Have you been physically present inside the United States for at least half of the qualifying period — and can you prove it day-by-day?
In short
**30 months (913 days) out of 5 years for INA § 316.** **18 months (548 days) out of 3 years for spouses of U.S. citizens under INA § 319(a).** The N-400 asks for every trip in the qualifying period; misstatements — even unintentional — can trigger a § 212(a)(6)(C)(i) misrepresentation finding. Frequent travelers (consultants, dual-resident couples, business owners with overseas operations) routinely fall short by a few weeks and are denied.Context & Examples
Real example — Wei, Sacramento. Wei is a software engineer with a Mountain View employer and a Beijing-based family business. He filed his N-400 himself, listing what he remembered as 250 days outside the U.S. The Sacramento officer pulled his I-94 history and counted 1,895 days outside the U.S. over five years — putting him 412 days short of physical presence. Denied.
The fix when he came to us: We pulled the official i94.cbp.dhs.gov history, reconciled it against passport stamps, identified that 6 of his 'trips' were actually short Tijuana day-trips that did not register as departures, recalculated, and found he was eligible 9 months later. We re-filed, brought the audit trail to the interview, and he naturalized.
Tip: Pull the I-94 history at i94.cbp.dhs.gov before filing. Officers will, and the numbers must match.
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