Expired green card

[tulum 0]

I have a question and I am asking for a friend [ sounds funny but really I am ] If a green card expires can it be renewed?  This person got divorced and moved back to her home country. While there, the green card expired. Now she wants to return to the USA. Is it possible to renew an expired green card or does she have to go thru the visa process again to return. Does anyone know anything about this? Thanks in advance for your help.

[Roel 7,191]

Depends on how long she was away from US, really. 

[Boiler 43,426]

What has she done to maintain the US as her permanent residency?

[bmqsg5h3 12]

It depends on how long she has been away from the US and whether she has an advance parole or not. If she had been out of the US less than 1 year without advance parole or less tan 2 years with advance parole (or 2+ years with a special circumstance & advance parole), her LPR status would still be OK. Otherwise, her status has been revoked and she will have to apply for SB-1 visa (Returning Resident Visa) or permanent residency (via family or employment based) again.

www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/maintaining-permanent-residence

travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/returning-resident.html

jp.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/returning-resident-visa/apply-step1/

 

I-131A instruction says:
"If you have an expired 1) Permanent Resident Card (with a 10-year expiration date) or 2) Permanent Resident Card (with a two-year expiration date) and valid Form I-797, Notice of Action, indicating that status is extended, you may use these documents to return to the United States, and you do not need to file Form I-131A."

See: www.uscis.gov/archive/archive-news/form-i-131a-now-available

 

CBP will let her enter the US with her expired green card and renew her card after returning to the US. However, she will need to contact airlines to confirm they accept her expired green card for boarding. If not, she can try to go Canada or Mexico by visa waiver first and then travel across the Canadian-US or Mexican-US border with her expired GC. I'm not sure if it works or not.

Edited December 8, 2018 by tokoro10

[geowrian 22,335]

57 minutes ago, tokoro10 said:

It depends on how long she has been away from the US and whether she has an advance parole or not. If she had been out of the US less than 1 year without advance parole or less tan 2 years with advance parole (or 2+ years with a special circumstance & advance parole), her LPR status would still be OK. Otherwise, her status has been revoked and she will have to apply for SB-1 visa (Returning Resident Visa) or permanent residency (via family or employment based) again.

www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/maintaining-permanent-residence

travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/returning-resident.html

jp.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/returning-resident-visa/apply-step1/

 

I-131A instruction says:
"If you have an expired 1) Permanent Resident Card (with a 10-year expiration date) or 2) Permanent Resident Card (with a two-year expiration date) and valid Form I-797, Notice of Action, indicating that status is extended, you may use these documents to return to the United States, and you do not need to file Form I-131A."

See: www.uscis.gov/archive/archive-news/form-i-131a-now-available

 

CBP will let her enter the US with her expired green card and renew her card after returning to the US. However, she will need to contact airlines to confirm they accept her expired green card for boarding. If not, she can try to go Canada or Mexico by visa waiver first and then travel across the Canadian-US or Mexican-US border with her expired GC. I'm not sure if it works or not.

Fundamentally, yes. Just a few notes:

 

1) One would need a re-entry permit, not advance parole, for the <= 2 year abroad item. An LPR does not qualify for AP. Same form (I-131), but different reason and document.

2) Entry is not guaranteed except for USCs. One could be a road for just a few months with a still-valid green card, but have abandoned permanent residency (i.e. obtaining benefits abroad that require residency, seeking/obtaining permanent residency elsewhere, etc.). It's not likely, but is can happen. The point is that just having a valid green card or re-entry permit does not guarantee anything.

3) Over 1 year abroad does not guarantee that LPR status is abandoned, but does have a mandatory presumption of having abandoned it, which would need to be overcome via evidence of the ties they maintained to the US. CBP can 1) admit them as-is, 2) parole them and refer the case to an IJ, or 3) parole them w/ detainment and refer the case to an IJ.

 

In the OP's case, it'll really come down to how long they've been abroad, what exactly they did to move "back to her home country", and the ties they kept (or not) to the US. These would be the 3 prime factors that determine the available options.

[bmqsg5h3 12]

Thank you for clarifying. Sorry I confused re-entry permit with advance parole.