I am an EB-5 investor with a green card for over 5 years. How many days do I need to have spent in the U.S. each year to qualify for naturalization?
To qualify you must have been resent in the U.S. for the past 30 months, or 50% of the past five years, unless green card obtained via marriage to a U.S. citizen. Also, absences over six month can break the continuity of residence so if you have any extended absences they must be justified.
The physical presence requirement requires you to be in the United States for at least 913 days in the five years preceding your naturalization application with no absences of more than 180 days on any one absence/trip.
At least 2.5 years of the prior five years from the date of filing the naturalization application.
You must be physically present in the U.S. for at least 2.5 of the last five years. In addition, in most cases, you cannot be out of the U.S. for more than six months consecutively or USCIS will presume that you have broken the continuity of your residence.
You must spend half of the time out of the last five years in the USA. A total of 30 months.
Half the total days plus one day. So more than 913 days in the last five years before applying. Also, you cannot have been out of the U.S. for more than 180 days in a row so that a 7-month backpacking trip would cause you to have to wait and reset your time.
Naturalization requirements are the same for all perm residents, regardless of how residence was obtained, with the exception of U.S. citizen spouses who qualify for naturalization sooner.
The residency requirement for naturalization states that, looking back for the last five years, you must have resided in the US for the last two and a half years.
A total of 913 days, with no breaks greater than 180 days. Some exceptions to this for less than one year but more than 180 days.
