Temporarily giving up green card application

falcon7a

Registered Users (C)
I am a US citizen by naturalization. I have applied for my wife's I-485, I-130 and travel docs. There is a chance that I may go back to my home country for a few years.

My question is:

1) If I withdraw my wife's GC application for now and then reapply in the next 3 or 4 years from my home country's US embassy, will that be possible? I don't know if it is possible to apply for my wife again thru an embassy if I withdraw my current application.

2) How long would it take for the embassy to grant an immigration visa to my wife?

Thanks for your help.
 
You can withdraw application now and re-file it later. Please note that once your wife has demonstrated immigrant intent, she may be unable to get a non-immigrant visa, and will have to apply at the consulate.

If you will be living outside the US, you will not be able to sponsor your wife until you return to the US, get a job and resume residency here. I am not 100% sure, but you should definitely check this out.

This means that you will first have to return to the US, get a job here, file I130 and your wife will go for consular processing. You may be separated for 9-24 months.

If I were you, I would wait until she gets approved and then leave. Some DOs are very fast (see my previous post for San Antonio - 2.5 months), so if you're lucky to live in one of these, it may be worth it to wait. Just a suggestion.
 
gringo said:
You can withdraw application now and re-file it later. Please note that once your wife has demonstrated immigrant intent, she may be unable to get a non-immigrant visa, and will have to apply at the consulate.

If you will be living outside the US, you will not be able to sponsor your wife until you return to the US, get a job and resume residency here. I am not 100% sure, but you should definitely check this out.

This means that you will first have to return to the US, get a job here, file I130 and your wife will go for consular processing. You may be separated for 9-24 months.

If I were you, I would wait until she gets approved and then leave. Some DOs are very fast (see my previous post for San Antonio - 2.5 months), so if you're lucky to live in one of these, it may be worth it to wait. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for the reply. What do you mean by waiting until she is approved? Is that approval for the green card or approval of her citizenship? If she gets her green card and then leaves the country, she'll have to keep visiting every year. Otherwise, her green card will expire.
 
falcon7a said:
Thanks for the reply. What do you mean by waiting until she is approved? Is that approval for the green card or approval of her citizenship? If she gets her green card and then leaves the country, she'll have to keep visiting every year. Otherwise, her green card will expire.


Hi,

I meant you should wait until she gets the GC, then leave and apply for a return permit (from abroad). If she leaves the US to accompany a US Citizen in another country, it might make it easier for her to get a return permit. In This is just my opinion, and I would encourage you to talk to a lawyer.
 
When she gets the GC and want to go with you outside the country for a year or more, she needs a re-entry permit (permanent residents are the one who apply for it) BEFORE she leaves the country. It is important that once a person get a green card the intention is to reside in the US, the non-continous residency in the country will trigger her ability to apply for citizenship.
http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/Emergency/index.htm#Reentry
Good luck,
 
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