Have I broken continuous residency?

[Papajohn]

Hi guys,

Bit of a tricky one here. I have been living in the US for 6 years after obtaining a green card through my US wife. Unfortunately back home my brother has been having some mental illness issues and my mother needs some help with him so earlier this year we rather hastily began to move our stuff over there and get set up. I rented a house in my name, and set up my LTD company. I did this so that my wife could apply for a UK visa (they are extremely fussy). We were there for 4 months and them came back to the US while my wife awaits her UK green card. I have never taken trips longer than 6 months, and I am up to date with US taxes. We have been staying at her parents house for the past year.

So, we were wondering if I applied for my citizenship while here does it look like I have broken residency and therefore ineligible to apply? We do see ourselves living in the US in the future for sure and it would be a shame to have to go through the green card process all over again.

If we did apply and waited until the interview is it best to be clear with our intentions to live in the UK for a few years? By then it looks like my Wife would be a UK resident.

Thanks in advance.

[N400questions]

I can only give you my gut reaction. I'm not an expert by any means.
The rules are explained here in detail: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/...rt-d-chapter-3

At this precise moment in time, it does not sound like you have currently broken continuous residency. A single trip for 4 months is inside the 6 month rule.
You have technically maintained a residence in the US.. but it may seem somewhat unusual if you sold a house or cancelled a lease to move in with your in-laws.
Are you employed in the US and did you keep up that employment or are you self-employed in the US and did you keep up that business?

The problem begins when you look at your near-term intentions. Let's assume that you apply for citizenship today and the process takes 12 or 18 months to complete.
During that 12 or 18 months it sounds as if your intention will be to spend a considerable length of time in the UK in a rented house in the UK running a business in the UK.
During that time, the closest thing to a permanent residence in the US will be your in-laws house. That isn't very convincing.
So even if your continuous residence has not YET been broken... it probably WILL be by the time the N400 process completes.

If, on the other hand, you spent the next 12 to 18 months totally inside the US living in a house or apartment rented here in the US, working or running a business in the US with only a short vacation-style trip to the UK.... then it would look much more convincing that you were truly a US permanent resident and had not "abandoned" your US residency.

I am only guessing but I think that if the USCIS believed you were currently (or soon to be) more closely tied to the UK than the US... they would look at your case negatively and suggest that you wait and apply for citizenship in a few years time when you finally return back to the US. If the next 12 or 18 months were spent mainly in the UK living in a rented house in the UK and operating a business in the UK... it's not going to work well for your citizenship claim.

One last point. Whatever choice you make regarding a N400 application.... before leaving for the UK on any kind of medium to long-term visit, make sure you look into the need for applying for a re-entry permit back into the US to maintain your existing green-card. Don't risk spending so much time in the UK that you appear to have abandoned your green-card.

Once again... I am not an expert and I think you need to check with an attorney on this... you are testing the boundaries of the N400 process.
Hindsight is 20-20... what a pity you didn't apply for citizenship 3 years ago when you were first eligible to do so.

Good Luck with all this and with your family's challenges.

[Papajohn]

Thank you so much for your input.

Out of curiosity, if I got a re-entry permit, which country would I pay taxes to during those years? I The problem with that is I was told (possibly incorrectly) that it may affect my wifes visa to the UK as I wouldn't be technically a resident there.

At this precise moment in time, it does not sound like you have currently broken continuous residency. A single trip for 4 months is inside the 6 month rule.
You have technically maintained a residence in the US.. but it may seem somewhat unusual if you sold a house or cancelled a lease to move in with your in-laws.
Are you employed in the US and did you keep up that employment or are you self-employed in the US and did you keep up that business?

I am self employed and have began closing down my S Corp already. I realize this doesn't look good either but I intend to pay taxes for the full year even if it means paying in two countries. I would file as a sole proprietor in the US. Actually have been meaning to do that for some time because it's been a pain to keep up with.

Do the USCIS even ask if I have a business overseas? Do they ask if I have an address abroad? It's fine if you don't know. I'm just getting started so i'm sure i'll stumble into these answers if we fill out the form.

Thank you again.

[Papajohn]

Another question, do you think it's just worth applying anyway with the help of a lawyer? If i tell them the whole story and maybe get some proof of the situation with my brother, is it possible they would look kindly upon me or am I dreaming?

I did speak to a lawyer earlier this week who seemed quite optimistic butr wondering if they just want to take my money and are not too bothered about the application being rejected.

[N400questions]

You seem to be trying to achieve two mutually exclusive goals.
1) To facilitate your wife's UK application and to help your mother/brother... you are trying to demonstrate that you are a UK resident not a US resident
2) To facilitate your own US citizenship claims... you would be trying to demonstrate that you are a US resident not a UK resident
These seem to be mutually exclusive from my perspective. I think you will ultimately need to choose one path and commit to it for the next few years.
If the lawyer sounds optimistic... perhaps ask him/her to explain how two mutually-exclusive positions can be held simultaneously.
Maybe I'm wrong and they are not mutually exclusive.


In terms of the questions that USCIS can ask.... there are two parts to this..
1) Look at the N400 instructions to see what questions are guaranteed to be asked for all applicants in all cases
2) The USCIS can additionally ask any questions they like for whatever reasons they may have
N400 Instructions here: https://www.uscis.gov/n-400
Questions about having a house overseas or a business overseas could crop up in category (2) even if they are not explicit on the N400.
Such questions would be highly likely if the USCIS began to hear about the medium-term and long-term plans for living in the UK.
EDIT: Actually the USCIS cannot ask absolutely "anything"... they are not allowed to go "fishing for problems"... but you'd need to google to see what does or does not constitute "fishing". I think that questions about UK house ownership and/or UK business are acceptable questions.

As far as taxes are concerned, I think there might be different scenarios depending on exactly what you do and when you do it during your transition year.
1) If you are a 100% US tax domicile who is sometimes visiting UK on vacation.. you pay US taxes
2) If you transition from being a US domicile to then being a UK domicile then I think you pay US taxes for part of the year and UK taxes for the rest of the year
I am not clear on the details for taxes... you'd need to research that and look for rules concerning "Dual Status" when people move from one country to the other in a given year. When I first moved to the US 30 years ago my first year was as a hybrid "Dual Status" I think. Obviously, if you file taxes as a "Dual Status" person who has moved from the US to the UK... you can pretty much say goodbye to the N400 citizenship application. The best you could probably hope for is to get a re-entry permit so that you don't lose your green card too.


One thing I do remember from 30 years ago when I left the US to return to my home country waiting for an L1 visa to transition to a H1 or H2 visa... I filed something called "Sailing Permit" with the IRS.
This is basically a way of making sure that you have paid all outstanding US taxes before leaving the country to take up permanent residence in the UK.
They want their money before you disappear oversees.
Sailing Permit Here: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/inte...sailing-permit

[N400questions]

To get the accurate answer to tax questions look here; https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf

I just read that if you were to live temporarily in the UK while maintaining your US green card with a re-entry permit, you would need to file US tax returns because you are still a green card holder.
However, the UK tax people will also want to see tax returns because you are living in the UK.
Presumably, there must be some clearly defined rules saying which country gets which taxes and which country gives credit for taxes paid to the other country. The US and UK have a joint tax treaty that should hopefully avoid paying taxes in both countries.
I have no idea about the specific details and would recommend speaking to accountants in each country.... ideally an accountant who specializes in US-UK tax treaty for returning ex-pats.

[Papajohn]

Thank you so much guys/girls. You've been incredibly helpful.