6 months in US between trips

[ItsoFototo]

Hi everybody,

Is it necessary to have every stay in the US, between trips, to be at least 6 months? What happens if it's 4 months instead?

Please, give me an advice on my situation: I got my GC in Aug, 2009. I went back to my country in Oct, 2009 for 4 months. I stayed in US for 8 months and then I went back to my country for another 5 1/2 months. Now I'm in US but thinking of going back to home country again in 4 months. How would that affect my continues residency status or, even worse, do I risk to lose GC at all? The reason I go back so often and for so long is because of a family issue. Also, I don't have any real estate in US, no family members here, and my job is freelance. So, how do you see my situation and what are the risks? And again, does it have to be at least 6 months stay in the US or it could be 4 months with no consequences?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Jackolantern]

Is it necessary to have every stay in the US, between trips, to be at least 6 months? What happens if it's 4 months instead?

There is no fast and direct formula to it. They look at your overall travel pattern and ties to the US and evaluate whether you are primarily a resident of the US.

But generally, the longer you spent on your last trip (or last series of trips, if you took a series of multiple trips less than 2-3 weeks apart), the longer you should spend in the US before taking the next long trip. For your situation, with just one 5.5 month trip in the past 12 months, I definitely wouldn't expect them to give you a problem if you took another trip 4 months later.