How to Maintain GC by staying abroad?

Question

My husband is the principle applicant of our green cards. What if he can not fulfill the working and living in the US requirement but I can? Would I be able to keep the green card and apply for Citizenship? Once I got citizenship, would I be able to apply for green card for him?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
GC Question

JoeF,

Thanks for your reply.

I know quite a few friends around us who have been married for years have the husband explore career at home country while the wife stay in the US taking care of the children and maintain the status. It's a pain.

Quote:
"Sure. THat would be a conditional GC, though."
What does mean by "conditional"?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hamilton,

I can imagine your pain. Lot of marriages are like that where one spouse has to live in another country. I hope your husband gets to visit you often and see the children. Make sure he does that at least every year else his GC may be revoked. Having a strong ties like a spouse in US is a valid reason to come back and show the 'intent' to reside.

Your GC is separate from him. If you maintain US presence then there is no way it would be denied. Also, once you get youe citizenship, sponsoring a spouse will not be a problem. It is the safest move.
 
Thanks JoeF.

I wanted to explore the ways to maintain GC. Obviously, after discussing with you, I am convinced that I have to find an employer here that sends me abroad frequently on a business trip. For example, imagine that I am a pilot working for an airline that flies out of US. Will the GC holder pilot be denied entry evethough he resides in US but has to go abroad?

Regarding - bread and butter - I would like to earn my bread by working for a US company but which depend on the business abroad. The visits are essential part of the business without which the business will not exist. For example, refer to the GC holder Pilot above. Unless the plane takes off, there is no revenue made.
 
Thanks JoeF.

I used pilot for the purpose of giving you as an example. Imagine that I am working for an american company who outsource lot of projects outside US. The company is concerend with the effective running of the outsourced business and needs someone to oversee the same on a frequent basis. This entails travel abroad for a temporary period which could last anywhere from few days up to a month (or may be two). The person then comes back to US for implementation and then works in US with clients until the project completes. Then he moves on to next project which is dependent on the major work carried abroad. In todays economy, this has become more of a norm than a remote possibility.

I am sure such a job is not a remote possibility.
 
JoeF,

Yes the geogrophical distance does not matter. But who decides what I should be doing in US? Whether I should be telecommuting or using video conferencing? I am sure not the officer at POE? He is not here to decide what I should be doing for living or how I should be earning my bread. If I prefer to travel rather than use high tech tools then he is the last person on earth to tell me the alternatives.

Secondly, I gave you software development outsourced as an example. There are many many businesses that can not be carried out without being physically present.
 
I am mainly concerned with maintaining GC in US. For that I may have to do a different kind of job. All I need is a frequent travel abroad and I am sure there is a job like that.
 
Thanks JoeF. At least you agree. The issue here is not from economic point of view but point of view of maintaining GC. There is absolutely no one to stop you if you are doing business and that entails frequent travel. It is justifiable.
 
JoeF

The question is whether legally it is possible or not. Practically it is feasible or not is a different thing.
 
JoeF

This is exactly I am trying to tell to you. When a question is asked, the answer ended there with the explanation that, it is possible. But you went far ahead in giving your opinion about feasibility.
 
Thanks again.

My friend who has a business in Silicon Valley is currenlty outsourcing lot of his projects to India. He is in a need of people who can go to India on a frequent basis. He wants some one to conuslt clients in US, gather specs, outline project deliverables and then fly to India to delegate the same to software engineers. There essentially he will make sure that the concepts and requirements are being implemented. Then he wants that person to come to US and work at client's site to implement the same, address post installation issues and fine tune the system. My friend who uses telephone, video conferencing by sitting in Silicon Valley finds that physical presence is more important to get the work done in India. My friend is looking for only Green Card holders who can fly without restriction of any visa and who can work for him without sponsorship of any visa.

I am thinking how the GC holder can serve his need as well as maintain his GC.
 
Thanks JoeF.

My friend is not worried about the cost. He is just worried about the feasibility from legal point of view. What he does with his money is really is his look out. So far his company has grown 600% every year after he started outsourcing since 2001. Had there been not any cost benefit, many US companies would never go to India. Companies in US do not go to India because it proves to be costly.
 
You have a point JoeF.

Obviously in this case, I am trying to find out how the person who has GC, working for my friend will be able to maintain his GC. I have already asked my friend to consult a lawyer. After getting feedback from you and reading many of your posts it appears that there should not be a problem to maintain GC as long as,

1. The person carries employment letter.
2. Deposits his salary in US bank.
3. Have a house/apartment in US.
4. Maintains Credit Card.
5. Keeps the duration of his visits short.
 
from USCIS website for citizenship

these give the conditions for maintaining residence for citizenship eligibility which are probably similare to condition for maintaing LPR status

Residency

An applicant must have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence. Lawfully admitted for permanent residence means having been legally accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant in accordance with the immigration laws. Individuals who have been lawfully admitted as permanent residents will be asked to produce an I-551, Alien Registration Receipt Card, as proof of their status.

See Also INA 316

Residence and Physical Presence

An applicant is eligible to file if, immediately preceding the filing of the application, he or she:

has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (see preceding section);
has resided continuously as a lawful permanent resident in the U.S. for at least 5 years prior to filing with no single absence from the United States of more than one year;
has been physically present in the United States for at least 30 months out of the previous five years (absences of more than six months but less than one year shall disrupt the applicant's continuity of residence unless the applicant can establish that he or she did not abandon his or her residence during such period)
has resided within a state or district for at least three months
 
So JoeF, what is the best way to achieve this? How do we maintain GC if we make visits abroad for business reasons?
 
So JoeF, if someone stays in his house and then visits abroad for business purposes then GC can be maintained. For the purpose of this discussion, let us assume that the trip does not extend for more than a month.
 
Another question is like this, imagine a situation where GC holder working for a company visits abroad and comes back within 30 days. Officer simply asks the nature of trip and duration of trip. After arrival, the person does his regular work in US for say 2 months and goes out again for 30 days. The officer asks the same questions as described above upon arrival. On his second and subsequent visit, will the officer know that you are travelling frequently? And if he does find out, what does he do? (please assume that on any trip abroad the duration was not more than 30 days and this number is not unusally high).
 
Avalon said:
Another question is like this, imagine a situation where GC holder working for a company visits abroad and comes back within 30 days. Officer simply asks the nature of trip and duration of trip. After arrival, the person does his regular work in US for say 2 months and goes out again for 30 days. The officer asks the same questions as described above upon arrival. On his second and subsequent visit, will the officer know that you are travelling frequently? And if he does find out, what does he do? (please assume that on any trip abroad the duration was not more than 30 days and this number is not unusally high).
Click to expand...

He will obviously know it, he swipes your card. He might ask you what is the nature of these frequent trips? If you have a logical and satisfactory answer he should be satisfied.
Nothing prevents you from undertaking numerous short business related trips as long as is does not give an impression that you have taken up work and residence abroad.
 
Thanks to JoeF and nkm.

I am trying to know the best way to do this. It is important to me to see the facts as mere impression of officer is not enough. If I have solid facts then it is just a matter of proving the same.

nkm,
They do not scan GC at POE when you travel through land. So a person may reside in Canada and POE officer at the border would not even know it. There is no record when you departed and when you arrived. And if I am a Canadian Citizen with US GC, I can always show my Canadian passport while crossing border and still there won't be any trace left.
 
Avalon,
Obviously you are going around in circles on this matter. If you have abandoned you residence, you lose your GC. If the immigration officer suspects that you have abandoned you residence and you can't prove otherwise, you lose your GC. It can't get any clearer than this. You don't have any specific question and you raise hypothetical points in every subsequent posts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top