I could possibly be leaving the U.S to take a new job in a foreign country. Once I leave my filipina wife MJ will go back to live with her family as I won't be able to take her with me on this assignment. During this assignment I'm really not allowed to visit the U.S. as I get a special tax break by not visiting the U.S. while employed in this foreign country. By not visiting I don't have to claim taxes on $80,000 of my salary so if I come back to visit I take a huge hit in taxes. The rest will be taxed normally. I plan to retire in the Philippines where we will buy some land and build a new home.

So I have a couple of questions.

• I assume that I should notify USCIS that we won't be filing the I-751, right? We don't need to file until January 2010 but we won't be here to do so.
• If for some reason I need to come back to visit in the U.S. can my wife accompany me?

If I missed any thing let me know.

Thanks in advance,

Charlie

Your wife will have to apply for tourist visa every time when she wants to visit the US with you, if she loses GC.
Will they give her a tourist visa? Depends on how tough the embassy is in Ph. I suspect it is tough.

I'm not really up to speed on this. your wife coming back to USA would depend on the time frame she is attempting reentry

How long is this assignment going to be? If your wife is going back to stay with her family in the Philippines you may be able to apply for a re-entry permit for her to be out of the country for a year to two years. (check out the details of this carefully!). How soon do you intend to retire? If it is within the next 4 or 5 years, then it may not be worth the time waiting for your wife to get her citizenship which would allow you the opportunity to live in the US if you wished. She needs to have 3 years of uninterrupted residency in the US while still married to you in order to apply for citizenship. I guess you really need to know how much time in the next few years you expect to have before you retire to the Philippines. Applying for a re-entry permit and keeping your wife's status valid by filing the I-751 will probably (no guarantees with USCIS) be important if you will be returning to the US. If not, then no, there would be no need to continue the residency process as you and your wife would not be living in the US.

I'm not sure if they would give her one but I guess we will have to worry about that later. We plan on getting married in the Philippines also so maybe that might help.

Charlie

I will still be doing the tax returns but she will definitely be out of the U.S. longer than 2 yrs. I will be working for a U.S. owned company. It appears that she will have to abandon her status on the I-751.

Thanks for the info.

Charlie

I hope to retire in about 5 yrs but you never know. I don't see that happening before that time line. We definitely want to live in the Philippines. I really like it over there. Where I'll be working at will be a lot closer to her than being in the U.S. The flight is about 8 hrs so I won't miss that marathon flight from the U.S. to the Philippines.

Thanks,
Charlie

About $80,000 exclusion from tax. Who told you that you cannot visit US? I was cheaking tax breaks rules a few years ago. You can be in US for 35 days in a year to get 80k exclusion (plus housing, etc). Maybe rules have been changed but if changed it is to eliminate the exclusion alltogether (my wild guess). Double check it; I am pretty sure about the rules in the past.
About I-751. I think it wold not hurt to get a re-entry permit for 2 years (if you dont mind fee). She will keep the status and who knows what would happen in 2 years regarding your job. She could terminate her PR (by not sending I-751). Or she can submit I-751 from abroad in Jan 2010 (re-entry permit has to be submitted from US). At least, she could easily travel.

If the 751 is filed outside of the US and the resident is not in the US, how would she go about getting the biometrics done? Or hope that they were done prior to leaving?

We are somewhat in the same situation and have moved overseas before completing the 3 years living in the US. We did file for the removal of conditions because we were still in the states at the time we needed to, but no biometrics was done before we left. Then received an extension letter, and that has just expired. So... we'll have to abandon it. I think they only do the biometrics if you're living outside the US if your spouse is in the military and are outside the US.

Just some ideas! Thanks!

I agree about the tax exemption. you can visit. 35 days sounds right. At least that is how it was a couple years ago. I wouldn't apply for the removal if you are going to turn around and abonden it. If you were to apply for the removal, I would then try to get the citizenship as soon as you can after that. But she will have to be living in the US to meet those requirements. Otherwise just abond it, not even sure you have to inform anyone. And when the Green card expires she will have to apply for a vistor visa (which typically lasts 10 years). But she will have to prove she has roots in the Philippines (things like a house, bank accounts (with money a fair bit of money it it, and/or other attachments.

Good luck