What if we leave to work abroad for a year?

[celtic59 0]

OK I have a question about maintaining a physical presence in order to apply for citizenship. I am here as a permanent resident, married to a U.S. citizen and have been since Aug 2009. I know I need to live here for 3 years before I can apply for citizenship. I know also that you shouldn't leave the country for over 6 months or a year. However, we are considering our options right now and as we are both unemployed teachers living off of ever-dwindling savings and have been since we arrived here apart from a few brief months of substitute work, we may take jobs teaching English in S.Korea. Our son lives there with his Korean wife. I can't find anything that says you aren't allowed to work overseas, but I feel that may be the case as I see they state that it is OK if you work for a US company, which this wouldn't be. We are only renting, so obviously wouldn't still be paying rent if we left, so I don't know how we would show we intend to return, except store our stuff and pay our taxes. We have 3 other adult children, my husband's dad and brothers in the U.S. Any input would be very helpful as we don't want to mess this up and end up stranded in S.Korea and unable to return to either of our home countries.(I am a U.K. citizen)

[HeatDeath 431]

Permanent Residents can be out of the US for up to a year with no problems as long as they maintain a US residence, and can prove it to the CBP officer upon re-entry to the US.

But in your situation, because you probably won't want or be able to maintain a US residence for the duration of your trip, you would want to apply for and receive reentry permits before you leave.

A reentry permit allows you to return to the US after an absence of up to (but NOT over) two years, and preserves your US permanent resident status even if (I believe, double check this!) you do not maintain a US residence during your absence.

You apply for a reentry permit using an I-131 form, and they are valid for 2 years. Your reentry permit MUST be approved before you leave, and you MUST return to the US before the reentry permit expires, or you will lose your permanent residence status and have to start all over with a spousal visa.

[warlord 73]

Permanent Residents can be out of the US for up to a year with no problems as long as they maintain a US residence, and can prove it to the CBP officer upon re-entry to the US.

But in your situation, because you probably won't want or be able to maintain a US residence for the duration of your trip, you would want to apply for and receive reentry permits before you leave.

A reentry permit allows you to return to the US after an absence of up to (but NOT over) two years, and preserves your US permanent resident status even if (I believe, double check this!) you do not maintain a US residence during your absence.

You apply for a reentry permit using an I-131 form, and they are valid for 2 years. Your reentry permit MUST be approved before you leave, and you MUST return to the US before the reentry permit expires, or you will lose your permanent residence status and have to start all over with a spousal visa.

Yes you need to apply and qualify for the Re-entry permit for this to work. Without that you risk abandonment of your spouses status.

Leaving without one for less than a year, leaves it to you to prove to the IO you maintained US residency during that time which can be tough if you don't own a home or keep on renting and have other strong US ties during the time away.

The 6 months thing only means the burden of proof switches from the IO to you at that 6 months mark. You can be found for abandonment of the GC before 6 months and people have if the IO can prove you broke residency requirements in that first 6 months. So that is not the guideline for one to easily stay out of the county and break residency ties at all. Quite a common misconception of the "6 Month Rule"...