ian-mstm

While I understand your concerns, I suggest it's time to let your son suffer the consequences of his decisions. He knows his options and it seems that he made his choice. By law he is an adult... you should treat him as such.

Ian

Middlemore

I get your point, he is an adult now.
But it was not a decision to let the card expire, more an ignorance of the consequences of not maintaining it. He is devastated. Right now he is in the middle of exams, and as I have a day off today I told him I would make a start figuring out what to do. He is well aware he has to do the latter part of the process again, pay out several $$$$, and go to London for the interview and medical again.
He chose not to travel at Christmas because he had a new girlfriend. I seriously doubt he is the first or last teen lad to make a poor decision because of a girl.

ian-mstm

Fair enough... but apparently not devastated enough to travel to the US for even one day (as expensive as that might have been) before the year was up.


My point exactly! They could have both come to the US!


Oh... no doubt! I've made many a bad decision over the years because of a girl.

At any rate, yes - he'll need a Returning Resident visa (SB-1). I think it'll be difficult to prove that he was unable to return to the US because of a situation over which he had no control. From what you've written, he always had control but chose not to act.

If all else fails, you can still submit an I-130 petition for a new immigrant visa for him. It'll take a while, but it should be successful - so he won't "be denied permission to one day call this home too".

Ian

civilservant

Even if he gets a returning resident permit, is he actually going to return to being a resident? It seems he has years left on his schooling yet. I agree with Ian, forget the permit and just file a new I-130.

DavidLemon

Ian did not say forget the permit. He said if all else fails then you can file a new I-130. If they can resolve the situation I say go for it. It's their call, and hopefully the Son works out the severity of his actions.

civilservant

Obviously it's their call, but as I pointed out a returning resident permit would only really help if he was going to establish residence. He isn't.

zerlesen

I might be missing something here, but with a new I-130 wouldn't the kid end up in the F2A category? If so, he might end up spending a bit longer with his new girlfriend than he had anticipated. Current priority date appears to be in September 2010, so the important thing would be to get that on file ASAP.

OP, for the love of God try to keep him from getting married before he sorts this out.

jeffreyhy

Being away at school does not necessarily change one's place of permanent residence, whether the school is out of town, out of state, or out of country. A student's place of permanent residence is generally considered to be where the parents live, the school is only temporary.

The problem here is that immigration law is written such that being out of the USA for more than 1 year creates a presumption that permanent residence in the USA has been abandoned. That presumption can be overcome with a re-entry permit, which this student failed to obtain.

I expect that this student can retain his PR status with the guidance of a US immigration attorney who has experience with abandonment of status issues. Perhaps only a consultation will be sufficient to map out a successful strategy. How do you know he isn't? The OP has not told us what the boy's plans are after graduation. Regards, JEff

civilservant

He isn't going to establish residence immediately, since he has a period of time left on his schooling. Does said permit have an expiration date? That I don't know.

zerlesen

The re-entry permit would be valid for an extra year, but he's already punted on that one since you can't leave the US and then apply for the permit retroactively. The re-entry permit would go (or would have gone, alas) some way toward inoculating him against being considered to have abandoned his current GC. On the other hand, the returning resident visa (SB-1) would, if granted, entitle him to apply for an immigrant visa again, which he'd have to do within six months, and hence an entirely new GC. In principle it is quite possible for an LPR to attend school in another country without abandoning.

I don't have a clue how strictly they adjudicate the SB-1s, or even against what criteria. It's lawyer time, I'd guess.

jeffreyhy

You continue to overlook that being at a school does not establish one's place of permanent residence. Schooling is a temporarty situation, it is not a student's place of permanent residence. A re-entry permit? Yes, it extends time out of country from 1 year to 2 years before it's presumed that one has abandoned status. A re-entry permit can be renewed. Regards, JEff

scrubbedexpat099

The problem here is it is that the Mother who wants him to be a PR and move to the US, the Son not so.

jeffreyhy

Where did you see that the son is not interested in living in the USA? According to the mother, he does want to live in the USA, he just decided to spend his Christmas vacation in the UK this year.

The son is not posting, so we don't have confirmation of what his mother writes. And if the current or a future girlfriend works out he may ultimately decide to stay in the UK after he graduates. But at this point it's reasonable to accept what the mother has told us.

Regards, JEff

Sally Redux

Can I piggy-back on this? What happens if a child has a green card, then studies abroad, but in the meantime the parents leave the USA? Is that the end of the green card?

jeffreyhy

Why are the parents leaving? Are they abandoning their PR status, or are they leaving the USA only temporarily? (Recognizing that 'temporary' can be a long time.)

If the parents do abandon their status I think it would be possible, although more difficult, for a university student to maintain their status is that's what they want to do. A university student, and this one is 19, is generally old enough to do the kinds of things that are necessary to retain status.

Regards, JEff