualify, I have not found anything about applying for naturalization in Hong Kong. My wife is not a citizen either.

Am I understanding all of this correctly?

[Randy W]

Yes - that sounds about right. Dan, I'm sure, will be along in a little bit to verify. The residency requirements are key here.

[dnoblett]

Yep, you are correct.

 

If the US permanent resident is living overseas in a capacity that does not affect residency status (Working for the US Government a US Government contractor, Spouse of a US Citizen deployed abroad in the military or government) If that were the case the green-card holder would file an N-470 to preserve residency status.

 

I am not sure if in these cases would be doing biometrics and perhaps the naturalization interview in the overseas field office, such as Hong Kong, Guangzhou or Beijing.

[yemmie]

Thank you. I am sorry I am right, but I am glad that I still am able to read and understand what I have read correctly.

[Randy W]

Thank you. I am sorry I am right, but I am glad that I still am able to read and understand what I have read correctly.

 

 

Good job! That's a valuable talent to have!