How to Maintain GC by staying abroad?

[Avalon]

Thanks pralay.

And thanks to JoeF to give solution of becoming a US Citizen.

I have one big question here, if USCIS officers know when you left country and if they do track about your arrival/departure record then why do they ask "How long you were out?"

 

[cgiz]

Thanks Joef, can you give the direct URL for the user group you mentioned with the retired INS officer in?

 

[Avalon]

JoeF

But in my opinion the USCIS does not have all the information. So many times they messed up things when I was trying to obtain my GC. When I filed AR-11, they did not have latest address for more than a year, when my finger printing was sent, they did not get it and I had to do it again. It took them 6 months to figure out. When I was applying for Advanced Parole, it took them 9 months to send me one. The point is, if USCIS were so efficient then they would not take more time to tackle important issues like security, AR11 and finger printing. I am sure others may have some horror stories.

And on the other hand USCIS is so efficient to track their PRs that they know that they are legal residents but try to question them just to find out how much time they spent abroad rather than giving tracking important issues like security. This is something hard to believe that they are efficient but slow.

 

[pralay]

Actually, they do. They collect the I-94s of non-immigrants, and they get the passenger manifests from the airlines. The only issue is that before 9/11, they essentially did nothing with it, it was just stored somewhere.

I-94 is only for visitors (non-immigrants). It does not cover all immigrant and non-citizens.

Hmm, why? At least for US citizens, that would probable be unconstitutional. The US government has no business of knowing or tracking the whereabouts of US citizens. There is a reason why there is no national ID card in the US and most likely never will be. In the passenger manifests mentioned above, the airlines actually only need to give them the names, passport numbers, etc. of non-US citizens.

How so! Just like point-of-entry, point-of-exit (does exits currently) should not violate any constitutional right. Govt is not tracking anybody. They are just ensuring who is leaving and who is entering into country. What happen at point-of-entry now? If you show US passport, they just check whether it's fake or not. If it's original, they just let you in. Govt is not tracking anything here. Why should they do at point-of-exit? If you are US passport holder, the officer should just let you exit without "recording anything". If you are non-immigrant, the officer should take I-94 back. If you are GC holder, he should swap the card and record your exit date.

And not only that, you have the right of the government not knowing where you live. You have the right to be "left alone".

Exit checkpoint only checks your exit from the US border. If does not dig into the matter where you live. You can leave from LAX, go to Singapore, Australia and eventually settle at Madagaskar. Exit checkpoint has nothing to do with where you live or settle.

 

[pralay]

They have the passenger manifest of all passengers on the arriving plane, including US citizens.
They have the passenger manifest of all passengers on the departing plane, including US citizens.

I don't understand your point.
As manifest is as it means exactly "manifest". It can provide a "lead" to some security issues, but it's not an absolute replacement of procedure that is done a govt. Tracking from manifest has nothing to do with POE or point-of-exit. Manifest applies only for airlines passensers. It does not apply to land-border - like Mexico or Canda.

The airlines perform that duty for the US government already. Why build another huge bureaucracy to handle something that is already done?

An airlines employee cannot be a substitute a govt officer. In your logic, govt don't need a point-of-entry system. Airlines employee can check your visa stamp on passport and let you board on plane. He/she can perform the task of a POE officer.

 

[Avalon]

What I conclude from the ongoing dicussion is "Government depends on airline for all data on people travelling by plane." May be they are tracking people who are would be hijackers. They do this anyway to domestic flights too. But they are not tracking solely from point of view of "how many days a GC holder was out?"

And if they were so concerned about it, they would track the same for land terminals.

So they can catch you if you lie...

There is no way they would be able to figure out. Take this scenario. People travel from Miami, go on a cruise and live in Bahamas. From there, they board a plane and come back to Chicago. At POE in Chicago, can the officer figure out if someone was out of US for 1 week or 2 week". If yes, how?

 

[cgiz]

When you claim you were out of x amount of time out of the US, the burden to prove what you claim is on you but not on the government. When feeling questionable, the POE officer will ask you for proof if they can't figure out.

This is the risk associated with lying.

 

[pralay]

You don't seem to know anything about the tasks of POE officers.

Instead of saying words "you don't seem to know" (which I noticed you use very often), it would be lot better if you just mention/describe/share the "knowledge that I don't know and you know". People come here for discussion/sharing info/getting feedback. It's not high-school class that some teacher has to tell me that I don't know.

 

[pralay]

Well, if you say something that is obviously wrong, expect me (and probably others) to correct you, if you like it or not.

Then just do it. Just don't make derogatory comments like "you don't know". It's possible to correct the wrong fact with correct fact - without making a comment about the person.

 

[Avalon]

pralay,

Please look at it this way. My attitude is like this, "I am on this forum because I want to learn. I want to learn becauase I want to know. Because I want to know that means there is something I do not know. So if I do not know something then it does not matter whether someone puts it in words that I do not know things". This is "no brainer", it is obvious and implied that I do not know. Had I know everything then I would not have any questions and would not be digging here to find answers.

We do not live in perfecr err... perfect world and everyone knows that no one is perfect. So let us accept the reallity. In life, we do not have control on what others think, say or do. But we have control on what we think, say or do, and that is what matters most.

 

[Avalon]

When you claim you were out of x amount of time out of the US, the burden to prove what you claim is on you but not on the government. When feeling questionable, the POE officer will ask you for proof if they can't figure out.

But in the example above, the person can prove that he was out in Bahamas for 1 week and he doe snot have to prove that he was out for 2 weeks and his claim is only 1 week.

 

[Avalon]

Are you in the software industry? If so, you probably should know that.

Yes I am in software industry and what amazes me is the inefficiency in USCIS. Had they been so efficient, they could have given me GC in 8 months instead of 8 years. One can not achieve efficiency and claim that we have lost your FP records so you will have to finger print again. The efficiency is speaking out and is known to everyine who have been through prolonged GC process.