Sometimes, and that is a question worth asking explicitly. Continuing in the qualifying role abroad may complete a cleaner period of service, while further United States business travel may complicate one. Only counsel can weigh the dates. Ask for the answer before the employer fixes a start date around a hoped-for filing.
Let the record set the calendar
The dependency here runs backwards: the filing date depends on document retrieval, retrieval depends on former employers and archives, and the earliest sensible filing depends on counsel's reading of the qualifying period. Build the schedule from those constraints instead of from the business's preferred quarter. If travel is planned in the meantime, tell counsel first, since additional time in the United States may be the one thing that changes the analysis.
Ask explicitly whether waiting a few months would improve the chronology, since continuing in the qualifying role abroad may complete a cleaner period of service while further United States business travel may complicate one. Only counsel can weigh the dates, and the answer should arrive before the employer fixes a start date around a hoped-for filing. The dependency runs backwards here: the filing date depends on document retrieval, retrieval depends on former employers and archives, and the earliest sensible filing depends on counsel's reading of the qualifying period.
If travel is planned meanwhile, tell counsel first, since additional time in the United States may change the analysis.