Is this eligible for the 4 years 1 day period to citizenship test?

[sekharan]

I helped my GF file her N-400 last month and also come to know of a few immigrants in our local community who are going through the same process.


One of them, a gradute student, has an "out of the usual case" for which I think he does not need to wait the full 5 years of "continious residency" but can do away with 4 years (and either 1 more day or 6 months) to appear for his citizenship test.


Here are his entry and departure records:

Entry to US Departure From US    Days inside US during this trip    Days outside US since departure
6/23/2007   8/12/2007           49                              425
10/17/2008  12/17/2010          780                             37
1/24/2011   currently in US     446                             0

Total:
Days inside US: 1275
Days outside US: 462


I am aware of this 4 year remedy at http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Resources...PDFs/M-480.pdf
If you return within 2 years, some of your
time out of the country does count. In
fact, the last 364 days of your time out of
the country (1 year minus 1 day) counts
toward meeting your continuous residence
requirement.


Given his situation, I have the following question:


1. Are those 49 days from 6/23/2007 enough to establish residency? (He got his LPR card during this very visit, on 7/17/2007)


Or would he require to begin his wait for naturalization afresh from 10/17/2008 as if he was never in the US from 6/23/2007 - 8/12/2007?


2. No one filed for a re-entry permit when he left U.S. after getting his GC but he did not have any problems when entering the US.


Would this mean he cannot use the 4y remedy at all since this key document is not there and his stay was just over a month?


3. What's the correct time for him to start his naturalization process: "4 years 1 day" or "4 years 6 months" from 10/17/2008?


4. Is the date we get after adding 4 years (and either 1 more day or 6 months) to appear for his citizenship test or only for filing his N-400?
My understanding seems to be that it's his date from which he's eligible for his citizenship test/INTERVIEW? (but I am not sure when he should file his N-400 in that case)


His family does not live in US but visits him every year from Gujrat, but he got his LPR through his mother as a F43 (mother in turn was nominated by his maternal aunt)


He had visited US many times before the 6/23/2007 date, but that is the entry date when his LPR card was given to him (on 7/17/2007).


The 425 days break for his 6/23/2007 visit was to finish his final year at an engineering college in Singapore and his Singapore visa mentions this in the passport.


He intends to marry a Chinese national, a F1 graduate student on OPT, in his same college and I have agreed to be the co-signor of the financial support affidavit and possibly cover their immigration lawyer costs (if you guys suggest it would be helpful for them) but I willing to do that only if he can naturalize sooner than the usual 5 years.