Retaining Permanent Residency Status

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

I just returned from my first trip outside US since I got GC - flew into smaller airport (CVG) and was out for a week - first question I was asked by CBP officer was how long I stayed in Poland...

Thats a given. Thay always ask that. I live right at the Canada border and go there A LOT, usually for no more than a couple hours, sometimes just for lunch and it is ALWAYS a question! Even when I cross at the little border posts where the US and Canadian guys are in the same little building, more or less back to back.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Here is my no BS take on this: your daddy has been playing the system. He does not reside in the U.S., never has. He has been abusing his Green Card as a tourist visa and CBP, the guys who now have computers, have finally caught up with him and wrote in his passport a note to their fellow officers if he didn't get this very forthcoming warning and leaves again after a few weeks and stays out for several months, they will consider his residency abandoned and deny him entry the next time he shows up at the border asking for admission.

Pay attention to the language I've been using.

Now your daddy came back in February, so a few weeks ago, and plans to leave again this very month?

If so, he may not be able to return in "less than 6 months" and--forgive me for making my opinion known--deservedly so. If he likes to keep his Green Card, he better now stays for at least as long as he plans on being away from the U.S. again. So if he plans to stay outside the U.S. for 5 months, he better waits 'til July before leaving. If I was a CBP officer and your daddy returns again after 5 months absence without having stayed previously in the U.S. for more than a few vacation weeks, it'll be game over. He'll be either refused entry and send back to his home country, or he will be paroled into the U.S., not admitted, with a date in front of an immigration judge, which usually is a few months later as those guys are quite busy these days.

It's your dad's choice, and it better be a good one.

[rscofield 0]

Well, we sent in a request for a re-entry permit today. It will be his second re-entry permit, if approved. If it's not, he'll just "turn in" his permanent residency, and apply for a tourist visa anytime he would like to visit, with the intention to reapply for permanent residency when he plans to move to the US permanently. If the re-entry permit, is granted then he'll make the final move in 6 months or so.