staying out of US for more than 6 months after GC

[deepakra]

Me and my wife got our physical GC's in March 2005. Due to a family emergency, we had to travel to India in August 2005. I came back in October 2005, but my wife is still there.

Is it possible for my wife to extend stay until March end 2006. That will be eight months...Will she be asked any questions when she enter?

Please let us know any experiences you have?

Thx in advance
-DR

PS: She has no permanent license, but a temp CA driving permit. She has a joint bank a/c with me.

 

[sg_orl]

She will most likely be challenged at the POE. It depends a lot on the officer she runs into and most likely will be subjected to a secondary inspection. She will have to explain the situation and show the documents relating with the family emergency and why the visit got extended beyond 6 mos. Copies of bank statements, rental agreement/lease in the US, creadit card statements delivered to US address etc. will be good to have at hand. She basically has to prove that she did NOT abandon the permanent resident status.

She has to come back within 1 yr, otherwise permanent resident status will be in serious jeopardy with out the re-entry permit. If she wants to apply for citizenship in future, visits over 6 months but less than 1 yr generally break the continuous residency requirement.

 

[pralay]

If she wants to apply for citizenship in future, visits over 6 months but less than 1 yr generally break the continuous residency requirement.

I don't think it will break continuous residency in this case (provided she comes back before 1 year), considering following facts:
1. Her husband is working and living in USA
2. Have residence in USA
3. Filing US taxes
4. She is absent due to a family emergency.

 

[pralay]

From posts in the citizenship forum, it seems that in the last year or so CIS examiners have been quite inflexible on this issue.
Of course, it doesn't hurt to try, but be prepared for having the application denied.

I saw couple of issues in citizenship forum and other mailing lists. It depends on individual case - mainly the reason they were absent. However, in certain circumstances I would hire a good attorney to apply for citizenship. For example, I got GC on 1st Jan 2000. I was absent in the same year (2000) for more than 6 months. In that case probably I would prefer to wait for 6-7 months (to make it five years minus 90 days after returning from absense) for applying for citizenship, instead of spending money for attorney. On the other hand, if I got GC on 2000 and was absent on 2003, I would hire a lawyer so that I can apply for citizenship on 2005, instead of waiting till 2008. It also depends on how strong the case is. Given above situation (husband living in USA, have residence and absence due to medical emergency) I would probably give a try.