I just received the 10 year GC and I wanted to know what the difference is compared to the conditional GC.

How is that with the N-400 do i need to have the GC for 2 years first or is it enough to be married for 2 years?

I am planing on moving to Switzerland but Hubby and me are planing on visiting the US twice a year.

If you move to Switzerland before you obtain US citizenship you will lose your permanent residence status. Once you cease to live permanently in the US if you haven't obtained citizenship you would need to go through the visa process again. The USCIS consider residing outside the US for somewhere between 6 months to a year as giving up your permanent residence status.

You can obtain citizenship after you have lived in the US for three years with your US spouse.

Conditional GC - good for only 2 years and could be extended for another one year.
Normal Green Card - good for 10 years and could be replaced with another 10-years new card.
All rights and privileges are the same for above two cards. Only the effective date length is different.

Hi,
If you decide to stay outside the US ,You certainly can for 1 year,as long as you visit/entry US once, you are fine,then you can stay out of the country for another year(11 months ,29 days).
You do not HAVE to apply for citizenship if you do not want to.

You cannont just come back to visit just once. If you lived outside of the US for up to a year, you need to have a re-entry permit and show many ties to the US, home, payments still, bills etc. You have to show you were not working for a foreign company and actually residing in the other country. The onus is on you to prove you were maintaining US residency. Simply comming back for a short time just once will break your residency.

Any trip over 6 months it will be up to you to prove you are still a US resident and your trip was only a trip (not permenant). Anything under 6 months is a lot easier. Many people think just simply comming back for a short time and then leaving again mainstains their residenecy. It does not. You need to visit the other country not the US.

If you leave for a year, come back leave for another year then you will be shown to have abandoned your PR status and you would have to start back from scratch even possibly having to apply for a green card from the start. It definatly will break all residency ties and you would have to then meet those residency standards...

Correct, but there's another subtle difference.

When the conditional green card expires, the status also expires, unless you apply for removal of conditions. That is, if you don't apply for removal of conditions and you let the card expire, you're deportable.

Once you get a ten year card, the status that it represents is permanent and never expires. It may be lost if you take certain actions, like moving out of the country permanently or committing certain crimes, but the status is never lost just because the calendar said it expired. Only the plastic card expires (and that's largely because they want a new picture of you). When the card expires, all you lose is your proof of status, but not the status itself. If you let your ten year card expire, and do nothing for a couple of years, you can apply for a new card, even after a delay, and there's no penalty.

When the ten year card expires, the renewal is just an administrative process. You don't have to meet new requirements or prove much of anything, since your status never expired and remains unchanged. Whereas when the two year card and the status it represent both expire, you DO have to prove the relationship was bona fide.

That is a very inaccurate piece of advice once you show you have given up permanent residence you almost certainly will lose your green card. Following your very bad suggestion is a sure way for that to happen.

Agree with Lansbury. According to the law, the day you set up residence in another country, you lose your Green Card Status. "Residence" is defined in INA 101 as "the principal, actual dwelling place in fact, without regard to intent".



If you're only gone from the US for periods of less than six months at a time, and if you spend more time in the US than abroad, they'll usually assume you are maintaining your residence in the US, and it won't be hard to show this. As you spend more time abroad, there's an increasing likelyhood you'll be asked to prove that your primary residence is in the US, and there's an increasing likelyhood they won't believe your attempted proof.

You are absolutely right. Thank you for additional comment.

thank you all for your help.. I guess I will loose my GC.

If I will come back I will reapply for status.

Thanks a bunch to all of you.