You have a Green Card, making you a permanent resident of the United States.  You are interested in becoming a U.S. citizen.  However, you are also a m-ssionary overseas.   You have a problem.

In order to become a U.S. citizen, you need to be a resident for five years (three years if you are married to a U.S. citizen spouse).  In addition, you need to be physically present in the U.S. for half of that period.  That is difficult if you are planning on spending most of your time abroad on the m-ssion field.  To make matters worse, your attorney has just told you that if you are out of the U.S. for more than six months straight, the five (or three) year residence requirement resets to zero.  There appears to be no way that you can ever get U.S. citizenship!

Well, actually, there might be.  U.S. immigration law is actually very favorable to m-ssionaries.  If you are a full-time m-ssionary overseas, and you are serving on behalf of a U.S.-based m-ssion organization, there are two options that can be helpful.   One option is designed for green card holders who are not married to U.S. citizen, or whose U.S. citizen spouse is not a m-ssionary.

The other, better, option.is for someone whose U.S. citizen spouse is a full-time m-ssionary.  I find this useful where both spouses are m-ssionaries.

For the person who is not married to a U.S. citizen m-ssionary spouse, there is the form N-470.   Once this form is approved, all your time spent outside the U.S.  will be treated as if you were inside the U.S.  The only catch to this is that before you can file for citizenship, you need to come to the U.S. and live here, without leaving, for one year.

But, if your US Spouse is a full-time missionary, you just come to the United States and file for citizenship.  You don’t need to live here for one year or three years — no time of residence is required at all!

I hope this is interesting and helpful.   Remember that this is not legal advice.  It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation.   I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong