Do they always ask

yameen79

Registered Users (C)
Do IO at POE always ask " How long did you stay out of the Us" .Becasuse I am overseas for about 7 months now and wont be returning until next two months. What if they do not ask me this question. and what if they do.. Share your experience ones who have stayed abroad long with REP.
 
if its the first time of the stay exceeding 6 months they probably wont ask, if they do just give them some reason, even if u say u had personal stuff to take care of, its not a big deal..... i was a full time student at the time, so i told them about college.i had 2 stays longer than 6 months, first time for 8 months and the second for 23 months (i had the REP).they wouldnt ask to show proof any way
 
They don't always ask, but I think they ask more than half the time. I was asked how long I was away on 2 out of my 3 trips, and those 2 trips when they asked were less than a week each.
 
Ymmv

I have been asked both times re-entered at US POEs (LAX and EWR). These were after 5 and 3 months of absences respectively, and I was asked the question even before they started scanning my GC/looked at the passport. At LAX the agent did not say anything further than 'welcome back'. During the second time at EWR, my wife was re-entering after ~8months. So we both got grilled a bit about our intentions to stay in the US. We told them we owned a house, had bank accounts, CCs, was coming back to jobs in the US and that seemed to satisfy the agent.

The only time I wasn't asked anything was at the US POE in Calgary, Cananda.

From my experiences with US border agents (both land and air) over ten years (as F1/H1/GC), the only thing you can reasonably expect at POEs is variability.

That said, if you are coming in after 9 months, probability is high that you will be asked some questions. Honesty is the best policy when questioned.
 
They've almost always asked me, even after stays abroad for only 1-2 weeks. Best to have an honest and logical explanation and be prepared to explain that you still have US residency. Do you just dread the "grilling" by the IO (we all do) or do you have a specific situation that makes explaining your stay of ~9 months harder to explain?
Typically, as long as you have maintained lease/house and job/study here in the US, the questioning should be unproblematic (but can still be nerve wrecking)
 
I am sorry but on my first post of this thread I mentioned people with REP. What I meant was without REP. I do not have REP at this time
 
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