Green card holder validity period

cheruvur

New Member
Hello All,

I have couple questions regarding green card validity.
1. My sister and her family had their green card approved at Mumbai consulate recently and their validity date to enter US is Jan 2023. It appears they may not be able to come to US by then. What do they need to do to extend the validity period?
2. My mom is a green card holder but she stayed out of US for almost 5 years due to personal reasons. Her green card expiry as printed on the card is active until 2026. Can she enter US without having to apply for re-activation of her green card status as she didn't enter US for quite some time?

Any insight that this forum can provide is greatly appreciated.
 
1. you presumably mean they got their immigrant visas? There is no provision to extend immigrant visas. They basically have to let them expire and then hope the embassy will reissue.
from Dept of State faqs

My immigrant visa expired before I was able to travel to the United States. What should I do?​

You should contact the Immigrant Visa Unit of the U.S. Embassy or Consulate that issued your visa. You do not need to file a new petition with USCIS, but you may need to submit a new application (DS-260) and pay another immigrant visa application processing fee. In addition, you may need to submit new supporting documents, such as a new medical examination and police certificate. Please be prepared to return your unused, expired visa and visa package (if applicable). Requests to reissue or replace visas are considered on a case-by-case basis, and all applicants are required to re-establish their eligibility; there is no guarantee that you will receive a new visa.

2. Abandonment of green card is generally considered to be the case after one year. https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/af.../international-travel-as-a-permanent-resident It sounds like it was a choice to stay out so does not sound like she would be eligible for SB1 returning resident visa, but you can certainly look into that as an option https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/returning-resident.html Or she can just take a chance and get on a flight, hopefully it will not be one of the airlines that checks last date she was in US , and try to plead her case with CBP on arrival.
 
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