Form I-131 and Ongoing Residency Requirement

[Ajkauffman 0]

Hello All,

Background:

I am a US Citizen who married abroad many years ago. My wife and I started an IR-1 application for Permenant residency back in July 2012. We got the Visa in March/April 2013.

Issues:

We are planning to move to the USA but finding jobs is taking time. We have good jobs in Australia and intend to stay in Australia until we have jobs in the US. We know that she needs to travel to the US within 6 months of getting the visa.

We have booked travel to the States in September this year (and will visit family and remain in the USA for three weeks. We will however then leave the country and return to Australia at the end of September.

We fully expect that it will take another 6-9 months before we will be ready to finally move to the US.

Question:

Do we need to have my wife apply for a re-entry visa using Form I-131 upon entering the USA or is the green card itself sufficient to allow return to the USA after leaving for what might be 6 or so months? Is there anything else we would need to do or not do upon entering the USA for the first time (or before leaving?)

We want to be sure she can retain the green card and we can indeed move permenantly to the USA. If anyone has experience with a similar situation and/or can offer some advice I would be very grateful.

Sincerely,

Jeff

[NikLR 13,234]

NEVER MIND!!! (poster can't read today apparently) See Darnell's post below!

Edited July 15, 2013 by NikiR

[Darnell 8,479]

since you already have the visa in hand,

I suggest you study it,

and review the last date printed in it.

That last date? is the last date to arrive in the USA.

re: yer other plans - apologies - I suggest, instead, you two get into USA, stay with relatives, seek jobs whilst in the USA. Is too much confusion for employers to figure out where you are, immigration status, etc. Also note for the foreign spouse, it takes 2 to 4 weeks to get a SSN - with that and the endorsement stamp in the passport, the foreign spouse can work.