Out of country for 16 months without re-entry permit

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truedesi

Registered Users (C)
One of my friend had to go out of country and could not come back to US and now its been about 16 months and want to come back now.

I saw on consulate website, you can apply for returning resident visa, what are the requirements and odds to get it approved?

Is that a lengthy cumbersome process?

any experiences would be greatly helpful.
 
I don't know how the process works exactly, but he'll have to explain why he wasn't able to return to the US, and why he wasn't able to obtain a re-entry permit. Documentation will help, as will ties to the US, such as property, family, bank accounts, etc.
 
If the green card is still valid, he can use it to travel. Now, when he gets here he might or might not be asked questions by CBP. He will be already here, he will have to face the consequences but he will be inside the US.

Good luck.- :D:D:D
 
rick92 said:
If the green card is still valid, he can use it to travel. Now, when he gets here he might or might not be asked questions by CBP. He will be already here, he will have to face the consequences but he will be inside the US.

Good luck.- :D:D:D
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yes GC is valid for another 5 years, so you mean just take the flight and come and bear the consequences here?
 
truedesi said:
yes GC is valid for another 5 years, so you mean just take the flight and come and bear the consequences here?
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If I am in the same situation, I will take the flight and come to the US. The worst case scenario is not to granted entry and return back to where you are (same possibility, I think, of not granted visa from the consulate). It depends on his threshold of dealing with surprises.
 
mmed said:
If I am in the same situation, I will take the flight and come to the US. The worst case scenario is not to granted entry and return back to where you are (same possibility, I think, of not granted visa from the consulate).
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No, it is not the same possibility. They don't like people attempting to circumvent the rules. They put the Returning Resident Visa in place for situations like this, and they will turn you away just for trying to bypass the process they put in place.

If the officer at the airport knows how long you have been away, they will angrily ask why you didn't apply for the SB-1 visa. Then if you can't answer to their satisfaction, they will confiscate the green card and send you back, or hold you in a detention center until you have a court hearing about abandoning your residence (if you're lucky they might let you go to your US home to wait for the hearing).
 
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I personally know someone who was turned away by CBP and ended up reimbursing the airline $6000 for an immediate one-way ticket back home. If you cannot prove that you maintained a continued residency in the US and leave for 16 month, your permanent residency is considered abandoned and you cannot re-enter. As other pointed out you will either be detained until a hearing or refused entry. In very rare cases they grant humanitarian parole instead of detention, i.e. if you are sick and need medical treatment. You are still facing a judge in that case, and your residency is still abandoned and you will still be deported, but in that case you won't have to wait for that in jail.
 
That is great and after what was said I will change my opinion to be: if I am in the same situation, I will apply for visa in the consulate and will not come until the visa is granted.

The other point, still my opinion, is that most of those people who want to return after prolonged time, mostly just want to reactivate their GC with no home, family or job in the state which make their chance for granted permission almost nil
 
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