Why are people fretting so much over going abroad?

dfagen19 said:
From everything I am reading in this thread,if I get questioned at a POE on one of my visits, what am I supposed to do?
Click to expand...

Abroad stay has to be temporary in nature. That means you need to have specific end-date of your assignment (in foreign subsidiary). If you want to play safe that's what you need. But of course like many other things of life it's not just black and white. Not having specific end-date does not mean you are going to have trouble at POE. However, based on your personal situation you should try to be safe as much you can.


dfagen19 said:
From everything I am reading in this thread,if I get questioned at a POE on one of my visits, what am I supposed to do? What does anyone with a REP and periodic visits do?
Click to expand...

If you have REP and abroad stay is temporary, period visit does not matter.


dfagen19 said:
What happens at the POE if the DHS officer is not convined of your intent? Do they revoke your GC and deport you?
Click to expand...

If your assignment is temporary and you have proper and sufficient documentation about your assignment (plus you are complying with other conditions - e.g. filing taxes), there should not be any problem.
 
If I read correctly JoeF's posts - then it seems the following applies to you:

- You go to India
- Everyday you wake up you measure your intentions. I would suggest a diary. Try to get your feelings out regarding staying in India for good. Is it a good idea? How do you feel about this? What do you think are your intentions today?

If one day you sniff that your brain tells you that you want to stay in India - this is the day you loose the GC even if the next day you come to a different conclusion. That is unless you can sniff if what you saw in the brain the other day was false. At that point you should try to sniff what your inner feelings tell you.

The inner you or the soul maybe at conflict with physical you and they both can have different intentions. If there is a conflict of intentions between your soul and your physical body - then you should ask an expert at those holistic matters to determine which intentions are real.

This is why it is important to keep a diary because you might for example forget that for 1 day there was a conflict of intentions or that your intentions were wavering on a given day.

If you want to cheat at POE then as RealCanadian suggested - you wrap your brain in foil and this will prevent any unauthorized brain scans.

In any case - having reentry permit, ties to the US, purpose documented on reentry, reason not changing while abroad IS NOT ENOUGH to get back it seems. What matters is what was going on in your brain on a daily basis and whether you had conflicts between intentions of your physical body and your soul. Otherwise JoeF said that you have to prove that you had intentions to come back everyday - this is impossible to do - so you would have to get deported.

Actions are not neccessarily an indication of ones intentions so I gather?

JoeF - does having a diary with your inner feelings or maybe some type of sniff test from hypnosis help in getting back assumming that you have a valid reentry permit, extensive ties to the US, documented temporary trip abroad.

Also any plans for brain scans by INS for intentions? How to determine conflict between intentions of body & soul? Which intentions should be taken into account?

This is not advice and I am not a lawyer.
 
Not sure I got my answer

Looks like I got caught in the middle of a JoeF bashing session. But, in researching the subject, looks like the facts seem to align better with the JoeF Pralay camp and also, my company attorney did mention that CIS is indeed doing a better job at tracking GCarders. I think the key is that the CIS is not trying to read minds, but are trying to measure intent by actions.

Looks like things have changed since the "good old days" when people just made visits to keep their GC alive. The only rule these visits satisfied was that absences from the US should not exceed 365 days. But these days, if the tickets originate from India (or any other foreign country), apparently the CIS does ask a few Q's upon re-entry. Of course, I have a friend who is still doing the annual visit deal and getting away with it.

So, while I will maintain Bank accts, file US taxes (and will bring originals of the same every time etc), I guess I will be trying my luck since my employnment letter does not mention a specific period and my employer will not give anything different since I have voluntarily asked to be relo'd back to India. The only thing I have is that the parent company is in the US and after kids grow up a little bit, I want to come back. This is why I have a significant part of my cash assets still here in the US and ultimately I have no career growth if I stay in India. I am the only one in my group who is working remotely from India. Do you guys think this will be enough?

What happens in the case of expats that are sent out by companies on open ended assignments? Obviously, these people will not keep their houses (or any assets for that matter) here. My own brother is an example, although he was a citizen before he got expatted out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Actually I think that on this thread there is NOONE who thinks that you can maintain GC by visiting the US once per year. This is obvious case of GC abandonment.

I think there are 2 camps.

CAMP #1
---------
Those people think that if you have a valid reason to be abroad for 1-2 years, you get a reentry permit, maintain ties to the US, document the reason when asking for reentry permit, and the reason does not change then
YOU ARE SAFE.

CAMP #2
---------
Even if you have a valid reason, get reentry permit, maintain ties to the US - you are still taking a risk. INS can still think you abandoned GC. However Camp#2 cannot prove that they are correct because there is not 1 documented case that was lost in similar circumstances - at least this is what I think.

I am not sure which one is correct but in my opinion it would be a clear outrage if CAMP#1 is not correct.

If I were you I would document much better that your trip is temporary like the 1 yr employment letter. You can br frank with employer and tell him that you are intending to come back and you will need this type of employment letter. But even if you get such a letter and you intend to come back I gather from JoeF - YOU ARE FAR FROM SAFE even on reentry permit and while maintaining ties to the US.

I AM NOT A LAWYER AND THIS IS NOT ADVICE AT ALL.
 
Similar question, but USC

Very interesting thread ! (except when people went overboard about waking up in the middle of the night to ascertain their intentions) :D

dfagen19 asked something about his brother being a USC and living abroad extensive periods of time. What if a USC goes abroad with the intention of working there for several years (probably obtain OCI in case of India) and comes back to the U.S. only after say 6 or 7 years. Will this USC have a problem at POE?

Many of my friends and their family are just waiting to get their CZ, so they can go back to their country for extended period of time (several years) so they can beat the same system which they were reluctant to try when they were LPRs. What happens to such cases if they ever return after several years abroad, but on USC status?
 
USC has a right to be abroad for an indefinite period of time.

The only problem at PoE they might have is to prove that they actually are USCs.
 
eltoro said:
USC has a right to be abroad for an indefinite period of time.

The only problem at PoE they might have is to prove that they actually are USCs.
Click to expand...

Thanks eltoro.
But why should USC have a problem to prove that they are USCs - wouldn't the U.S. Passport be proof good enough ?
 
robwoj,
Just wondering whether you could figure out ' Why are people fretting so much over going abroad? ' --by now and if it is, please let me know! :)
 
Hi JoeF.. seems like very fast processing of your app (from your signature). Good Luck !

JoeF said:
US citizens also, like PRs, have to file US tax returns and report their worldwide income, even if they are outside the US. Failure to do that could result in problems. There are a bunch of people who have outstanding arrest warrants for tax evasion. They usually stay in countries that don't extradite people for tax charges (e.g., Switzerland...)
Click to expand...

I see...

So, my friends who are Indian-americans (not native americans :) ) probably would be double-taxed - Paying taxes to the U.S for income earned in India and also paying taxes to India, because income is earned in Indian jurisdiction. It's interesting, I may have to look into Indian Income tax.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
jenimmi said:
So, my friends who are Indian-americans (not native americans :) ) probably would be double-taxed - Paying taxes to the U.S for income earned in India and also paying taxes to India, because income is earned in Indian jurisdiction. It's interesting, I may have to look into Indian Income tax.
Click to expand...

No. India and US has tax treaty. They can pay tax in only in one place. However, if they are paying tax in India, they still need to report worldwide income to US govt. Reporting worldwide income and paying taxes are two different things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top