Returning after 20 months

H

Hannah7

Registered Users (C)
Here I go!

I am about to return to the States after 20 months of absence with a valid Reentry permit, that I got for finishing my studies abroad. After I finished my studies, I decided to stay abroad a little bit longer on vacation and another 3 months for foreign language studies. Now after totalling 20 months, my mission is complete and I am trying to collect pieces of evidences that my intent to live in the U.S. was not abandoned.

I don't have any material ties, but I hope I can demonstrate my psychical ties. I have:
  • unexpired green card and re-entry permit
  • active bank account
  • valid state drivers licence
  • SSN card
  • selective service receipt
  • U.S. address(es) where my friend(s) live
  • Letter saying I was student the time I was abroad
  • Travel logs for all other countries I visited

Even though I was not obligated to file the Tax Returns for the last two years, because of no employment, I am going to file them for those years before I go.

I am sure to enter the U.S. on the one way ticket or on a roundtrip ticket with a leg back to Europe 6+ months away from now. <- we discussed this topic here http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?546686-Re-entering-with-One-way-vs-Rountrip-ticket

Before this long absence, I had lived in the U.S. for an uniterrupted year and this is my first re-entry permit. Also I never took up a job since I have been abroad.

Am I going to be OK? Is there anything else I am missing? I am trying to do my best to stay on the safe side.

Thank you in advance!
 
Hannah7 said:
Here I go!

I am about to return to the States after 20 months of absence with a valid Reentry permit, that I got for finishing my studies abroad. After I finished my studies, I decided to stay abroad a little bit longer on vacation and another 3 months for foreign language studies. Now after totalling 20 months, my mission is complete and I am trying to collect pieces of evidences that my intent to live in the U.S. was not abandoned.

I don't have any material ties, but I hope I can demonstrate my psychical ties. I have:
  • unexpired green card and re-entry permit
  • active bank account
  • valid state drivers licence
  • SSN card
  • selective service receipt
  • U.S. address(es) where my friend(s) live
  • Letter saying I was student the time I was abroad
  • Travel logs for all other countries I visited

Even though I was not obligated to file the Tax Returns for the last two years, because of no employment, I am going to file them for those years before I go.

I am sure to enter the U.S. on the one way ticket or on a roundtrip ticket with a leg back to Europe 6+ months away from now. <- we discussed this topic here http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?546686-Re-entering-with-One-way-vs-Rountrip-ticket

Before this long absence, I had lived in the U.S. for an uniterrupted year and this is my first re-entry permit. Also I never took up a job since I have been abroad.

Am I going to be OK? Is there anything else I am missing? I am trying to do my best to stay on the safe side.

Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...

You only need your REP. YOU were merely a student "finishing personal business" or "tying up loose ends" before making your permanent move to the U.S.

IF naturalization is a concern to you, you will be able to file 4 yrs and 1 day after returning to the U.S., if otherwise eligible.
 
Hannah7 said:
[*]Letter saying I was student the time I was abroad
Click to expand...
A transcript or diploma would be better.

Even though I was not obligated to file the Tax Returns for the last two years, because of no employment, I am going to file them for those years before I go.
Click to expand...
Filing them after the fact won't be useful. If you're going to file them to make a better impression of ties to the US, the time do so is during your long absences, not at the end of it.

You probably won't need anything more than your passport and reentry permit at the POE. If you somehow end up having to provide more evidence it would be to an immigration judge at a later court date. But if you have those documents you listed it makes sense to carry them anyway.
 
Jackolantern:

1) So you think I'm not likely to have problems with REP and reason I have?


2) I'm actually going to move to other state as soon as I land in the U.S. Should I file the AR-11 now and change my bank account address now or do it later while in the U.S. ? The problem would be, that I would stand at POE with different addresses on my Drivers license and AR-11 if changed my address before.
 
Have you already completely vacated the latest address that USCIS has for you, or are you planning to return to that address to fetch your things and then move to the new address?
 
Jackolantern said:
Have you already completely vacated the latest address that USCIS has for you, or are you planning to return to that address to fetch your things and then move to the new address?
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My friend who lives on my old address has left the U.S. for a half year, so I will be staying with another friend of mine at my new address. Recently I needed to receive some mail from my U.S. bank, so I provided my bank with this new address - because no one was present at the old one.

So I wonder if I should make that change using AR-11 now or later while in the U.S.

Hope I made it more clear :)
 
In other words, yes, at some point in the future I will return to the old address to pick up some stuff.
 
BigJoe5 said:
IF naturalization is a concern to you, you will be able to file 4 yrs and 1 day after returning to the U.S., if otherwise eligible.
Click to expand...

Naturalization requirements is pretty clear to me. However, from which date am I starting my permanent residency? The day I arrive/return to the U.S. ?

I mean. I am definitely going to be 6+ months in the U.S. in each year-window. For example now I am going to do this:

February 2012 (return after 2 years)
June 2012 - September 2012 ( expedition to Asia for three moths)
September 2012 - December 2012 ( back in the U.S. )
December 2012 - two week Christmas vacation with my grandparents in France
...
...

This way I am going to be over 7 months in the U.S in total. With this after 4 years and 1 day, my first day of residency is February 2012 ?
 
For the purpose of accumulating continuous residence for naturalization eligibility, the 4 years and 1 day clock starts counting on the day you returned to the US at the end of the last trip that broke continuous residence.

So for you that would be whenever you return in February 2012, unless you make the count start even later by going on more long trips. The planned trip in June-Sept. isn't long enough or close enough to your other long trips to cause a problem, but if that trip started in March or February itself, you risk having it treated as an extension of the longer trip that ended in February, thereby starting your 4 years and 1 day at the end of the mid-year trip rather than the end of Feb.
 
Thank you so much :)

So in other words, it is not required to stay 6+ months in a whole in order to start counting towards the citizenship. It is just necessary to keep all the trips under 6 months and not having a lot of longer trips very close consecutively. In total it must be 6+ months in a given year.

Is that comprehensive and correct? :)
 
Hannah7 said:
Thank you so much :)

So in other words, it is not required to stay 6+ months in a whole in order to start counting towards the citizenship. It is just necessary to keep all the trips under 6 months and not having a lot of longer trips very close consecutively. In total it must be 6+ months in a given year.

Is that comprehensive and correct? :)
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Sort of. It's subjective and there is no exact formula. They look at the overall pattern of travel and all the facts; somebody with stronger ties to the US (e.g. house, spouse, children, US employer) can get away with longer and more frequent trips than somebody who doesn't.

But if you do as described -- keep every trip under 6 months, spend a total of over 6 months every year inside the US, and don't make the long trips be close together, that's a reasonably safe approach.

And don't forget the physical presence requirement of totaling 2.5 years inside the US within the last 5 years before submitting the naturalization application.
 
Purpose of frequent travel?

Just out of curiosity...Why all the travel?

You initially indicated that you had finished studies etc... your "mission" was complete. Then you have shifted to an anticipated pattern of frequent travel. It seems disingenuous. What's the real deal?
 
About Tax Returns

Jackolantern said:
Filing them (tax returns) after the fact won't be useful. If you're going to file them to make a better impression of ties to the US, the time do so is during your long absences, not at the end of it.
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At least, I should file Income Tax Return 2011 even though I am not required to do so based on my very low income. What is the proof of filed Tax Return? Just a photocopy of the filled and signed Form 1040EZ ?
 
Case update

Two days ago I returned back to the U.S.

At POE everything went very smoothly and quick. I was asked just two questions: how long I had been gone and what for. I showed GC and REP. Gave fingerprints and left.

What surprises me. I have received no stamp in passport nor reentry permit. The officer just swiped my green card and thats it. Do I need to be worry that this way my entrance is not recorded?

My concern is that I have no evidence about my return...
 
Hannah7 said:
Two days ago I returned back to the U.S.

At POE everything went very smoothly and quick. I was asked just two questions: how long I had been gone and what for. I showed GC and REP. Gave fingerprints and left.

What surprises me. I have received no stamp in passport nor reentry permit. The officer just swiped my green card and thats it. Do I need to be worry that this way my entrance is not recorded?

My concern is that I have no evidence about my return...
Click to expand...

You obviously have a machine readable document as evidenced by the officer "swiping your card". What did you think that was for?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Passports are not always stamped. I'm sure you've learned this after all your travel. Keep your boarding pass and flight emails. I kept every single one since I traveled back and forth so often. Good to hear you had no trouble getting back in. Good luck with the rest of your immigration journey.
 
cafeconleche said:
Passports are not always stamped. I'm sure you've learned this after all your travel. Keep your boarding pass and flight emails. I kept every single one since I traveled back and forth so often. Good to hear you had no trouble getting back in. Good luck with the rest of your immigration journey.
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Yeah, but what concerns me that despite being out for a long time everything went so smooth. Not even my reentry permit had been looked at or opened.

Thanks!
 
Hannah7 said:
Yeah, but what concerns me that despite being out for a long time everything went so smooth. Not even my reentry permit had been looked at or opened.
Click to expand...

Swiping your green card means your entry was recorded in the system. Upon swiping the card the officer probably saw on the system that you had a valid reentry permit, and was satisfied with that.
 
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