Green card holder and a valid B-2 visa

[ciprianism]

Hello, I have two questions and maybe some one here have an answer for me .
My parents are green card holders. On their passport they still have a valid (in time) B-2 visa . They travel each year for around 6 months to their country and they came back to States again . My questions are : can they have problems regarding the entry to the US and if for any reason, lets say they are staying to long outside the US and their green card expires can they be granted to enter US with their old B-2 visa or the visa is automatically expired when they received the green card ?
Thx.

 

[BigJoe5]

The nonimmigrant visas are automatically invalidated upon attaining the greencards even if they were not stamped as such. If they run into trouble at re-entry they are not subject to expedited removal and would be put before an Immigration Judge to plead their cases. This scenario rarely happens for an absence over 6 months but under one year UNLESS there are other issues (such as criminal convictions or clear abandonment or re-avilment) or a distinct pattern of long trips.

 

[ciprianism]

thank you for the answer ! now I know about the visa is invalidated, but in case their green card expires because they don't come back in time to US, can they ever request a non immigrant visa to visit again US ?

 

[Jackolantern]

If they officially and voluntarily surrender the green card at a consulate with form I-407, they can easily get a tourist visa after that (or another type of nonimmigrant visa, if they qualify for it). Voluntarily surrendering it is a strong indicator of not wanting to immigrate.

But if the green card is forcibly revoked by an immigration judge, they may have difficulty obtaining a tourist visa, because they were still holding on to the card and trying to use it when they were confronted about it. So if they reenter the US and officer at the port of entry tells them to see an immigration judge, if they want to have a good chance of getting a tourist visa in the future they should say they won't fight the case with the judge, they'll sign I-407 right there and surrender the card and leave the same day (or another day if the officer will give them a grace period to leave).

However, if they are consistently spending at least 6 months per year inside the US, they're unlikely to ever have that problem. The people who tend to run into trouble are those who do something like stay 6 months outside the US, return and stay in the US for 1 or 2 weeks, then they're gone again for another 6 months.