Leaving the country + citizenship

[borreman]

What is the name of your state? NV

I have been a conditional permanent resident for 1 year now. I have been offered a job abroad that may take me away from the USA a few months. How long am I allowed to go abroad for under a a conditional resident status without losing this status? Same question applies to if I were a full resident (after filing for I-751)?

Second question is, I came here to college in the 1990's, and stayed for 3 years. I am now a conditional permanent resident and have been residing here for 1 year. A friend of mine recently told me that in order to apply for citizenship I need 4 years of living in the country, under whatever visa. If this is true, can I add those past years of college under F1 visa (was in the 90's) to my year of residency, and apply for citizenship?

Thank you!

 

[evcalyptos]

What is the name of your state? NV

I have been a conditional permanent resident for 1 year now. I have been offered a job abroad that may take me away from the USA a few months. How long am I allowed to go abroad for under a a conditional resident status without losing this status? Same question applies to if I were a full resident (after filing for I-751)?

Second question is, I came here to college in the 1990's, and stayed for 3 years. I am now a conditional permanent resident and have been residing here for 1 year. A friend of mine recently told me that in order to apply for citizenship I need 4 years of living in the country, under whatever visa. If this is true, can I add those past years of college under F1 visa (was in the 90's) to my year of residency, and apply for citizenship?

Thank you!

hi,
First of all, you are a Permanent Resident, conditional or not. You are under the same residency guidelines as any other PR.
As a PR, if you maintain the US as your primary home, you can go abroad for up to 12 months without extra documents.
If you will be out of the US for 12-24 months, you must apply for a re-entry permit (form I-131) before you leave the US. This preserves your entry document, but you must still keep the US as your main residence (banking, filing taxes & other similar ties) .
These guidelines are the same for conditional or post I-751 PRs and can be found at uscis.gov by searching "Now That You Are a Permanent Resident".

Make sure you've researched this fully or consulted with an immigration attorney who KNOWS something about abandonment before you leave.

Your friend is mistaken on the naturalization. If you are married to a US citizen you can naturalize after 3 years --as a Permanent Resident--. You must remain in a valid marital relationship with the same USC up through your oath ceremony. Otherwise, it's 5 years as a PR.
You can find this info in the Guide to Naturalization from the links on the left side of uscis.gov

Little known factoid (apparently): if your I-751 is still pending when you become eligible to apply for US citizenship, you may apply even if you have no decision on the I-751. You will see more of this now that I-751s have been pushed to the back burner again.

Make sure that you have gone to the Social Security office now that you have a Green Card, to get the no-legend SS card. You can then use that + a driver's license as hiring documents once your 2-year card expires. You remain a Permanent Resident even if your card expires, until you are told otherwise (as long as you file I-751 on time).

 

[borreman]

Thank you VERY much for this clear explanation!

sincerely,
M.