The U.S. government understands and appreciates that some lawful permanent residents have valid reasons for spending long stretches of time outside the U.S.—reasons having nothing to do with their ultimate intent to maintain U.S. residency. Yet their overseas work might create difficulties with regard to satisfying the usual residence requirements for naturalized U.S. citizenship. Most permanent residents, before applying for citizenship, must have five years of continuous residence in the U.S. (or three years, if married to a U.S. citizen), half of which were spent physically in the United States. Also, the applicant must have lived in the same state or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) district for at least three months before applying, and must live in the U.S. from the date of the application up to the time of admission to citizenship.
Some of the affected people might work directly for the U.S. government or for U.S. firms and research institutions, or for the State Department or the military as a translator, interpreter, or in a security-related position. Others with a frequent need to travel include ministers, missionaries, and others with a religious vocation. In addition, members of the media have important jobs gathering and disseminating information abroad, which may also promote U.S. interests.
That's why, when applying to become U.S. citizens, the green-card holders described above may be able to take advantage of special rules treating their time outside the U.S. as if it were time spent inside the United States.
Green card holders who spend time outside the U.S. when employed by or under contract with the U.S. government or certain U.S. research institutions, or employed by certain other companies or organizations that further American interests, need not satisfy the five (or three) years' continuous residence rule.
If such a person can prove having been physically present and residing in the U.S. for an uninterrupted period of at least one year at any time after becoming a permanent resident and before leaving for the job overseas, time spent overseas can be counted as time within the United States. (C.I.A. employees and contractors can spend their year of residence and presence any time before or after going overseas, so long as it’s before the time they apply for citizenship.)
There’s another benefit for people working directly for the U.S. government as employees or contractors: They don't have to have been physically present in the U.S. before applying for citizenship.
Employees of an U.S. research institution can take advantage of the rule only if the institution is approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security. A list of approved institutions is in the Code of Federal Regulations at Title 8, Section 316.20(a).
Employees of a U.S. firm or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the development of foreign trade and commerce can take advantage of the special rule. Employees of subsidiaries of any such company are eligible if more than half the subsidiary’s stock is owned by a U.S. firm or corporation. There is no list of qualifying U.S. companies; you'll have to prove what your employer does and show its connection to foreign trade or commerce.
The special rule also applies to employees of a U.S. company that protects the foreign property rights of any U.S. company engaged in foreign trade or commerce as described above.
Employees of a public international organization of which the U.S. is a member by treaty or statute can take advantage of the special rule. A list of such organizations is in the Code of Federal Regulations at Title 8, Section 316.20(b) and (c).
If you qualify, you must file Form N-470, Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes, with (or before) your N-400 Application for Naturalization, and before you've been absent from the U.S. for a continuous period of one year. In the section asking about basis of eligibility, select the box describing your employer. Along with the form, you must send the filing fee (as of mid 2018, $355) or a request for fee waiver. Also send evidence about your employer and your job, proving the dates you are, will be, or were working overseas.
You will have to prove that at some point you spent at least one continuous year living in the U.S. as a permanent resident. (C.I.A. employees and contractors don’t have to do this.)
The rules requiring an applicant for citizenship to have lived in the same state or USCIS district for at least three months before applying, and to live in the U.S. from the date of the application up to the time of admission to citizenship, still apply. You must come back to the U.S. to apply for citizenship.
Green card holders who have spent time outside the U.S. due to employment by or a contract to work for a State Department “Chief of Mission” (usually the ambassador) or the U.S. Armed Forces need not satisfy the five (or three) years' continuous residence rule. If you can prove that your job involved supporting the Chief of Mission or U.S. Armed Forces as a translator, interpreter, or in a security-related position in an executive or managerial capacity, and that you spent at least a portion of the time outside the U.S. working in that role, the time spent overseas in that role can be counted as time residing in the U.S., and as time physically present in the U.S., when you apply for citizenship.
There’s another benefit: Although usually, a period of a year or more spent outside the U.S. will break the five- (or three-) year period needed for continuous residency (a naturalization requirement), so that applicants have to file an N-470 Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes before going overseas, people in this category do not. Their time spent outside the U.S. will not break the continuous residence period. No N-470 needed!
The title of “executive” or “manager” is not going to be enough for USCIS. Nor is occasionally directing the organization as the owner or sole managerial employee. Rather, USCIS will focus on the person’s primary duties.
According to USCIS, someone in an executive or managerial capacity must have a high level of authority and a broad range of job responsibilities. Managers and executives plan, organize, direct, and control an organization’s major functions and work through other employees to achieve the organization’s goals. A majority of the person’s time must be spent on duties relating to policy or operational management. An executive or manager can, however, apply professional expertise to functions that are not executive or managerial in nature.
Also see Congress's definiitons of “executive capacity” and “managerial capacity” in the Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A.) Sections 101(a)(44)(A) and (B).
There must be enough other people at the company performing day-to-day operations for there to be an executive or manager. However, when using staffing levels as a factor, USCIS must take into account the reasonable needs of the organization, component, or function in light of its overall purpose and stage of development. The number of workers a person supervises doesn’t prove being an executive or manager.
The rules requiring a naturalization applicant to have lived in the same state or USCIS service district for at least three months before applying, and to live in the U.S. from the date of the application up to the time of admission to citizenship still apply to government translators, interpreters, and security-related executives and managers who've spent time overseas. They must come back to the U.S. to apply for citizenship.
Time abroad in other employment does not count as time within the U.S. under this special rule, although the other special rules described in this article may qualify the person for similar treatment.
Green card holders who spend time outside the U.S. temporarily and solely for the purpose of performing the ministerial or priestly functions of a religious denomination, or to serve as a missionary, brother, nun, or sister for a religious denomination or interdenominational mission having a bona fide organization within the U.S. need not satisfy the five (or three) years' continuous residence rule.
If such a person can prove having been physically present and residing in the U.S. for an uninterrupted period of at least one year at any time after becoming a permanent resident and before applying for citizenship, all the time spent overseas can be counted as time residing in the U.S., and as time physically present in the United States.
A “missionary” is defined as a member of a religious group sent into an area to do religious teaching or evangelism.
If you qualify for the special rule, you must file USCIS Form N-470, Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes, with (or before) your N-400 Application for Naturalization. In the section asking about basis of eligibility, select the box pertaining to religious workers. Along with the form, send the filing fee (as of mid 2018, $355) or a request for fee waiver. You should also send evidence about your employer and your job, proving the dates you are, will be, or were working overseas.
When applying for citizenship, you will have to provide evidence that at some point you spent at least one continuous year living in the U.S. as a permanent resident.
The rules requiring an applicant for citizenship to have lived in the same state or USCIS district for at least three months before applying, and to live in the U.S. from the date of the application up to the time of admission to citizenship, still apply to religious workers who have spent time overseas. They must come back to the U.S. to apply for citizenship.
Green card holders who are employed by a bona fide, U.S.-incorporated, nonprofit organization that is principally engaged in the overseas dissemination, through communications media, of information that significantly promotes U.S. interests abroad (and is so recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security) need not satisfy the five (or three) years' continuous residence rule.
For the exemption to apply, the applicant must have been working in the qualifying media job for at least five continuous years after becoming a U.S. permanent resident.
To apply using this exemption, file USCIS Form N-400 and comply with all the usual rules for citizenship except for the residence and presence ones, from which you are exempt. You must file your N-400 while still employed in the qualifying media job overseas, or within six months after that job ends.
Also, you must come back to the U.S. for your citizenship interview and oath ceremony. If you are still working in the qualifying media job overseas at the time of the interview, you must declare in good faith to USCIS that you will come back to the U.S. to live as soon as you leave that job.
If you’ve already left the job and are applying for citizenship within six months of your job end date, you will likely not be able to take advantage of the exemption unless you have moved back to the U.S. or are currently married to and living with a U.S. citizen who is also working overseas in a certain capacity. See U.S. Citizenship for Spouses of U.S. Citizens Working Overseas.
Caution
Just because you might qualify for special treatment of your time overseas when you apply for U.S. citizenship doesn't mean you can leave for your job overseas without worrying about abandoning your permanent resident status. Any period of one year of more spent outside the U.S. can be seen as an abandonment of U.S. permanent residency. To prevent problems reentering the U.S. or potential loss of your permanent resident status, you should file for a reentry permit using USCIS Form I-131, preferably before you go.
