immigration
Four Years and One Day Rule Citizenship
<p>I have left the US for one year thus breaking my continuous residence. After that year, I stayed for 4 and half years in the US. Given that I am a green card holder and have applied for citizenship. Now USCIS requires me to provide evidence that I did not break my continuous residence. 
My question:
Can I tell USCIS that the rule (4 years and one day) applies to me, and therefore I do not need to provide evidence? </p>

<p>USCIS has recently clarified the rules regarding how long you have to wait after interrupting continuous residence before you can apply for naturalization. See the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3#S-C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12 Part D Chapter 3 section C</a>. In particular, for an absence of more than 1 year, you have to wait either 4 years + 1 day or 4 years + 6 months, depending on whether you can present the same level of evidence that would overcome the presumption of interrupting continuous residence for someone who was absent for between 6 months and 1 year.</p>

<p>If you have enough evidence that would be sufficient to overcome the presumption of interrupting continuous residence if you had hypothetically been absent for between 6 months and 1 year, then after your absence of more than 1 year, you would have to wait 4 years + 1 day after you came back. If you do not have such evidence, then you would have to wait until 4 years + 6 months after you came back (the same wait as someone who was absent for between 6 months and 1 year and was unable to overcome the presumption of interrupting continuous residence).</p>
