A husband and wife, lawful permanent residents, originally from Pakistan came to our office because they had accepted employment in the United Kingdom and would have to move out of the United States. Since they were not U.S. citizens, we explained that they would have to request permission from USCIS to remain outside of the country, due to an employment opportunity. Luckily, the wife had more than five years as a lawful permanent resident and decided to proceed with an application for U.S. citizenship. We bundled their cases together and simultaneously applied for the wife’s naturalization as well as the husband’s permission to travel. Their concern was that the new job would take them to the U.K. in the following weeks and that they wouldn’t be physically residing in the U.S. while we awaited the wife’s application for citizenship. We were able to maintain a U.S. address since they owned their Brooklyn apartment and had not rented it out to another family. Even though they left the U.S. while the application was pending, she was able to return for a short visit to have her fingerprints taken. When it came time to prepare for the interview, we did so telephonically in order to save time. A few days before the interview, she flew into the country and was able to attend at the date specified by USCIS.
The officer who conducted the interview was very thorough and asked many questions about why she had traveled so often since filing the application. He asked for documents that are not ordinarily part of the citizenship process. Of course, we were prepared and had all five years of her tax returns with us for him to examine. The officer had not choice other than to grant her citizenship as he could not find a reason to deny it. The day following the interview, the couple returned to the U.K. and when her oath ceremony arrived, we immediately called her so that she could schedule a flight back to attend her ceremony. She did stay following the ceremony in order to apply for her to obtain her U.S. passport. At the same time her oath ceremony was mailed, her husband’s approval to remain outside of the country was granted and the couple departed for the U.K. able to avoid any future problem upon their return.
Citizenship granted.