Need help regarding abandoned Green Card/VWP entry

[Hakata 0]

Thanks everybody again for all the info! I feel I should clarify a few things. We went to the consulate to inform them of our sons birth and my wife used her Permanent Resident Card as identification along with her passport. The Japanese lady at the window just makes sure the correct documents are present. When looking through the stamps in my wife's passport she noticed she has been out of the country approx two years. She then said this would be considered "no status" which I took to mean considered abandoned. She didn't use a computer or look anything up in a database and only mentioned that because she had to use my wife's Japanese license for identification in place of the green card.

[Hypnos 6,576]

Consulate can not take away your GC nor can they at the PoE.

Very very unusual to be detained.

So you enter with a GC, getting grief worst they can do is give you a notice to appear in front of an IJ.

4 years later, maybe longer, you appear in front of an IJ who wonders why his time is being wasted as yes he can take it away but yes you can just file again

OP stated that they've been outside the US for almost two years. After that long I don't think there's even a remote chance that they will get through CBP without anything bad happening.

[Hakata 0]

There needs to be a USCIS field office within a US embassy in the foreign country for DCF to be an option. You can find a list of international USCIS offices here: http://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/international-immigration-offices

There is no USCIS office in Japan.

Japan does not have Direct Consular Filing except in special circumstances. I looked at the list of circumstances and without going into them here I believe we qualify for two of the acceptable reasons. After calling the embassy in Tokyo yesterday they gave me an e-mail to request for special permission and I sent the request yesterday morning.

According to the woman that I spoke with on the phone, they have to get permission from the Embassy in South Korea where they do provide DCF. She said they try and get an answer as soon as possible so I will wait a week or so and give them another call if I don't hear back by then.

[Hypnos 6,576]

When there is no field office within the country, the threshold necessary to file is very high. Certainly you can try, and it's good you've already filed a request, but I wouldn't get hopeful. I think I've seen a couple of approvals where it was literally a matter of life and death, otherwise they will usually just tell you to file through the normal process.

[Hakata 0]

When there is no field office within the country, the threshold necessary to file is very high. Certainly you can try, and it's good you've already filed a request, but I wouldn't get hopeful. I think I've seen a couple of approvals where it was literally a matter of life and death, otherwise they will usually just tell you to file through the normal process.

This is what I figured so we have printed out the necessary forms and have begun preparing to file regardless of DCF or through the Chicago lockbox. It's such a crazy system but we just have to jump through the necessary hoops to get it done. In Japan I just flew over went to the ward office and adjusted status. It was quick, painless and inexpensive.