Calculating amount of time outside of US for LPR

[healthteacher 18]

My wife, who is a green card holder, traveled to her home country on November 5 of 2017 (her first trip abroad in 2 years).She returned to the US on April 5, 2018.

How is time abroad usually calculated by immigration? We dont want to jeopardize her green card by spending too much time outside of the US.

If the maximum time away without raising eyebrows at immigration is 6 months, is it 6 months in any 1 year period, or no more than 6 months in a calendar year?

When would be the earliest we could travel again to her home country and stay there for another 5-6 months without immigration questioning us about exessive time abroad?

I realize there are no hard and fast rules on this and immigration has total discretion, so I am basicly looking for a general rule of thumb to go by for planning future trips. This is also assuming that there is no intent to abandon residency status, since she is traveling with intent to return and has plenty of ties to US with a US citizen spouse, property in US, etc.

Any suggestions on when would be the earliest we could plan another trip abroad and for how much time we could stay away?

Thanks in advance!

[Boiler 45,670]

That seems a very long holiday.

 

PR = Permanent Resident

 

6 months suggests otherwise.

[Ermin&Zijada 141]

18 minutes ago, Boiler said:

That seems a very long holiday.

 

PR = Permanent Resident

 

6 months suggests otherwise.

I must have missed where OP asked for your opinion on the length of their visits. 

[Roel 7,192]

2 minutes ago, Ermin&Zijada said:

I must have missed where OP asked for your opinion on the length of their visits. 

It's public forum. People here share their opinions and that's their right. Welcome to the internet.

No to mention it's a very good point.

[Boiler 45,670]

10 minutes ago, Ermin&Zijada said:

I must have missed where OP asked for your opinion on the length of their visits. 

Free bonus!

[Ermin&Zijada 141]

19 minutes ago, Roel said:

It's public forum. People here share their opinions and that's their right. Welcome to the internet.

No to mention it's a very good point.

You only consider it a “good point” because its an immigrant choosing to travel outside the US for longer than a few weeks. But when a usc takes a 6 month vacation to “explore europe” its considered a cultural experience and even envied. 

[Roel 7,192]

2 minutes ago, Ermin&Zijada said:

You only consider it a “good point” because its an immigrant choosing to travel outside the US for longer than a few weeks.

??? Well excuse me! I thought it's immigration forum and OP was asking immigration related question! I guess we all have been wrong.

 

2 minutes ago, Ermin&Zijada said:

 

 

But when a usc takes a 6 month vacation to “explore europe” its considered a cultural experience and even envied. 

And if OP's wife will become US citizen, no one will care about how long she's away. But since she's only LPR and is having a lot of long vacations, it might become a problem for them. Especially when they will want to naturalize. So it's right to point that out.

 

I suppose your post was only meant to start some sort of argument, which is lame.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

1 minute ago, Ermin&Zijada said:

You only consider it a “good point” because its an immigrant choosing to travel outside the US for longer than a few weeks. But when a usc takes a 6 month vacation to “explore europe” its considered a cultural experience and even envied. 

USC doesn’t get questioned on whether they’ve maintained residency when they return, Ive had this happen to me after a 5 month absence, trust me it’s not fun. It’s even more not fun if CBP decides you’ve been doing it too often and refers you to an immigration judge.

 

OP, it’s not quite as simple as figuring out what the 6 months is. There are two main considerations:

- as a resident you are expected to spend more time inside the country than out of it. You may want to look up some of the uscis info sheets on LPRs traveling abroad, where they talk about time out and the kind of evidence you need to show you’ve maintained residency. Examples https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/international-travel-permanent-resident   And https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/maintaining-permanent-residence

- a single absence of longer than 180 days breaks your continuous presence requirements for naturalization and resets your clock to next entry. 

[geowrian 22,337]

5 minutes ago, Ermin&Zijada said:

You only consider it a “good point” because its an immigrant choosing to travel outside the US for longer than a few weeks. But when a usc takes a 6 month vacation to “explore europe” its considered a cultural experience and even envied. 

LPRs have certain obligations regarding their residency that a USC doesn't. That's simply a fact that one must deal with as an LPR.

If they want to visit abroad for a longer period of a time, a re-entry permit (I-131) is highly suggested.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

By the way, OP, just having property in the US is not a tie, non residents may own and many do. A spouse is of course a tie  but you may raise questions later on about genuineness of the relationship if she spends half the year away from you every year - I’m not judging, but your relationship will be scrutinized by uscis in future.(if you are with her for these travels of course that’s fine for proving relationship but you still need to worry about the immigration angle.)

Edited July 2, 2018 by SusieQQQ

[Boiler 45,670]

Friend of mine was seriously grilled after 4 months out, he naturalised to avoid the issue.

[javadown2 308]

2 hours ago, Boiler said:

That seems a very long holiday.

 

PR = Permanent Resident

 

6 months suggests otherwise.

And we all have our reasons for needing to be outside the US, family problems, children, what ever...I'm curious also about this questions he is asking because we are thinking about same scenarios. From what I gather it's no more then 6 months a year, and it may depend on how close you are to filing for citizenship or your removal of conditions. 

[A&H2018 146]

Responses were in no way an attack to the reason or why you would it. Also if a user on a web forum who is more open minded, has gone through the process, knows the rules etc...Is reacting in a certain way what do you expect from a CBP officer who possibly has never left their state forget country, or visited various countries. Responses like that should seriously help one consider what they planning and how to prepare.

[healthteacher 18]

7 hours ago, Boiler said:

That seems a very long holiday.

 

PR = Permanent Resident

 

6 months suggests otherwise.

We are both retired and in our sixties. I figure we deserve a long holiday. What are you jealous or something?

[Boiler 45,670]

You never mentioned that, suggest you wait until she gets US Citizenship before pushing your luck and then she can come and go as she pleases.