Hoping you can help-Retain (reentry) or Surrender???

[vandeluca]

I hope someone can help or has experience. SO happy to have found this site as posters really seem to know alot..

Last August 2009, my spouse received this greencard (based on marriage-I am citizen), based on his naturalized Canadian citizenship. Before this, we lived of the US together as husband/wife for 15 years prior. (his birth country).

Our main reason for immigration was our child developed a medical condition. It is something controllable to a point but we are not sure if anything will change (for the worse again) over time. We still own our business abroad and run it from the US which is challenging except for our occassional trips there. It makes it difficult as this is how we make our living and provide for us and my husband family-but fine we can deal with it and still make income from it... Concurrently, my husband's parent has cancer again and is not doing well-although he surprised many by being 5 years cancer free (till this lastest discovery). Before GC my husband was the main caregiver for the parent /and is now in absentia in charge of the health care. . And, in addition, the country we are going back to has 'problems' right now (state of emergency/some civil unrest) so I am not srue how all of this will pan out for us or if it is best interest to be there...

My question is about the REENTRY or the GREENCARD SURRENDER:

We are *thinking* of going back to home country of birth to deal with this for a certain time. In addition, my husband is the controlling interest in the family business, which also needs some shaping up...Myself and our child would go back as well...and in this time I would send her to school there probably from Sept-June and maybe one other year (sept-June) so as to keep her stable rather than up and down. AND, us being or living apart is not an option. We are together wherever that may be.

I can already tell he would never break the continous time rule straight (ie more than 6 months) unless absolute emergency. Here is a timeline of what I expect....We would have frequent trips and stays back to the US and maintain our residence here.

Here is our timeline for background info:

August 2009-Greencard received (marriage)-therefore to apply for citzen in 3 years
Possible Leave Sept 2010 for husband birth country for ??
Our trips back to the US would be based around school for her (ie..week in october 2010, 16 days xmas 2010, week in March, 16 in Easter and then back up for summer 2011(3-4 months). This could possibly be repeated for the 2011/2012 school year. So you can see he won't break the 6 months CONTINUOS/Straight, and by the end of this he will meet physical presence (he by August will have about 11 months before we left..therefore needing 7 months)...

My question~~

Lawyer told us to get the Reentry permit, rather than give it up. But I don't have a crystal ball. I don't know what will happen with our daughter and her condition (or father in law). We could return to US for good much sooner or in the end stay in his birth country. Maybe or maybe not he could get citizenship we don't know.....BTW citizenship was never our end goal in this..it just worked out that way as a possibility.

2 QUESTIONS:

WOULD HE QUALIFY TO BE NATURALIZED in 2012 (assuming we meet the # of days) BASED ON A PATTERN OR TRAVEL LIKE THIS ABOVE AND BASED ON OUR REASONS FOR BEING AWAY FROM US AT TIMES?

OR

WHAT HAPPENS IF HE GAVE UP THE G/C DUE TO THIS RECENT DEVELOPMENT? WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO HIM IF WE HAD TO RETURN DUE TO OUR CHILD'S CONDITION RETURNING?
WHAT HAPPENS IF WE JUST GAVE UP ? Do they frown on you>???

It would be ashame to give it up...in 2008 we actually came to the US thinking we were returning in a couple weeks after getting our child tested/checked only to have stayed and never went back due to results/time to get this under control (we had no idea this was coming)...

In regards to that/giving up card, he also has Canadian citizenship(not birth country) so Canadians don't need visa uusally to visit US. Our life prior to GC consisted of travelling to visit MY family in US maybve for 6-7 weeks in total per year. I wondered if him giving the card up would affect him should we have to leave (reside) again due to medical for daughter or if it would affect our just basic travels/visits. Would they still let him as a visitor like in the past or they assume we could stay again (not our intent but nothing is guaranteed).

Thanks for reading and any insight or thoughts is appreciated

 

[Jackolantern]

WOULD HE QUALIFY TO BE NATURALIZED in 2012 (assuming we meet the # of days) BASED ON A PATTERN OR TRAVEL LIKE THIS ABOVE AND BASED ON OUR REASONS FOR BEING AWAY FROM US AT TIMES?

Probably not. But the continuous residence criteria is subjective, so it could go either way depending on how the interviewer sees it.

Lawyer told us to get the Reentry permit, rather than give it up. But I don't have a crystal ball. I don't know what will happen with our daughter and her condition (or father in law). We could return to US for good much sooner or in the end stay in his birth country.

Not having a crystal ball is exactly why he should get the reentry permit. It would preserve the green card for 2 years while he spends long stretches of time in Canada. Another reentry permit can be obtained after that.

However, if he is going to be working a lot in Canada (you say he has a business there?), having a reentry permit may not preserve his green card.

WHAT HAPPENS IF HE GAVE UP THE G/C DUE TO THIS RECENT DEVELOPMENT? WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO HIM IF WE HAD TO RETURN DUE TO OUR CHILD'S CONDITION RETURNING?
WHAT HAPPENS IF WE JUST GAVE UP ? Do they frown on you>???

If the green card is officially surrendered at a consulate with the I-407 process, that makes it easy to reenter the US as a visitor. But if they forcibly cancel it due to him spending so much time outside the US, entering as a visitor becomes very problematic.

 

[vandeluca]

Thanks for the answers. Yes it really is subjective. I just wish they were more out of the box thinking. I mean just because he has a GC why should we lock and close his foreign business..which is lucrative (for now) and we have had since the early 90's. (Actually the business is in his place of birth-Caribbean, not Canada-he lived in CA for 12 years for schooling and then returned 'home'. Hence whenever he traveled before he traveled as CDN and therefore applied for GC as CDN since he was in US at the time as visiting CDN...which we thought we were visiting)...

I mean if it is a case where they wanted to take it away...for sure I would rather give it up. But man if any of those agents walked in our shoes, they would understand Sickness is so unpreditable and we almost lost our child that day and wrong dx, etc...Now she is fine but I cannot help in my mind to worry for the what if. BTW...I should also add that we always thought that when she was older, high school we would MAYBE like to educate her in the US..since the schools are great below age 12 and then after not as great...so really he never thought about being a citizen until now and only obviously because of me and our child (both US citizens). Otherwise he was never clamouring on the door.

Maybe we will do the Reentry...I guess that shows our committment and if further down the road, we want to change our mind we always can...and give it back...Maybe that is what our lawyer is getting at.

OH and lastly...how would this work..to complicate the mess. If we did return and he was dealing with his father, suppose I went and got a job there (I am legal there too)....I wonder how that would be seen. It is like they want to bankrupt me..lol..

Thanks so much for your insight..

ps..I really like this board. Better than most I have read. thanks again