How does immigration know if a permanent resident has been outside of the USA for more than 1 year?
Is there a way they can know?

When you re-enter the US they will pull up your file using your A#. They will then indicate how long you've been out of the country for that particular trip.

Exit, entry stamps in passport, as well as green-card scan when returning to the USA.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

Note absences longer than 6 months WILL impact an application for Citizenship.

Exiting the country is probably recorded by the airline, they do ask for and record passport info and green-card info upon leaving the country.

The immigration does not stamp the passport when you go outside the coutry (unless it is something new); so how can they know when you left? They only know when you arrive because they input that in their system. Immigration asks you how long were you outside the USA. It is up to you if you volunteer that information. I just want to know if anyone of you have experienced a situation where you have been outside the USA for more than 1 year and you told the immigration officer than you were outside less than that??? Is there any way he can prove that you were outside the country for a long period?
Thank you for your replies.

Why would you lie to immigration and risk them checking your tickets and your passport for entry stamps of the foreign country/ies you visited while overseas?

Be honest about it, wait the extra process time if necessary. File for a Travel Document if you will be out of the US for more than 6 months. It is just a smart thing to do and to have.

If you were out of the U.S. for a year - you will have to wait that much longer to receive your Naturalization. Just wait the extra time and you should be fine. Just don't repeat the out of U.S. time without getting a travel document and having a solid, legal, excusable reason for being out of the U.S. for that long.

They (immigration at the airport) may not stamp your passport after your re-entry, but how about your GC? Do you think they did not scanned your GC when you exit or re-enter?

Same way that USCIS can know that an alien has not taken steps to "preserve" his residency, when they determine that his or her PR has been abandoned.

Lying to a CBP agent in order to get into the country without the proper documentation is the equivalent of an illegal entry. Is it really worth the risk? What happened, mathlady? Forgot to apply for a re-entry permit before you left?

Perhaps a poll is in order.

Have you lied at the PoE and got away with it (so far)

Wonder how many responses there would be?

Immigration does not stamp your passport upon departure, but the air carrier scans your passport.... Do you not believe that this information is shared?

The airline scans the passport for their records. This information COULD be shared with immigration if they request it; which means they would have to do do an additional check that takes longer; assuming that immigration has suspicion that you have stayed many years outside the USA.
No, I did not file the travel document because I knew I was going to be outside of the country for more than several years because I have one minor child, and now that the minor child is going to get a green card, I am now ready to come to the USA. I don't want to apply for a re-entry document at the embassy because the statistics says that most of them get denied. Thank you for your replies.

I personally think you're risking it since your entry was recorded by the country you entered when you left. Your passport will more than likely have an entry stamp from the country you arrived, they will look at this and do the math. It's that simple.

Immigration has very simple laws that need to be followed once a person becomes an LPR or US citizen, it's up to you to pay for the consequences if you don't follow their simple rules.

Diana

No, many countries do not stamp the passport upon entry. Mexico is a good example of this. The Mexican gov. is smart and don't want their citizens exposed to losing their residency by overstaying in Mexico. When I have gone to Mexico, I have to request that they stamp my passport for my own records. Also, you can exit the country without having the passport stamped. So, if there are no records in the passport, how can the US immigration really know if you stay for more than 1 year outside the USA? I guess they just don't know.

I don't get stamped entering Canada, but I get stamped every time entering the US.

With that being said, we have to complete a card for Canadian Customs when entering declaring the date of entrance, why you were going there, etc. So there is a record of my entrance and what flight I flew in on.


If, hypothetically speaking, you get here to the US without incident......when you apply to renew your 10 year PR card, or apply for citizenship, how do you plan to show continuous residency in a US location, or answer the question on the N-400 form asking how much time have you spent outside the US?

That is what you need to think about.

So you've been gone more than several years? How on earth do you intend to pull that fact over on USCIS? What you're discussing is misrepresentation of a material fact. Chances are, if discovered, you'd be taking much more than a short trip out of this country. With a child that is now getting a green card, what would compel you to take such a risk?

I guess every country is different regarding entering and exiting, but here in the USA, the US immigration only has a record of your entry, not departure (unless they check with all airlines!). I bet many people who have overstayed outside the USA have said they stayed shorter time. Assuming you never become a US citizen, then you will be fine.

I believe giing advise sic to lie to Immigration is against the terms of service of this site.

Reminds me of the guy who overstayed, he had dual citizenship so tried to enter on his other passport, ended in tears. They are nbot quite that stupid.

It sounds to me like you already have your mind made up regarding this issue, and feel pretty confident that you can outsmart the US government regarding your legal entry to the US after a several year absence.

I hope you can pull it off for the sake of everyone involved and good luck with everything.

Diana

I know someone who travelled outside the US for 2 months, when they came back the immigration asked how long they were outside the country.
Since their English was not good, they misunderstood the question, and they answered 9 months.
The immigration then put a stamp on their passport that said they were outside the country for 9 months, even though the correct time is 2 months.
So, it looks to me that at least at the airport, they did not have the information on how long you are outside the country.
Although, I am sure that information is available somewhere.

You still have to prove residency when renewing your GC.

You do what you want. Don't be surprised if it comes around to bite you in the butt.

Based on the USCIS website, you might be denied entry upon returning to the US. If you never got a re-entry permit and now try to come back with being gone for more than two or more years, they can deny you as you have committed abandonment. Actually, abandonment doesn’t even have to be more than one year or two years…they can put you into abandonment proceedings for less time – it is all subjective to what USCIS determines.

Furthermore, all passports, even though they might not be stamped, are scanned at airports in the reader that spins the passport around. That reader’s data is then fed into a main data system that stores it for times just like this. Did you ever stop to think when in the movies someone says, “______ just entered the country.” It wasn’t because there was a lookout…it was the data system. Nowadays, countries monitor entrance and exit of all people (unless they are illegally crossing a border)…the stamp in your passport is basically for your records, not immigration’s – because they have access to electronic data of your goings and comings.

This is from the USCIS website…and from the way it looks, you might be S.O.L…

Maintaining Permanent Residence
You may lose your permanent residence status if you commit an act that makes you removable from the United States under the law in section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If you commit such an act, you may be brought before the immigration courts to determine your right to remain a Permanent Resident.
You may be found to have abandoned your permanent resident status if you:
• Move to another country intending to live there permanently.
• Remain outside of the US for more than one year without obtaining a reentry permit or returning resident visa. However in determining whether your status has been abandoned any length of absence from the US may be considered, even if it is less than one year.
• Remain outside of the US for more than two years after issuance of a reentry permit without obtaining a returning resident visa. However in determining whether your status has been abandoned any length of absence from the US may be considered, even if it is less than one year.
• Fail to file income tax returns while living outside of the US for any period.
• Declare yourself a “nonimmigrant” on your tax returns.

You play it how you want to, but don't be surprised if it ends up biting you in the booty.

Oh, I would definetly would be taking that risk. Mexicans do it all the time. I know some who live in Mexico and are green card holders who also receive social security and medical benefits and all they need is to have an address here in the USA which many of them do by using their relatives or friends who collect the mail. When I called the Social Security Administration and Police to turn in some of them for collecting Social Security, never worked in the USA and living in Mexico, to my surprise they told me they don't have time to investigate that becasue is not a big crime and because they are using an address here in USA and that is enough for them. They said that as long as the address is current (the mail does not get returned), then that is the proof of residency!!!

Pot calling the kettle black.

So why bother asking the question when you already have a "plan" in place?

Again, karma's a pain when it's biting you in the butt.

UNBELIEVABLE. One of the reasons its so difficult to bring our loved ones over legally is because of idiots who think they are smarter than the law and choose to ignore it. Makes my blood boil.

Actually, I'm sorry to inform you, but you're incorrect about this. It is impossible to collect Social Security if you've never worked in the USA. You actually have to have worked for 10 years in the US to collect the retirement benefit. There are many Mexicans and Latin Americans, who have worked for years in the US, built a retirement, and paid into social security, but due to rising costs of retirement and health benefits, have chosen to retire to their homelands. Some are LPRs, some are citizens, the LPRs can conceivably do this if they continue to maintain a residence here, come back to the US every so often and file an income tax return. The ones that became citizens, can live anywhere they want and don't have to come back to the US to visit.