My wife is coming here on CR1 visa from ukraine. As a conditional resident, can she leave the U.S. to go home and are there any restrictions? Thanks guys and good luck to all of you

Yes she is free to travel out of the country.... the only restrictions are that she is not out of the country for too long... read here http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

International Travel
A Permanent Resident of the United States can travel freely outside of the US. A passport from the country of citizenship is normally all that is needed. To reenter the US a Permanent Resident normally needs to present the green card (Permanent Resident Card, Form I-551) for readmission. A reentry permit is needed for reentry for trips greater than one year but less than two years in duration.

Hope this helps.

Kez

Also, an absence of more than 6 months will interrupt the period of time needed to apply for naturalization.

Kez,

Time out of the country is not the only restriction. It is but one of many factors that go into a determination as to the one true restriction - that she not abandon the USA as her primary place of residence to which she intends to return.

Note that flavoredtoothpaste provided virtually no information about the situation that is of interest to him, writing only that his wife would be leaving the USA to go home. That simple statement could cover a wide range of circumstances, many of which could very well cause a determination that she has abandoned her residence in the USA.

Yodrak

Yodrak I think you will find that the link I gave more than covers the information the OP was looking for he asked if his wife could go home.... my reply states that yes she can go home but she should be aware of the restrictions placed on her as a LPR.....

Again you seam to think my info is wrong....

Kez

Kez,

Your statement "the only restrictions are that she is not out of the country for too long" is wrong. Many people will read that and stop there.

Yodrak

Kez, I'll thank you, because when I first read this thread I was so exasperated as to not even reply.

ABSOLUTELY, the OP needs to read that link you provided, and hopefully his wife will too. Someone in that house should know what they've bought into and how to keep it.

FWIW, I read Y's reply as a way to riff off of your words to expand more for the benefit of others. Highlighting the section from your link on Maintaining Permanent Residence would have been good, but I have a feeling the OP doesn't know what PR is.

And how is it wrong......

A greencard holder goes home to wherever for 2 weeks and then re-enters the US using greencard = not a problem

A greencard holder goes home to wherever for 6 weeks and then re-enters the US using greencard = should not be a problem...

A Greencard holder goes home for 3 months and then returns = may be asked question about time outside US.

A greencard holder goes home for 6 months and then returns = will have to show that residency conditions are met...

So it all come down to how long is not too long.... a normal vacation is diffrent from an extended visit home... Yes maybe I should have given more info about time out of the US but the link is there for people to read... maybe you should have just told them to check with a lawyer as you normally do or just continue to reply to posts where you can pick out a reply and dismiss it in one move... maybe you should try and be more helpful instead of just correcting where you think others are wrong... many many times you pick out a reply and tell the poster they are wrong but do you go on to post the reply you think is right.... no you just leave it at that....

My intention was to answer the OP question and give them a link to the USCIS site for LPR so they could read for themselves what is expected of you to maintain your status....

Kez

Kez,

Time out of the country is not the only restriction. People have lost their LPR status as soon as they left. Others have been gone for years and have maintained their status. It depends on a number of case-specific circumstances.

flavoredtoothpaste said nothing about what the circumstances of his wife's return home might be.

I hope that flavoredtoothpaste and other do read the reference you provided. But judging from the number of VJers who talk only about time away it seems that many do not look beyond the time factor. Thinking that "the only restrictions are that she is not out of the country for too long" can burn them.

Countering mis-information is my primary reason for participating on VJ.

Yodrak

I did not provide mis-information... I gave an answer and followed it up with a quote and a link to the full information...

Kez