Keeping Green card and living outside of USA

S

sirus

Registered Users (C)
Hello All

I have a friend who has a green card through lottery. She has good job back home (outside USA). She wants to keep her green card while living back home. She is now living on her country of origin (outside of USA). Her last visit was October 2011

1. What do you advise us to do to avoid problems with her green card?
2. Do you think she can file reentry permit to preserve her green card? (I-191, Application for Advance Permission to Return to Unrelinquished Domicile)
Can she file this while she is outside USA.
3. What about the form N-470, Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes
in which circumstaces, she can file this form?

Please kindly advise us the best option for her.

Thank you for your support as always.

Sirus
 
She can't live outside the US indefinitely and keep her green card. Eventually she'll have to surrender the card or move to the US.

She can get a reentry permit to preserve the green card for 2 years, but she must apply for it within the US -- must be in the US when it is submitted including when USCIS receives it, and must show up at a USCIS office for fingerprinting, but may leave the US in between those points in time, and may leave again after giving fingerprints.

N-470 requires physically staying for 12 consecutive months in the US as a green card holder before becoming eligible to apply (it doesn't have to be the 12 months immediately before applying for it, it can be any 12 months since becoming a green card holder), and there are other requirements. Obviously she hasn't stayed those 12 months in the US, and apparently doesn't plan to do that anytime soon. Also, the N-470 doesn't preserve the green card, it only allows the time spent working abroad to be counted towards the 5-year* residence requirement for naturalization.

*or 3 years, if married to a US citizen
 
Jackolantern said:
She can't live outside the US indefinitely and keep her green card. Eventually she'll have to surrender the card or move to the US.

She can get a reentry permit to preserve the green card for 2 years, but she must apply for it within the US -- must be in the US when it is submitted including when USCIS receives it, and must show up at a USCIS office for fingerprinting, but may leave the US in between those points in time, and may leave again after giving fingerprints.

N-470 requires physically staying for 12 consecutive months in the US as a green card holder before becoming eligible to apply (it doesn't have to be the 12 months immediately before applying for it, it can be any 12 months since becoming a green card holder), and there are other requirements. Obviously she hasn't stayed those 12 months in the US, and apparently doesn't plan to do that anytime soon. Also, the N-470 doesn't preserve the green card, it only allows the time spent working abroad to be counted towards the 5-year* residence requirement for naturalization.

*or 3 years, if married to a US citizen
Click to expand...

Thank you for your kind reply.
For your information, the last time, she was here was October 2011, she is planning to be here in June or October 2012 to apply for I-191 for 2 years. Then she will come to live in the US for at least 1 year and apply for N-490.
Meanwhile she is planning to marry her fiance who is US Citizenship by naturalization. Is above plan works. Please kindly advise.
Sirus
 
Well, first, she might have trouble when she tries to enter the US again. This is not a guarantee, but a big possibility because of her long absences from the US.

Second, there's a chance her re-entry permit will be issued for only 1 year, or denied, if she has spent a long time outside the US already.

Third, there is no guarantee the N470 will be issued. She must be working for a US-based company abroad, the US government, or something like that. It isn't for just anybody living abroad.

Finally, if she is planning on marrying a US citizen, she can always re-apply for her green card through him once/if she loses it, and then in future, wants to come back to the country with her husband. if this is the case, she might as well relinquish her green card and apply for a US visa instead of spending all this time and money traveling back and forth just to maintain it when she has no intention of living here at this time.
 
cafeconleche said:
Well, first, she might have trouble when she tries to enter the US again. This is not a guarantee, but a big possibility because of her long absences from the US.

Second, there's a chance her re-entry permit will be issued for only 1 year, or denied, if she has spent a long time outside the US already.

Third, there is no guarantee the N470 will be issued. She must be working for a US-based company abroad, the US government, or something like that. It isn't for just anybody living abroad.

Finally, if she is planning on marrying a US citizen, she can always re-apply for her green card through him once/if she loses it, and then in future, wants to come back to the country with her husband. if this is the case, she might as well relinquish her green card and apply for a US visa instead of spending all this time and money traveling back and forth just to maintain it when she has no intention of living here at this time.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your prompt reply.

But she was here in Oct 2011, and will be again here in June 2012, she has been in USA at least once a year.
Is this a problem?
She will try to be here in June 2012 but at latest in October 2012 before she is 1 year outside of USA.
Is this second case also a problem?
What is she stays there and get married to her fiance and return back to US with her green card?

Thank you for your help.

Sirus
 
sirus said:
For your information, the last time, she was here was October 2011, she is planning to be here in June or October 2012 to apply for I-191 for 2 years. Then she will come to live in the US for at least 1 year and apply for N-490.
Click to expand...
What do you mean ... she plans to apply for a reentry permit (I-131, not I-191) later this year, then stay outside the US until 2014, then stay in the US for 1 year till 2015 and then leave the US again?
 
Visiting the US with a green card does not make immigration happy. She has been lucky that they haven't said anything, and she might continue to be lucky, so if she's not worried about being asked to see an immigration judge, she can keep doing this.

A permanent resident is expected to spend most of their time in the US every year, not just visit for a few days so as not to stay out for a whole year continuously.

If she stays out for over a year and gets married to her fiance, she will have lost her permanent residence status. She could then try to apply for a returning resident visa, but she will have to prove she was unable to return to the US earlier due to some unforseen circumstance.

What Jackolantern is asking is also relevant here: she has the option and ability of staying in the US for a whole year in 2014 JUST to be eligible for the N470?

If she doesn't really want/need to be a permanent resident for a few years, she can either apply for a re-entry permit and then possibly extend her ability to return as a permanent resident for up to another 2 years. However, it seems like a lot of hassle if she is going to marry a US citizen anyway and might return in 4+ years to the US. She might as well surrender her green card and then, if and when she and her husband decide to move to the US, they can start the immediate relative sponsorship process a few months before they intend to move. She won't be subject to a quota, and if the marriage is genuine, she will be able to move to the US as a permanent resident.
 
Jackolantern said:
What do you mean ... she plans to apply for a reentry permit (I-131, not I-191) later this year, then stay outside the US until 2014, then stay in the US for 1 year till 2015 and then leave the US again?
Click to expand...

I mean that she will come to the USA, then apply for I-191 for 1 or 2 year. Prior expiration, she will come back to live in USA for 2 years, then apply for N-490.

Is I-131 better in this case?
 
cafeconleche said:
Visiting the US with a green card does not make immigration happy. She has been lucky that they haven't said anything, and she might continue to be lucky, so if she's not worried about being asked to see an immigration judge, she can keep doing this.

A permanent resident is expected to spend most of their time in the US every year, not just visit for a few days so as not to stay out for a whole year continuously.

If she stays out for over a year and gets married to her fiance, she will have lost her permanent residence status. She could then try to apply for a returning resident visa, but she will have to prove she was unable to return to the US earlier due to some unforseen circumstance.

What Jackolantern is asking is also relevant here: she has the option and ability of staying in the US for a whole year in 2014 JUST to be eligible for the N470?

If she doesn't really want/need to be a permanent resident for a few years, she can either apply for a re-entry permit and then possibly extend her ability to return as a permanent resident for up to another 2 years. However, it seems like a lot of hassle if she is going to marry a US citizen anyway and might return in 4+ years to the US. She might as well surrender her green card and then, if and when she and her husband decide to move to the US, they can start the immediate relative sponsorship process a few months before they intend to move. She won't be subject to a quota, and if the marriage is genuine, she will be able to move to the US as a permanent resident.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply.
Your feel that reentry permit I-131 is better than I-191. I was thinking that I-191 is for greencard holder?
Please kindly advise which is better for her.
She is planning to live outside for 1 and half year, then comeback to live 2 and half years here and become Citizen.
Is above possible?
 
sirus said:
Thank you for your reply.
Your feel that reentry permit I-131 is better than I-191. I was thinking that I-191 is for greencard holder?
Please kindly advise which is better for her.
She is planning to live outside for 1 and half year, then comeback to live 2 and half years here and become Citizen.
Is above possible?
Click to expand...

That plan will not work.

Once you break the continuity of residence, you can't merely come back and live for 2 1/2 years and apply for residence (if you manage to retain the greencard).

See 8 CFR 316.5 (c) especially (c)(1)(ii)
 
sirus said:
I mean that she will come to the USA, then apply for I-191 for 1 or 2 year. Prior expiration, she will come back to live in USA for 2 years, then apply for N-490.

Is I-131 better in this case?
Click to expand...

I-131 is better, as it is a multiple-use document and is routinely approved (at least the first time). I-191 is harder to get approved and is for one-time use. However, I-191 may be filed when outside the US, whereas I-131 must be filed when within the US.
 
Your "friend" would not be wasting time or money in paying an attorney to sit down and discuss these matters in-depth. There is great danger in asking half (or less) formed questions and posing endless "what...if" scenarios. Usually, critical facts are glossed over or omitted completely and the "friend" will only provide a portion of useful info amid a hailstorm of incorrect info. This thread has crossed into a danger zone. If (and when) your "friend" relies on wrong info that you provided, you will have at least one less friend.
 
Agree with BigJoe5 on this issue. Living abroad and trying to keep the Green Card is walking a very fine line. Every time you travel back to the US, you need to explain to border control why you are staying outside the US for such an extended time. Would not advice to do this to anybody since it can put you at risk.
 
Thank you all.

What is the difference between I-131 and I-191 ?
Which one will help keep better the residency?

Thank you again for you effort
 
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