Irn-bru

Sorry I did try and search for this question but couldn't find the answer!!

A british friend as gone back to the UK and probably not going back to the US.

But I said to her if she is out of the country one year and one month her green card is automatically revoked.

She said she was under the impression that after you held one for 10 years (after the initial 2 year) making it really 12 years, you got it renewed permanently.

It won't make much difference to her probably, but I wondered if she was right?

Noorah101

How can you renew something permanently? You still have to renew the 10-year card every 10 years.

But if she returns to the UK for longer than 6 months without applying for a re-entry permit, she runs the risk of losing her GC. There's no hard and fast rule, it's up to the POE officer whether to let her back in on her GC or not. In order to preserve her PR status in the USA, she must maintain residency in the USA of course....file US taxes, have a US address, etc. Otherwise, it's pretty clear that she abandoned her PR status.

Rene

Irn-bru

Thanks, I just wanted her to have as many options open as she left in November last year.

-Hunter

"Noorah101" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] m...
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| But if she returns to the UK for longer than 6 months without applying
| for a re-entry permit, ...|
| Rene
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Where did this incorrect information originated from that you need a reentry
permit if you are outside the US longer than 6 months?
Technically it's true that more than 1 year is longer than 6 months but you
only need the reentry permit if you are going to be gone LONGER THAN 1 YEAR
( NOT 6 MONTHS) but less than 2 years.

This WRONG and MISLEADING info about "longer than 6 months absence and you
need a reentry permit" seems to be immortal.

dbj1000

Your friend's misunderstanding makes sense - she thinks that her GC is valid for as long as it says on the card. It may be difficult to persuade her otherwise.

In fact, with the information you have given, she has forfeited her GC already. The day she left the US without intention to return and maintain residency, her GC ceased to be valid. After all, it's a Permanent Residency card, and has no validity if the holder is not resident in the US.

I know all about this from experience. My family held Permanent Residency from when I was born until I was about 16. My mother worked in the UK, but maintained her primary residence in the US with her family. This was back in the 1970s, when they were apparently much more relaxed about the term "Resident". Each year they got tougher and tougher on us, until in the mid-1980s they started threatening to refuse us entry to the country every time we returned to the US. In the end the stress and trouble caused by these repeated Secondary Inspection ordeals persuaded my mother to "surrender without prejudice" our GCs, and maintain permanent residency in the UK.

...which is how, nearly 20 years later, me and my own family had to go through 3 years of stress to get our OWN Green Cards when we took up residency in the US!

The point of all of this is that really the Reentry Permit isn't the issue here. A Reentry Permit is for people who want to maintain their residency in the US and retain their GC, but need to be out of the country for an extended period. Your friend, on the first day she was out of the country without the intention of remaining resident, effectively relinquished her right to Permanent Residency.

But she probably won't like this answer...

Rete

The card is only the verification of her status and the card is renewable every ten years, not the status. The status is permanent and this is where your friend is confused.

What your friend needs to understand is that the status of LPR only remains valid if you are a resident of the US. If you have left the US to live and work in another country (regardless of whether or not you are a citizen of the country you left the US for), then when you attempt to return to the US the issue of residency abandonment rears its ugly head.

The rule is that if you are going to be residing outside of the US for one year or more (attorneys caution that you should view it as 6 months or more), you should apply for a returning resident's permit via form I-131. This will allow you to remain outside of the US for 2 years and as long as you can prove that you still have viable ties to the US, i.e. property, financial accounts, family, etc. then your residency is more or less guaranteed. If the agent at the POE thinks not, however, with those items you can persuade the Immigration Judge that you have not abandoned your US residency and fully intended to return to the US to reside.

If, however, as with your friend, you left the US without this re-entry permit and have not left any viable ties to the US, then even a stay outside of the US of one day could mean you have abandoned your residency status.

So tell your friend that she should think carefully and if she wants to retain her US residency she should consult with a knowledgeable immigration attorney to see if she can perhaps mitigate any damage she has already done to her status.

Noorah101

Sorry...I thought it was 6 months.

Rene

Irn-bru

Thanks you everyone for your replies and personal experience it is very helpful and is appreciated. Not just my me but I am sure by the many who read your replies anon for this information