Travel Abroad after Green Card

[yogkc]

I got my PR in June 07 and My spouse made her first entry to U.S. in Oct 08 with her GC. Now we want to go back to home country for 3-4 months in Feb 09. Her dad is ill and we want to be next to him.

Will this create any problem?

Someone mentioned me that she has to be in U.S. for 6 months before leaving U.S. after her first entry. Can someone please enlighten us?

Thanks in Advance

 

[Jackolantern]

Someone mentioned me that she has to be in U.S. for 6 months before leaving U.S. after her first entry.

That is not true. However, if you leave on a long trip very shortly after first arriving, when you apply for citizenship they may say that your 5-year residence clock started at the end of that long trip, rather than your first day in the US as an LPR.

By the time your wife leaves in Feb, she would have already completed 4 months so she shouldn't have a problem.

 

[yogkc]

Thanks for your reply. You made my day. This will bring big smile on wife's face.

Thanks Again

 

[Hannah7]

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[Jackolantern]

Due to school I needed to return back to Europe without reentry permit with a plan to stay 11 months aways and then come back for good. I am a bit nervous about that as many people say that 6< months absence is very dangerous, while basic USCIS information say that one can be away for up to one year without permit.

Greater than a year without a permit makes the loss of your green card almost automatic, but absences of more than 6 months and less than a year are also dangerous. Anything more than 6 months, you are considered as reapplying for admission and you can be turned away at the discretion of the officer for reasons that wouldn't apply if you were out for less than 6 months.

You do not have strong evidence of ties to the US -- no lease or mortgage or utilities in your own name, no spouse or children in the US, no job in the US, you haven't spent much time in the US since obtaining your green card, etc. So you definitely should take a trip back before your 11 months are done, preferably 2 or 3 trips if you can. And don't just stay for 3 or 4 days, stay for a few weeks.

 

[Hannah7]

Greater than a year without a permit makes the loss of your green card almost automatic, but absences of more than 6 months and less than a year are also dangerous. Anything more than 6 months, you are considered as reapplying for admission and you can be turned away at the discretion of the officer for reasons that wouldn't apply if you were out for less than 6 months.

You do not have strong evidence of ties to the US -- no lease or mortgage or utilities in your own name, no spouse or children in the US, no job in the US, you haven't spent much time in the US since obtaining your green card, etc. So you definitely should take a trip back before your 11 months are done, preferably 2 or 3 trips if you can. And don't just stay for 3 or 4 days, stay for a few weeks.

I got fear from your responses. You may be right. I understand that gc was given to me in order to live in the U.S.

I say, I can somehow manage one trip to the U.S. for only one week. No more. 2-3 trips are impossible for me, both for lack of time and money.

I feel really bad now. Am I suppose to abandon my GC and apply for study visa instead?

 

[Jackolantern]

I feel really bad now. Am I suppose to abandon my GC and apply for study visa instead?

Return before 6 months are up, stay in the US as long as you can, and hope for the best. If harassed at the POE, explain clearly and confidently that you are only temporarily overseas to finish a degree that was started before your green card was approved (I'm assuming that was the case), and now that you have a green card you're going to study at a US school. I think you'll be OK if you don't push the limits (and 11 months straight would be pushing the limits).

But if you really don't plan to live in the US after completing your US degree, then maybe it would be better to voluntarily and officially surrender your card at a consulate via the I-407 process, and then apply for a student visa.

 

[Hannah7]

But if you really don't plan to live in the US after completing your US degree, then maybe it would be better to voluntarily and officially surrender your card at a consulate via the I-407 process, and then apply for a student visa.

To be honest. I don't know whether I would like to live there. I only know that the degree in the U.S. will take me at least one year.

After that I may get a job, go for a training, or apply for reentry permit and keep my doors to America open for another 2 years after finishing degree.

I can surrender my GC then anytime, can't I?

Now I will try to go to America for shopping before that 6 months. Maybe I would be let in after 11 months,but I don't wanna me perceived as a criminal or even detained.


P.S. - Where are you from Jackolantern? And what do you do in America?

 

[Jackolantern]

I can surrender my GC then anytime, can't I?

You can't surrender it if they revoke it first. The problem is that if they revoke it, you could have difficulty visiting the US in the future, whereas if you surrender it on your own you can use that as evidence that you don't want to stay in the US the next time you visit.

Why did you apply for a green card anyway?

Now I will try to go to America for shopping before that 6 months. Maybe I would be let in after 11 months,but I don't wanna me perceived as a criminal or even detained.

Staying away for 11 months is not criminal, it is just a sign that you may have abandoned your US residence.

P.S. - Where are you from Jackolantern? And what do you do in America?

I am from a country in the Caribbean. I got a green card through my employer (the process took almost 5 years) but now I am self-employed.

 

[Hannah7]

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[Jackolantern]

I was asking about you, because you spend a lot of time giving answers to people with their immigration inquiries and you say that you're not lawyer. Where did you get all that info?

After nearly 2 decades of wading through different immigration processes (tourist visa, student visa, H1, then green card), and having a number of relatives and friends also doing the same, one can a lot from various sources like personal experience, lawyers, and the Internet.

The problem is timing. I just tried my luck in lottery and after completing the procedure I found out, that I can't just simply immigrate.

So you thought you could just hold on to the green card for a few years until you decide if you actually want to use it to live in the US? Too bad they didn't emphasize the responsibilities involved with maintaining the green card in the DV-lottery application papers. If you had known about it before, you probably would have waited a few more years before applying, correct?

 

[Hannah7]

So you thought you could just hold on to the green card for a few years until you decide if you actually want to use it to live in the US? Too bad they didn't emphasize the responsibilities involved with maintaining the green card in the DV-lottery application papers. If you had known about it before, you probably would have waited a few more years before applying, correct?

Exactly. I have also heard about some university students who won GC in lottery as well as me. They were able to keep their GCs simply by visiting U.S. every summer. They might have been just lucky ...

And you are very right. There are no responsibilities and rights mentioned along the DV application process. I only knew that GC gives its holder right to live in America and freely return whenever one wants (which is not true).

 

[Hannah7]

Are 5 months -> short stay -> another 5 months = significantly better than whole 11 months absence?

Btw, I'm NYS resident. Does is matter where do I go in the U.S. ?
Say, I will go now for 14 days to Miami instead of New York.

 

[Jackolantern]

Are 5 months -> short stay -> another 5 months = significantly better than whole 11 months absence?

Yes, because for a single trip over 180 days you can be turned away for reasons that don't apply for trips less than that.

Btw, I'm NYS resident. Does is matter where do I go in the U.S. ? Say, I will go now for 14 days to Miami instead of New York.

Imagine yourself being interrogated in the secondary inspection room. I think you would be more convincing if your travel patterns reflect you going to your stated place of residence during the short stays in between trips (either enter the US at NY, or if you enter via Miami it would help to have proof of another flight to NY). Otherwise, you look just like a tourist and not a resident.

 

[Hannah7]

Yes, because for a single trip over 180 days you can be turned away for reasons that don't apply for trips less than that.

Being safer would be better to use NYC as a POE and then use domestic flight to Miami.

 

[Jackolantern]

True. But if I come before 180 days take short stay like this and than departure again for another 150 days, isn't my trip perceived as a longer trip?

Yes, if they stop and look at the whole series of trips ... but they often don't do that at the POE, that's why many people can get away with short visits the US once or twice a year ... until an officer eventually notices the pattern. The most important trip at the POE is the last trip you're returning from, and 6 months raises a big red flag.

On the other hand, I just checked USCIS info and there is: "any lenght of absence may be considered"

That is correct. But the shorter the absence is, the more other evidence they have to find against you.

Also some people told me on another discussion forum that they were also grilled at POE after just couple week vacation.

And I was sort of grilled after a weekend trip. Anybody can be grilled for any random reason ... the difference is whether you can get past the grilling quickly, or get past it at all. Somebody with an 11 month trip is going to have a harder time than somebody with an 11 day trip.

If it is up to CBP officer's decision, than I can be turned away even after 2 day shopping in Canada?

Yes, but not just for a 2 day trip. If the trip is that short, they have to find some other evidence of abandoning residence, like you went on that trip to activate your newly approved Canadian permanent residence and buy a house in Canada and interview for a Canadian job (and even that might not be enough to send you back or take away the card, if the trip is only 2 days and there is no long series of trips before that).

Very right. In this case I though, that I wouldn't be interrogated because I wouldn't stay longer than 180 days for a single trip.

As I said, you can be interrogated for any random reason. The length of the trip is a factor in whether you escape that interrogation cleanly, or get detained or sent back. Your problem is that you don't have a house and spouse and other such ties in the US, so you have to be extra careful with the other aspects of your life and travels in order to have a good chance to get through such an interrogation if you ever run into it.

Being safer would be better to use NYC as a POE and then use domestic flight to Miami.

That looks better on the surface, as long as they don't dig deeper to find whether you actually went to your NY residence and find out that you never went there.

 

[Hannah7]

I am getting closer ...

0 - 180 days:
they must find evidence that you abandoned gc

180-365 days:
you must prove that you haven't abandoned

true? If yes, where is it written?


Than if I opt for going to Miami directly for mentioned vacation, then I can claim if asked, that I took a car from Miami to NYC. And they would have to prove me opposite, wouldn't they?

 

[Jackolantern]

Picture yourself in a room with a hostile immigration officer, and think about how your prior travels and other evidence can help or hurt your prospects of getting out of that room quickly and cleanly. Then plan your actions accordingly from now. Do whatever you want, you will bear the consequences, not me.

 

[Hannah7]

Thank you.

I don't want to risk my GC, so I'd take a week trip to NYC in order not to stay out longer than 180 days.

I want to take there also my mother and my friend with me. We will surely arrive on the same flight and they will stay on the same address as me. Also after that I will departure with them.

They don't require a visa, beucase we're Visa Waiver country.

May I (we) face a problem at POE?

 

[Hannah7]

Also ... should my parent use different custom declaration form? After arrival, are we supposed to go to the one counter?

Or I have to go through U.S citizen/LPR line and my friend and mother through All Visitors Line for non-immigrants.