sarah h

I am British and married in the USA, had permanent residence with conditional green card, had conditions removed. Then sadly divorced. Did not get permanent green card in mail before left to go back to England. I have a stamp in passport which runs out this December.
I am not sure at this point whether I will be going back. What do I have to do now, is it possible that i can suspend my residency until a later date. I do not have my green card, I am guessing it was sent back as I was not at that address to collect. I would be grateful for your advice

ian-mstm

You say you "had conditions removed". Just to clarify... did you receive a notice that the conditions had been removed, or did you simply apply to have the conditions removed?


What sort of stamp?


If you don't plan to return to the US, you don't have to do anything. You can not, however, suspend your residency. Either you are a PR or you are not. If you want to maintain your PR status, you must live in the US most of the time.

Ian

Noorah101

How long have you been outside the USA now? Have you maintained any ties to the USA while you were gone (property, banking, etc)?

sarah h

Thank you for all your replies. I have now been in Uk since Aug 2005, but have travelled back and forth a few times. Basically I have a 1 yr permit in my passport for work and travel, immigration stamped this when I gave them my old conditional permanent resident card.
I am a doctor, so did my board of Internal Medicine Exams, I have since cancelled my bank accounts over there.
I applied to have my conditions removed, which was granted. Went to the immigration and they stamped passport and I surrended the old perm res card and they said I would expect new one in mail, but I did not receive.
I am living in the UK now. Ian, when you said have to be in the US most of the time, how many months is this? I obviously do not want to do anything illegal, do I need to contact the immigration and inform them of my situation.

Noorah101

Wow, you've been in the UK more than 2 years now. Although I guess USCIS doesn't see you as having abandoned your PR status yet, since they granted you the 10-year GC.

When you say you "went to immigration", was that in the USA? What does the stamp in your passport say?

I suppose if you have a valid stamp in your passport showing you are currently a PR, you can try returning to the USA, and hope the POE officer understands your scenario. But you must *live* in the USA, not the UK.

There is no number of months you need to be in the USA. It doesn't work that way. It's just that you must *live* in the USA, and only *visit* other countries, in order to maintain your PR status. Either that, or if you know you'll be out of the USA for more than a year, apply for a re-entry permit before leaving again. Even then, you'll still need to maintain ties to the USA, and file US tax returns while outside the USA.

Rene

sarah h

Thanks Rene

In my passport I have a temporary I 551 evidencing permanent residence for one year in Dec 06.
I have not got my actual permanent residency card, but from what I have read, it sounds as though I now need to inform immigration and say good bye to any further chance at permanent residency.
Obviously I am now divorced so the chances of me going back are very slim, but if there was a chance it would be a shame to have to go through the process again of gaining residency! It took so long and so expensive with lawyers etc...

Sorry I had gone to immigration in USA in Dec 06, but divorced after this time.

meauxna

Maybe you should write it out in timeline format..

Did you file I-751, go get your stamp, then get divorced, then got the I-751 approval?

Noorah101

OK, so this means you are still a PR.

That's ok, the I-551 is exactly the same thing.

Why?

Being divorced does not mean that you lose your PR status.

OK, so you went to the local office in USA and got the 1-year I-551 stamp. How did you find out your I-751 is approved, and that you missed getting the card? If you got divorced after your LPR status was approved, it does not affect your PR status.

What might affect your PR status is you being outside the USA for too long. That can be seen as abandoning your US PR status, but it's worth giving it a try to return to the USA. But you have to remain in the USA.

If you intend to live in the UK, you won't be needing US PR anymore.

Rene

fatbrit

There's a fundamental question I can't work out from your posts: Do you actually want to live in the US at this moment in your life?

ian-mstm

It's not just a matter of being in the US for so many months each year, you have to live in the US for most of the time... I mean, it's not called "permanent" residence without reason!


You don't *need* to inform immigration at all, although you can if you want... however, you may not want to!

Ian

sarah h

I live in the UK now. I found out I had been approved as I was still going back and forth to the states so could get the mail. I went to the Boston Office to obtain the I 551 stamp i passport, but since after this time it the divorce was filed. This is why I do not have the PR card. I have not filed taxes this year in the US only in 2006, I had not worked or lived in the US for that year so did not feel i needed to. Every time I have been to the states, whether I had a green card or not, I always seemed to end up in the deportation lounge. This is why I believe I need to file another form to surrender the permanent residence status, I do not want any more problems when I go to visit in the US, as I am sure you are aware it is a very intimidating process. Thank you Rene for your comprehensive answers, you have really helped. From Sarah

Noorah101

OK, so you do not intend to live in the USA, then? There is no "form" for turning in your green card. You can return it with a letter stating you no longer live in the USA, and wish to give up your US PR status. (Not sure where to return it to, though.)

If you are having deportation problems upon your entries to the USA (whether with green card or not), perhaps the issue isn't your PR status, but something else?

Rene

Folinskyinla

Hi Rene:

The I-407 existed just last year and I haven't heard that it has been discontinued. [I had a client do one through Sydney or Canberra -- forget which one].

And just a minute ago, the London Embassy still had the following page:

http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/uscis/abandon.html

Where did you get the information that there has now been a change? Inquiring minds would like to know.

sarah h

Rene I do not have a card, so only my passport stamped with the I 551, so I dont want to be sending my passport anywhere! Can I go to the London Embassy to explain the situation? I will have a look at the I 407 form. Do you know if I should have filed taxes, even though did not work in states since last filed taxes ? thank you so much

Noorah101

Oops. My bad. You're right, there is a form.