Absent from the State for 5 months back to back for 3 times, now find a U.S business employer.

[gc66]

Hi Friends,

After getting greencard, I stayed in the U.S for 2 years, since then, I have been outside the United States for over 18 months to takecare of my 84 years old father, only came back to the State for 10-15 days in between to meet the 6-months continuity requirment. It seems that I have to keep living outside the States for sometime. Fortunately, I just had an interview with a U.S company hiring local empolyee. My question is, if I work for an U.S employer outside the U.S, could the time count as live within the States? If the answer is Yes, then, is there any condition to qualify as U.S company employee, such as pay roll in the U.S., tax deduction in the U.S, pay in US.$ etc? ( usually, local employee are in local payroll, paid in local currency and pay local tax).

Thanks in advance for any advises and suggestions.

 

[warlord]

Comming back for short durations like that does not satisfy the residency requirements. You must actually be residing in the US with proof that you are to satisfy that. You clearly have demonstrated that you have broke the residency.

Now they have been known to give leniancy on people who are taking care of sick relatives etc, you must though show them proof of the sickness and that you were taking care of them, or so I have heard on the board here before. This is good in case you were working and living abroad (not sure if you were working while taking care of them), because they may not proceed to revoke your Green Card for abandonment. You should also have a re-entry permit as well as the 6 months rule is not a hard rule. If INS can prove you have not maintained US residency even if you are away 2 months, they can deny you.

If you work for the US employer, I know others will have more familiarity on this, but you would probably need to file for the N-470 (if eligible). And no, since you have reset your clock in most cases, your residency requirements would reset until you came back and lived in the US (unless it's specific gov't/military type jobs that can in some cases preserve your residency), but in your case since you have already reset it, there is nothing to preserve...

 

[gc66]

Thank you Warlord for your quick answer. I will check out about the N-470 requirement.
In my post I didn't put it very clear, in fact I haven't broken the continuity residency rule: for the last 18 months, I came back to the States for about ~10 days after every 5 months outside the country. I was hoping this job would help me continue the count into 5 years residency with a better record.

 

[warlord]

Remember comming back of a short duration every 5 months does in fact suggest you have broken continuous residency. If the IO can prove you were just comming back thinking you would satisfy the requirements then yes your entire clock would reset.

The 6 months thing is not a fine line that if you come back anytime for a short time before you are safe. This is not how that works. The 6 month rule is basically if an IO can prove you are not residing in the US (as in living abroad, working abroad, not maintianing ties in the US etc) then they can determine that you broke continous residency whether you have been out of the US up to 6 months (comming back for a visit or not).

After 6 months is when that line changes and anything over 6 months you will have to prove that you did not break continous residency.

So you could be out for say 3 months and have come back to visit for a few days. If the IO can prove you were in fact living outside the US, working outside the US, not maintaining proper US ties, then yes, you have now broke continous residnecy, 6 months or not.

People have a big misconception on how this actually works and many (even on this board) treat it like a 6 months and you're safe only to realize that they get denied after it's too late...

 

[gc66]

Thank you Warlord. Although that's what I want to hear, but what you said makes a lot of sense. Now, I do believe that's what the 6 months line meant to be when it comes into question. Before 6 months, you need to be proved broken continuous residency, otherwise you are save; after 6 months, you need to prove that you did not broke, otherwise, you are denied.

 

[Jackolantern]

Before 6 months, you need to be proved broken continuous residency, otherwise you are save; after 6 months, you need to prove that you did not broke, otherwise, you are denied.

Less than 6 months doesn't mean you are automatically safe, and more than 6 months doesn't mean you will automatically be denied. The 6 month rule only shifts the burden from one side to the other; they are still entitled to look at your entire travel history of the past 5 years, and consider other factors such as whether you took employment overseas.