Relinquishing GC and impact

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vivek42

Registered Users (C)
Following is the situation

- Am GC holder since Jan 2005
- Have taken up a job overseas to be closer to family due to their medical condition
- I own a property in US, which is on rent right now
- I realize that I may not be able to apply for naturalization as I may not be able to satisfy "continuous residence" clause (based on the responses from this forum). Unfortunately or fortunately (only time will tell), I have to take this decision
- My Kids are US citizen by birth

Question is:
- If I relinquish GC, how difficult it is to get visitors / business visa for future trips. I still want to be able to have my kids visit places like Disney world, etc. when they grow up
- Also, is it possible to still own a house even after relinquishing the GC (I literally have to shell out few $K to sell my house here and cannot afford to do that)

I am trying to weigh in all the options at this time and would appreciate your thoughts or any experiences.
 
1. If you voluntarily give up your GC using the official process, and don't have a criminal record or other such issues, it should be easy to get a visitor's visa. Giving up your GC voluntarily is a strong statement of NOT having immigrant intent.

2. As long as you continue to make the mortgage payments and pay the property taxes, you can continue to own US real estate without a GC or any other visa. Many Europeans have vacation homes in Florida and other warm-weather states. But if you rent out the property you need to file US taxes for the rental income (minus the deductions allowed for rental property like insurance and property taxes).
 
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If you really want to return to the US, you can get a reentry permit so you can deal with your family issues and then come back at the end of the 2 years if things are resolved by then. The reentry permit won't preserve your eligibility for naturalization (that would have to be rebuilt in the years after returning to the US), but it would at least allow you to keep the green card.
 
You can own property, but doing so does not afford you any right of entry to the US in order to live in it. As others have said, you should still be able to get a visitor visa if you formally give up your LPR.
 
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