A client who has been a resident for more thatn thiry years and has been in and out of the country for more than six months and sometimes a year wants to become a US citizen.
Let me tell you that he just got a new I-551 card issued because his old card was lost and the INS office didn;t mention a thing about her disruption.
Also he made the mistake (honest mistake) to travel in and out of the country with his b-2 visa since he lost his card. But now he got noe as I mentioned before.
Would you advise this client to better wait for his Naturalization at least five years?

Sounds like that client has done a lot of really dubm things. It's amazing that INS issued him that B-2 visa. It's downright astounding! I thought surely that would check his file and see that he had been granted the permanent resident status in the past. This story, if it is true, only goes to show how sorry INS really is - they hassle people over trifles and yet let such major violations slip by. I think your client indeed better wait another five years not to test faith - he has been lucky enough. No need to test his good luck over and over again.

...I meant to say "to test fate", not faith of course.. :-) oops!

This is a question for Guest, even if the client stays five years, wouldn't he still be considered illegal (residency abandonment) becuase of what he did prior to the five year period?