Hi All,

I don't know if this is the right section for my question but I had no idea where to put it.
It's almost 3 years now that I'm in the USA married to my beloved husband, we also have two little children. Lately we're seriously thinking of moving back to my country permanently (well, atleast as long as our children are so young - I have plenty of family over there to help with our children while here we have nobody, etc.)
I have green card and I've just filed for removing the conditional status this summer (and I'm stuck apparently, because of the prolonged process because of the delays.)
My question is, what should I do if we decide to leave? Should I get my citizenship first or just stay with my permanent resident status? So if and when we decide to come back it would be easier for me and wouldn't have to repeat all the paperworks etc. Can I lose my permanent status after a certain amount of time that I spend abroad?

Thanks in advance,
Caryann

Citizenship is what you need but sounds like you have a 4 plus year wait.

Otherwise from you have said you will be abandong your PR status and if at sometime later you change your mind you will need to start again.

You will lose your Permanent Residence Status if you are not a Permanent residence in the US. You can leave for up to one year away from the US but must return afterwards. Otherwise you forfeit your priveledge of being a permanent visa holder. You will have to stard all over if you are not a US citizen. If you are a US Citizen, you then can live anywhere outside the US even if you never come back (as long as you dont revolt against the US Govt).

Maintaining Permanent Residence 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 re-entry 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 re-entry 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 "nonresident" on your tax returns.

Hope that helps.

Forgot to mention, if you just removed your condition, apply and wait for your US Citizenship . It should take less than a year if you married your spouse who is a US citizen. Then you wont have any problems. You just have to file taxes even if you dont make any income or less than the required $7500 or so to file for taxes. The US consulate in your country can help you with that.

Oops typo, not 4 years, I am reckoning that it will take 18 months to 2 years from filing for removal of conditions to Citizenship, impossible to say precisely.

So I may be able to vote for the next President, but probably not.

you can apply for citizenship 3 years after getting the green card, conditional or not....... which usually means about 1 year after your conditional green card expires...

Actually it's anything after 6 months you will have to prove to the IO that you were maintaining US residency while abroad. So if you leave and you are not a USC you better have a house and payments and be still paying US taxes or you will forfiet your Green Card and you would have to start the entire process over again.

Yes you can apply 3 years - 90 days for your Citizenship from your PR date. The length of time to get the citizenship from applying varies from person to person. Some like myself had a short 3-4 month from applying to getting citizenship. Many others have been waiting well over a year. So it just depends.

If you intend to move permenantly to this other country, then I would suggest you just forfiet the green card now and just get it over with since you won't been using it anyways. If you do decide down the road again to want to move to the US then you can just re-apply for the green card if that comes down to it...

I would recommend citizenship too. If you move outside the US you could loose your status. As a citizen you don't.

Technically, you give up your LPR status the very day you leave the US with intent to make your permanent residence elsewhere.

Since intent is sometimes hard to prove, as a practical matter, if you're gone less than six months, they'll assume you meant to keep your green card unless they come across significant evidence otherwise (and they generally don't look too hard for that evidence). But be aware that it doesn't necessarily take that long to lose your Green Card. If you cut your ties to your US residence while establishing ties to a foreign residence, you're probably abandoning your Green Card.

If you wait until after you attain citizenship, then you don't have to worry. You can't lose US Citizenship without trying pretty hard to do so. Generally, you'd have to go to a US consulate and sign paperwork saying you're trying to renounce your citizenship.

If you're a US Citizen, you permanently have a legal right to enter the US at any port of entry. There's no officer discretion involved, and nothing you have to prove except your citizenship, which is established by your passport. Citizenship definitely makes travel to the US easy, whether it's for a quick vacation or to live here permanently.

If you don't get US citizenship, but intend to maintain your residence outside the US, only visiting occasionally, you're in an area not well served by US immigration law. You probably don't qualify for most visitors visas or the visa waiver program, because your US Citizen spouse establishes strong ties to the US, so you'll have difficulty proving nonimmigrant intent. The K-3 and IR-1 visas are available to you, but you've got to have a US domicile for the affidavit of support, and both of these visas are intended for people wanting to live in the US permanently. They take a long time to process, too. There's not really an appropriate visa type for the spouse of a US citizen who just wants to visit the US for a two week vacation and then return.

You're close to citizenship eligibility. It's your decision, but I'd sure look into acquiring citizenship before moving abroad.

"If you don't get US citizenship, but intend to maintain your residence outside the US, only visiting occasionally, you're in an area not well served by US immigration law. You probably don't qualify for most visitors visas or the visa waiver program, because your US Citizen spouse establishes strong ties to the US, so you'll have difficulty proving nonimmigrant intent. The K-3 and IR-1 visas are available to you, but you've got to have a US domicile for the affidavit of support, and both of these visas are intended for people wanting to live in the US permanently. They take a long time to process, too. There's not really an appropriate visa type for the spouse of a US citizen who just wants to visit the US for a two week vacation and then return"


I was wondering about this. If you abandon your perm residence status how easy is it in practice to get back into the USA afterwards even for a vacation. ?Does this depend on your marital status still? ie: if you are divorced from your spouse and went back to your home country to live, then you are no longer classed as having strong ties to USA? or would you still need to try and apply for some sort of visa as the visa waiver pogramme would no longer be available to you?

thanks

Jelly

I think you'd be classified the exact same way as any other visitor from your country. If citizens need a visa to enter the US as a visitor then so would you. If like Canada where you do not need a visa, then you wouldn't need one either and you would just travel like any other Canadian to the US and be treated the same...