Traveling while waiting for permanent residency

[davisss 0]

OK, have a strange question. I will be merrying my fiancee from the Phils in a week, we plan on doing our adjustment of status very quickly and hopefully will have all her paperwork back in 3-4 months.....Question is, once she gets her green card and is waiting the three years for permanent residency can she travel to the Phils for an extended amount of time? (we found out the nursing program here is 25 thousand dollars a year and there in the phills it will be 4 thousand a year, she will stay there for 2 years, of course come back here to visit me in the summer.....

[Canerican 242]

Hi there,

Not sure if you can get a re entry permit for two years, but I am apt to think that if she is out of the USA for 2 years as a PR, which is what she will be once she gets her green card, that she will lose her status as a PR. If senior mbers could pipe in pls to confirm.

[nightingalejules 678]

Probably it will be ok, but there are 2 issues.

1) long absences count against the 3 year to citizenship timeline. You need to be physically present in the states for at least half of the 3 years.

2) multiple long absences might be construed as her abandoning her green card and you'd have to start all over. In theory, a person can stay away up to a year without requiring a reentry permit, but people are usually advised not to stay out of the US for more than 6mo at a time.

Too bad you didn't find this out before she came to the US.

Oh! And also, make sure that the nursing program in PI is directly transferable to America. There are often differences in qualifications, and the savings on the program isn't much of a savings if it's not accredited in the US.

[davisss 0]

Thank you so much for the replies (love this site!) yes it will be accredited, is it considered a long absence if she comes back here a couple times a year, stays a couple months (summer break)?

[Dave&Roza 748]

Thank you so much for the replies (love this site!) yes it will be accredited, is it considered a long absence if she comes back here a couple times a year, stays a couple months (summer break)?

She must maintain her residency here in the US. I am assuming you will be staying here in the US while she is a student in the PI. Also, she cannot accept any special tuition by claiming she is a resident of the PI. She is no longer a resident, just a citizen. This would be like going to college in NY, but your residence is in CA. But if you claim in-state tuition in NY you must be a resident in NY and are no longer a resident of CA. Now replace NY with the PI and CA with the US for your situation. You may want to have a look at the USCIS website on International Travel to see what the consequences are. There is also a link to Maintaining your LPR status on the left you might want to look at. This will have an affect on when she can file for citizenship, but first things first, make certain she can keep her GC.

Good luck,

Dave

[meandterry 3]

No 4k a year for nursing in Philippines. Maybe 4k a month....

[meandterry 3]

No 4k a year for nursing in Philippines. Maybe 4k a month....