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My husband is a US citizen and was assigned in kuwait,, so we decided to stay in the philippines while his working there for 1yr. Im only a greencard holder and we are in philippines right now for 2 months and planning to go back states to apply re entry visa. My question is is it possible to apply re entry visa in states and come back in the philippines while its on process or i have to wait till i get the visa? Do you think they will approve my request?
Reentry permits are granted where there is a genuine need for you to be outside USA for a limited period of time and you have no intention of abandoning your permanent residence. Since this is an important and complex issue, you should consult a lawyer. Once you have done the biometrics for the reentry permit, you can leave while the application is in process. But keep in mind the risk of a denial if you have left. So, do speak with a lawyer.
After getting the green card, can I get a re entry permit for two years more than one times for my self and my family, if I am working out of US for United Nations.
Where there is a good enough reason, reentry permits may be granted more than once.
My family and I are about to leave our country and go to the U.S. for our green card and such this end of November, but I have to go back to our country since I want to finish my education there before permanently staying in the U.S. (I only have one year left before graduating in our university) So my question is, how long does it take for a re-entry permit take?
You have two choices: wait after applying for reentry permit to get called for biometrics (you can request expedite base upon your circumstances); OR, apply for reentry permit and leave USA. Come back for biometrics. DO SPEAK with a lawyer to understand the implications.
I acquired my green card in January 20, 2010 with an expiry date of 2/23/20. I came back to the Philippines on February 2011. I want to go back to the US next year around March. Do I have a problem?
Generally speaking, a reentry permit is not a guarantee. It is merely an official declaration of your intention not to abandon your green card. Normally, the govt. does not question it. But if there are facts that make them suspect that you either never established or never intend to establish permanent residence in USA, they can take you to immigration court to take away your green card.
My spouse and I am legal permanent resident here in the US for more than 3 years now. We are planning to travel back to India in early December this year and my wife tentatively plans to stay back in India for close to 3-8 months. I am planning to return back after 3 months. In such situation, is it advisable to file re-entry permit (I-131) for her. Also should I get an attorney if I have to file or can I do it on my own?
If you are not abandoning your permanent residence in USA (keeping your home, job, etc.), I see no need for a reentry permit for a three-month trip. She should apply and through counsel.
I just sent my I-131 application (for reentry permit) via overnight delivery, but turns out that I need to briefly go abroad starting this Friday for a work emergency. The official Notice of Action (I-797c) would probably arrive at my house while I am still overseas. My question is, will the application be denied if I leave the country before receiving the Notice of Action? (I'm afraid that USCIS would assume that I've abandoned the application by leaving the country.) I should be back in the USA for the biometric appointment.
As I recall, as long as the application has been physically received by USCIS, your departure does not cause abandonment. So, you should not have to worry. But you will need to be back for biometrics associated with the I-131.
I'm a U.S. citizen working overseas with the U.N. Can my wife (GC holder) use the N-470 to preserve her residency while staying overseas with me?
Yes, she can, as long as she meets the other requirements of N-470.
In a month I will have lived in the US for one year as PR. My company is sending me to do some work for them overseas.
1. Do I have to eligible for naturalization FIRST before I file N-470? Or is this just for any LP who have lived in the US for an uninterrupted year?
2. Can I file it while I am overseas?
3. Can I file when I come back having lived outside the US for less than a Year?
4. Can I file the application and leave BEFORE I hear back from USCIS?
5. What should my employer write in the supporting documents?
6. What makes my company an American corporation/firm?
1. No, you do not have to be eligible for naturalization.
2. No, you have to file while in USA.
3. No.
4. Yes.
5 and 6 require a lawyer to look over your company's details.
My husband is a LPR (since 1993) interested in applying for naturalization. He was granted a reentry permit and used it to enter the country nearly 2 years ago. How long does he have to wait to apply for naturalization?
If he was out of USA for more than one year at any one time, the reentry permit will allow him to file after 4 years and 1 day from re-establishing domicile in USA.
If LPR has Valid Reentry permit can he/she EASILY reenter US, after absence of OVER two Years. Since it was processed late after application reentry permit is still valid for over two years of absence. Do they ask lot of questions at the port of entry since they have stayed above two years? or will they be allowed easily to reenter.
If LPR has exceeded the time permitted by Reentry Permit, they have lost their green card. If they have a good explanation for the absence, they can try to apply a returning resident permit through the consulate.
If you have a valid LPR and you went and stayed over 2 years in the philippines and you want to come back here. If you don't have a re-entry permit how can you get a re-entry permit?
Reentry permit can be obtained only by people who have a valid green card. Your only option (other than filing for a green card again) seems to be to ask the US Consulate for a Returning Resident Permit if you can show them a genuine reason for your absence. Note that this would be a difficult application.
What is time frame to return to the U.S?
A reentry permit gives you the permission to stay outside USA for up to two years at one time.
I received my GC in Aug 2008. My company is willing to send me to India office. Does the company need to file for a N470 or can I file for it? Do I need to be employed my US operations or I can be on the parole of India operations?
Company needs to give you a detailed letter and you can work for their India operations.
I obtained my green card in 2004. I left US without obtaining a re-entry permit on July 2009 as I was out of job and found a job in India. Is it possible for me to get a re-entry permit to US? My wife is a US citizen, still working in US.
Unless you have an exceptional explanation for your year outside USA, you should just surrender your green card at the consulate and reapply. Reentry permit is not possible in your situation.
My spouse has her green card from 2014 and she has been travelling regularly to India to take care of her ailing Father.
She had been coming back to USA within Less than 6 months and staying in the US for a few months
and travelling back again. This has has been going on for the past 6 years. In between she got a reentry permit for 2 years which has expired.
recently she travelled back to the US after 8 months and had a tough time with the immigration officer who questioned regarding the
extended stay in india and finally she was allowed in with the regular stamp in the passport. No comments/special notes were made in the passport.She has now applied for a new re entry permit and waiting for its approval.
she co owns the house and a partner in the LLC and has been filing US resident taxes and I have
been working and staying in the US during the entire period .
1) Based on the above details is it safe for her to travel once her re entry permit is approved?
2) Should she wait for a specific period of time before she can travel ?
3) Would carrying a copy of the House title,LLC partnership details and copy of the Tax filing help
in case she is questioned at the Port of entry.
In a situation like this you should really talk to a lawyer. The key indicators of a situation like this are does she permanently live in the United States. Doing it repeatedly year after year for six years that does not bode well, but with special circumstances, you could make an argument that she never intended to abandon her permanent residence. More...
Note: Where transcribed from audio/video, this is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
Discussion Topics, Thursday, September 30, 2021:
FAQ: Obtaining student or visitor's visa while a green card is pending || Continuing to use H-1B when I return on Advance Parole || Nuances of changing employers during the green card process || Green card holder working on multiple jobs - Is it legal? || How long can green card holders stay outside the U.S.? || Effect of a career change on naturalization process and timing.
I got my GC on March 2006 and same time I got my Reentry Permit too. I was out of States within 2 years that I worked with US Forces Yokosuka Japan for Master Labor Contractor in less than 2 years. Is this form N-470 brand new rules?
Form N-470 has existed for a long, long time. This is not a new form or rule.
Is it possible for me to work outside the US (for the same company that I work for now) while on green card? My company has an office in India, and I have to travel to India for family reasons. I was planning to work in India for some time, and then come back in about a year and half and apply for citizenship. I have lived in the US for about 3 years on my green card now.
It is possible. Look into both I-131and N-470 filing through a lawyer.
I came here June 2008 then got my green card on November 2010 and I am planning to go back to my country and will be staying there for 1 year and 11 months.(just enough for the permits 2 year limitation). But some parts of this article still bugs me, "Possession of a re-entry permit does not guarantee the alien’s readmission to the U.S." so on what reason and circumstances should this happen?
Good point. This is a widely misunderstood provision of law. Reentry permit is merely your official assertion: "I intend to keep my permanent residence." Usually, the govt. does not question this intention during the life of the RP. But if they want to make an issue of it, they can.
Any lawful permanent resident (LPR) or a conditional resident (CR) must present an admission document like special immigrant visa (obtained at consulate abroad), green card or reentry permit upon entry to the U.S. after their temporary trip abroad. In the absence of such document he/she is considered inadmissible. If the LPR or CR seeks admission to the U.S. after more than one year since her departure from USA, the green card may not be sufficient to allow them back into the United States.
My mother is a green card holder (based on me as an US citizen) and has been living in India for last 3 years as she was working in India and just got retired. She is planning to return to US permanently now. We did not know reentry permit requirements before. Does she need to apply for Returning Resident Visa? If it affects adversely what are other common reasons that can be given as an excuse for long outside US stay?
She should apply for RR (also known as SB-1) visa. Lose the idea of an "excuse." Nothing but the truth. My GUESS is, you are better off surrendering her green card and reapplying.
Hello, everyone. This is Rajiv S. Khanna for immigration.com, the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, P.C.
I wanted to talk with you folks about requirements for naturalization for people who get their Green Card based upon employment and then have to stay outside USA for a certain period time. Many of the criteria here are common to people who have obtained their Green Card through any other method such as through marriage or through political asylum. Pretty much, it is the same law. But I want to focus primarily on people who have gotten an employment-based Green Card, because those are the inquires I receive the most and I don’t want to miss anything, because N-470 typically does not apply to people in non-employment situations, except for missionaries. I’ll get to that in a second.
So, first of all, let’s look at the requirements for somebody to get naturalized in USA. What are the normal requirements?
Right here. You must have received your Green Card approval five years ago. Actually, it is a little bit more complicated than that. You can apply 90 days before your 5th year anniversary of Green Card. In case you got your Green Card through marriage, then it is three years, when you are married to a US citizen. After that, you must have stayed in USA for at least 30 months physically. 2 ½ years. Half the time. You should not have visited outside USA for a year or more. If you go outside USA for a year, your Green Card is gone. It’s difficult to get it back. Not impossible, but what you will have to do if you end up staying for a year or more outside USA is, you will have to go to the consulate and convince them that you have not abandoned your US permanent residence, your Green Card, and you can do that by a process called SB-1 (Returning Resident Permit). I’m not going to go into that in too much detail, but just to give you an idea. If you are outside USA for one year or more, for naturalization purposes, you have to start your five years all over again, except in the following two circumstances, I-131 and N-470, which are these. I’ll get to that in a second as well.
So, physical presence of 2 ½ years, no visit outside USA for a year or more, any visit outside USA for six months or more but less than one year, you have to explain. Why were you gone that long? So this is for people who have not filed these special forms called I-131 and N-470. I also want to make a quick note about I-131 and N-470.
What is I-131?
It’s the same form you used for filing for Advanced Parole when you are in need of Advanced Parole during your Adjustment of Status. It’s also the same form used for protecting your Green Card through a process called Reentry Permit. So you use your 1-131 to apply for a Reentry Permit, which is typically given for two years at one go, and you can get that extended, depending on the circumstances. Basically, the I-131 tells the government, “Look. I am not abandoning my permanent residence. I am just going outside temporarily.” Once you file the I-131, things change for naturalization purposes.
Did you stay outside USA for one year continuously?
If you did, ordinarily, if you had not filed I-131, you would have to start five years all over again, if you have not lost your Green Card. You could have even lost your Green Card. But, if you had filed your I-131, you don’t lose your Green Card, and you also get a respite of one year. When you come back, you have to establish your US residence for four years and one day instead of five years and apply after you have accumulated physical presence in USA for 2 ½ years. It gives you one year off from those five years. That’s an added advantage of I-131. It protects your Green Card as much as humanly possible. There’s more to it. I would always advise you to talk with a lawyer before you take any steps of going outside USA for an extended period of time. It also shortens the time of five years that you would have to otherwise accumulate for naturalization.
Did you stay outside USA for one year continuously after I-131?
If the answer is no, then these same requirements that apply to normal people will apply to you. Physical presence of 30 months, no visit outside USA for a year or more, six months or more will have to be explained.
Then comes N-470.
N-470 is one of those tricky strange forms. It’s applicable to a certain group of people. I would strongly encourage you to read up on the instructions on N-470. They’re pretty informative.
The way this works is, if you’re going to work for a US company abroad and, again, I am talking about employment context. There are other reasons N-470 can be filed. Read the instructions. What N-470 does is it allows you to stay outside USA for a year or more and not have a break that will restart your five years all over again. Let me explain. Let’s say I file I-131 and N-470. I do it together. Usually, in most cases, we do both forms together. When you file I-131 and N-470 together, let’s say you stayed outside USA for 1 ½ years. Normally, when you come back, you have to start that five-year period all over again, because you were outside USA for one year or, in case of I-131, you have to start the four year, one day period all over again. But N-470 says, “We forgive your stay outside USA for one year or more for naturalization purposes. We don’t forgive your requirement of 30 months of physical presence.” But it stops the discontinuity that would normally restart the five-year clock or the four year, one day clock after having stayed outside USA for one year. It is a clock-stopping device. It is a very good device. One problem though. N-470 has one strange requirement. You must have at least one year anywhere during your stay in USA as a Green Card holder where you did not travel outside USA for even for one day. Makes no sense to me. I don’t know why it is there, but it’s there. Go figure, but keep that in mind.
I hope this has been informative. I had told one of our posters. Somebody had posted a comment on immigration.com wanting to know more about this. And I told him that I’ll record something, but I’ve had some technical issues. They’re working on our website developing some new material that will make it easier for us to post our videos. I hope to be doing this a lot more, and I’ll continue to do so.
Thank you for being here. I hope to speak with you very soon.
I wanted to more about diffrent options on my wife's re-entry back into the USA. I contacted Mr. R. Khanna's office in this regard. I had a conferance call with Mr. Khanna and his associate Ms. A. Baker. They both were very helpful and clear in explaining our options. Mr. Khanna gave me couple options and told me to try a more economical option before starting on longer and a somewhat expensive process. Very professional in their approach and helpful. My sincere thanks to Mr. Khanna, Ms. A Baker and Ms. Leslie H. I will be starting the process very soon with them and hope to have a smooth and fast one. Sandeep K