Naturalization

[anna_maria]

Hi! I am an LPR, I would like to know if being outside of the U.S. because i was attending college abroad would affect if i apply to be a naturalized citizen. I was out for more than 6 months but I had a reenter permit for this period and my family was living here during that period.
Would that be an acceptable reason?
Thanks....

[anna_maria]

Hi! I am an LPR, I would like to know if being outside of the U.S. because i was attending college abroad would affect if i apply to be a naturalized citizen. I was out for more than 6 months but I had a reenter permit for this period and my family was living here during that period.
Would that be an acceptable reason?
Thanks....

[AliBA]

Your physical presence in the U.S. is what counts toward whether you can naturalize or not, even if you have re-entry permission.

[Old Man]

There are two parts, residency and physical presence. For naturalization, the general requirement is 5 years as an LPR. If you travel outside of the US over 6 months, you may break the continuity of your residence although you do not loose LPR status. You need to show you were maintaining residence through taxes, family, housing, etc. If you are outside the US for a year, this break is automatic. A reentry permit preserves LPR status, not residence for naturalization. You can apply for naturalization 4 years and a day from your return to the US when you break residence.

Part two is physical presence. You have to be in the US for half the residence requirement. That is 30 months out of the five years. It's just simple arithmetic, time in the US minus time out.