DOD Civilian for USAF moving overseas

[emmacaitlin 1]

Hello!

 

I am a UK citizen currently residing in the USA with my husband. He is a DOD Civilian for the Air Force (not Active Duty) and it looks as though he is about to be offered a job back in the UK. If everything goes through, he will be issued government orders, which I will also be included on as his dependent.

 

I am a permanent resident green card holder, and I know that you are not supposed to reside outside of the USA for extended periods of time. Is it at simple as updating my address with USCIS? Or do I need to notify them in some other way of the government orders to ensure that I am not considered to be 'abandoning' my green card/right to live in the USA?

 

Thanks in advance!

[nullaccount234 882]

How long are you planning to stay in the UK?

[emmacaitlin 1]

The government orders would be for 3-5 years.

[nullaccount234 882]

You can start by applying for a I-131 reentry permit, in case plans change, but I believe if you stay abroad for more than 2 years it will expire, and you will need to apply for an SB-1. However, "There is an exception to this process for the spouse or child of either a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or civilian employee of the U.S. Government stationed abroad on official orders." I am not familiar with these exceptions but might be worth looking into:

 

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

[Roel 7,191]

If you're on the orders then you're fine. Edit: your name needs to be on those orders ofc.  

You dont need reentry permit. 

 

Just update your address with uscis.  Your time in UK will be counted just as if youd be in the US.

Edited March 1, 2019 by Roel

[emmacaitlin 1]

Perfect, that's exactly what I was hoping for. Of course, the USCIS helpline/military helpline can't give me a straight answer!

 

 

One more question - When I update our address online with USCIS, do I check the box that says "Member of the U.S. Military, or recently discharged from service, or spouse of a member of the U.S. Military" seeing as he isn't technically a member of the U.S. Military, he just works for them? I'm assuming this is in regard to government-issued orders?

[emmacaitlin 1]

Anyone know about the USCIS address change form in regards to the military check box? I called the military helpline and they told me I don't even need to do a change of address form since I don't have any receipts pending. This seems highly inaccurate to me but they never seem to know what they're talking about so no surprise there...

[Roel 7,191]

7 minutes ago, emmacaitlin said:

Anyone know about the USCIS address change form in regards to the military check box? I called the military helpline and they told me I don't even need to do a change of address form since I don't have any receipts pending. This seems highly inaccurate to me but they never seem to know what they're talking about so no surprise there...

If you are a green card holder then you need to always change your address within 10 days of moving. Doesn't matter if you're waiting for anything or  ot. 

[emmacaitlin 1]

That's what I always understood too - Thanks for the clarification! Is there a better number to call to ask about this military checkbox or do I just have to keep going through the USCIS tiers and hope I get a human not reading from a script?

[Kevo 69]

On 3/5/2019 at 11:39 PM, emmacaitlin said:

That's what I always understood too - Thanks for the clarification! Is there a better number to call to ask about this military checkbox or do I just have to keep going through the USCIS tiers and hope I get a human not reading from a script?

My wife and I moved to Japan in Oct last year (I'm US civilian DOD employee).  She had her naturalization interview last month and she said they calculated all her time out of the US and did not include the time we were in Japan due to being on my government orders.  

 

When we updated the address we didn't check the military checkbox. 

[emmacaitlin 1]

15 hours ago, Kevo said:

My wife and I moved to Japan in Oct last year (I'm US civilian DOD employee).  She had her naturalization interview last month and she said they calculated all her time out of the US and did not include the time we were in Japan due to being on my government orders.  

 

When we updated the address we didn't check the military checkbox. 

Thank you!