Confused on I-131 filing requirements...USCIS contradicting on their site?

J

junk240sx

Registered Users (C)
Hi everyone,

I am a US citizen and my wife has had her green card (still conditional status) for almost three years (Will be in Febuary). We are planning on 'moving' to her home country to be with her parents for close to a year. We were suggested to apply for the I-131 to make sure we don't get denied for naturalization later on saying that she abandoned her Green Card.

However, I am confused...we won't be leaving for more than a year and I found these two items on the USCIS website:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-131instr.pdf states:
"If you stay outside the United States for less than one year, you are not required to apply for a reentry permit. You may reenter the United States on your Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551)"

However, I was reading this:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=fe17e6b0eb13d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=4f719c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
Which states:
You may be found to have abandoned your permanent resident status if you:
* Remain outside of the US for more than two years after issuance of a reentry permit without obtaining a returning resident visa. However in determining whether your status has been abandoned any length of absence from the US may be considered, even if it is less than one year.

So I am concerned. Does this imply even if we decided to just go see her parents and stay on 5 month intervals and come back to the US that we can still end up being considered as 'abandoning green card'?
 
The second part you point out, is talking about whether you abandon your permanent residency. Not whether you will need a re-entry permit or not.

Is talking about people who move to another country (leave the US) and engage in actions that constitute "abandoning your US residency" such as taking up employment in a foreign country, etc.

"Under certain conditions, permanent residence status can be lost. This includes committing a criminal act that makes a person removable from the United States. A person might also be found to have abandoned their status if he or she moves to another country to live there permanently, stays outside the USA for more than 365 days (without getting a re-entry permit before leaving), or does not file income tax return. Permanent resident status can also be lost if it is found that the application or grounds for obtaining permanent residence was fraudulent. The failure to renew the permanent resident card does not result in the loss of status, except in the case of conditional permanent residents as noted above."
 
Yes, I understand it is talking about abandoning US residency. But when applying for naturalization (which we plan to do next month), we were worried that immigration could reject it saying that we left the country with intent to live there (she was thinking of getting a job there just to make some ends meet), even though we were gone less than a year.
 
junk240sx said:
Yes, I understand it is talking about abandoning US residency. But when applying for naturalization (which we plan to do next month), we were worried that immigration could reject it saying that we left the country with intent to live there (she was thinking of getting a job there just to make some ends meet), even though we were gone less than a year.
Click to expand...

NO NO NO NO !!!

First off, an I-131 is only a reentry permit, and does nothing to preserve residency for naturalization purposes.

Secondly, the instant you take a job overseas for a foreign company, you break natz residency... period. Plenty of stories of this and its usual outcome can be found over in the citizenship forum.

My advice (as someone who has been through the natz process, and been a contributor here for quite a long time) is to get your USC first, then travel later. If you travel now for longer than 6 months, there is a serious risk of resetting your continuous residence clock.

If you absolutely must travel now, you can be reasonably assured that your LPR is safe provided you obtain an I-131. Under those circumstances, you'd then be able to apply for N-400 at a later time, once you'd requalified for continuous residence. (Look up the 2yr+1day rule for an LPR married to a USC. See also 4yr+1day rule for general guidelines)
 
Thanks for the replies. I guess I didn't understand everything...

We DO need to go there to help her parents so the move will be happening, but we will make sure she will NOT get a job.

Now, my wife has lived here for more than 2 yrs with her green card so that portion of the continuous residence has been completed (am I correct in stating this?).

So should we be ok if we leave but make sure we come back once before six months elapses, head back to the US for a short visit, and then make sure to move back again to the US before a six month period?
 
Hey in your first post did you mean to say that your wife has had her "conditional gc" for almost 3yrs,or did I interpret that wrong?
 
Yes, you heard that right. We applied to have it removed but that was back in February '07. They are processing I-751's for January '07 right now so we should have it by next month we hope.
 
Yes, our plans were not to leave until the I-751 was approved. We expect to get a reply by next month.

If we do get approved and file for the I-131, do you forsee any problems with us leaving the country as long as we come back before a year period?
 
LOL. Thanks guys. We were pretty sure this was the case but good to get confirmation. We were even thinking, on top of the I-131, coming back before 6 months but now we feel better being there for close to a year.
 
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