Travelling back to home country

O

otoka92

New Member
I am permanent resident for some 3 years now.
I have never been back to my country - Bosnia - since I have escaped in 1992. My asylum was 100% valid.

Now I NEED to go back to visit my very sick father. We all know that situation in Bosnia is OK now. War is over. I need to see him before he dies.

I think that I am 100% safe to go and that US Gov't should not make any problems upon my return. First of all I am not asylee anymore but PR.
Secondly there is very legitimate and compelling reason for the short return.

However, I notices that moderator Gilbert does not share my kind of view.

Any inputs are welcome.
 
Its a risk...U.S Immigration is very weird, if an officer is having a bad day he will make sure you have a bad day tooo. There is no law that that says they can't do what they can do...Its all based on the "discretion" of an officer..so if he thinks you violated your status, well you violated your status!

...Just remember that When you got your asylum you said you will never visit it...it didn't say, I will visit it "IF" this or "IF" that..There is no gray..just black and white!

With that I would suggest that you may visit your father but try not to get Bosnian stamp on your passport. If there is a way you can do that..do it! BUt don't risk your PR For it!...

And yes people with Green Cards, use their national passport to travel to other places..So its highly normal for you to do that but its a risk since you diwowned your country to begin with...
 
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If you decide to go (and we can certainly understand the human reasons for doing that), be sure to amply document your father's medical situation. And do not stay for such a lengthy period of time giving them an impression that you have had a good time.

Good luck.
 
OK, I will be candid and will concede that much. An asylee (whether or not he is now a PR) who uses a national passport, let alone travels back home, will arouse a lot of justified suspicions IF the CIS officer has the time/inclination to think about this kind of conduct. So the question is will he? How much time will the CIS spend on an applicant's immigration history during the citizenship review process? Suppose someone obtained a green card throught marriage and divorced soon thereafter, will the CIS re-examine the marriage to see if it was fradulent? The same question for an EB immigrant who quits his job a few weeks after getting his green card.

Any comments?

BTW, I am not worried about problems when reentering the country. I doubt that inspectors at the airports know much about the nuances of immigration law. They would let you in as long as your documents are real. If there is a problem, I think it would come later.
 
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I'm not trained in law. This is just my 2 cents.

First of all, a green card is a green card, no matter through which route one gets it. And a green card holder is a "PERMANENT" resident. A green card holder through asylum has every same legal right and obligation as other green card holders. So there is no automatic rule that a green card holder through asylum should not visit his home country.

When one applies for asylum there is no implication that one would never visit his home country again. In fact, at least in theory asylee status is never meant to be a permanent one. And when situation changes and one has no fear of persecution any more the asylee status is supposed to end. This only applies to asylees, not permanent residents.

For a green card holder through asylum, the possible trouble of visiting home country lies on the question of the genuineness of the original asylum claim. The problem is not that the right of a green card holder through asylum to visit his home country. He has the right to do so. But doing so raises the question that since he's not afraid of going to his home country now then he was perhaps not in fear when he applied for asylum.

In this particular case, the home country's situation has essentially changed between now and then. So that might not be a problem at all.
 
TimZ said:
I'm not trained in law. This is just my 2 cents.

First of all, a green card is a green card, no matter through which route one gets it. And a green card holder is a "PERMANENT" resident. A green card holder through asylum has every same legal right and obligation as other green card holders. So there is no automatic rule that a green card holder through asylum should not visit his home country.

When one applies for asylum there is no implication that one would never visit his home country again. In fact, at least in theory asylee status is never meant to be a permanent one. And when situation changes and one has no fear of persecution any more the asylee status is supposed to end. This only applies to asylees, not permanent residents.

For a green card holder through asylum, the possible trouble of visiting home country lies on the question of the genuineness of the original asylum claim. The problem is not that the right of a green card holder through asylum to visit his home country. He has the right to do so. But doing so raises the question that since he's not afraid of going to his home country now then he was perhaps not in fear when he applied for asylum.

In this particular case, the home country's situation has essentially changed between now and then. So that might not be a problem at all.
Click to expand...


Tim,

This a really smart explanation about this confusing issue, I agree 100% with you.

USA2002 any comments? Your inputs are highly appreciated.
 
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