Surrender greencard or leave it?

[jamisteven 4]

Hey All,  my wife and I lived in the US from 2016 to 2018 / 2 years and then at beginning of 2019 moved to Switzerland due to my job.

 

She has a permanent resident card that doesnt expire until 2029 and at this time it is unclear if we will be moving back to the US or not as we are soon expecting our first child, of course would like to keep the greencard if at all possible so we dont need to go through that headache of a process all over again should we decide to go back to the states, but dont want any trouble either.

 

Just not exactly sure what to do here,  keep it and let it expire? Surrender it ASAP? 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers, 

 

-J

[geowrian 22,337]

Just to make some things clear...

1) Only the card expires in 2029. Status remains until surrendered, abandoned, revoked, etc.

2) Over 1 year abroad has a presumption of abandoning permanent residency. This presumption can be overcome with evidence that you maintained ties to the US and intended to return to the US.

3) CBP would make a determination at POE if residence was abandoned. If they deem it was, they will probably ask her to sign an I-407 to formally abandon status. You can elect not to sign the form, which will very likely result in being referred to an immigration judge to make a final ruling.

 

Side note: She is responsible for filing US taxes while living abroad as long as she remains a permanent resident. I'm assuming you are a USC or LPR, so the same applies to you.

 

So if it is "unclear" if you will return in the near future, I would not do anything yet.

If she hasn't been back to the US since early 2019, there's already a presumption against her for being well over a year abroad, but they are fairly lax on this if it's anywhere close to 1 year IMHO.

But if you do decide to live abroad as your permanent residence, the best thing is to formally surrender the green card via an I-407.

If you get to 2, 3, 4 years living abroad, the card is going to be fairly useless as I would expect a determination of having abandoned permanent residency if one were to try to use it. Better to just get a new immigrant visa at that point IMO.

Edited September 20, 2020 by geowrian

[millefleur 5,047]

**Moved from USC Discussion to General Immigration-Related Discussion**

[retheem 566]

5 hours ago, jamisteven said:

Hey All,  my wife and I lived in the US from 2016 to 2018 / 2 years and then at beginning of 2019 moved to Switzerland due to my job.

 

She has a permanent resident card that doesnt expire until 2029 and at this time it is unclear if we will be moving back to the US or not as we are soon expecting our first child, of course would like to keep the greencard if at all possible so we dont need to go through that headache of a process all over again should we decide to go back to the states, but dont want any trouble either.

 

Just not exactly sure what to do here,  keep it and let it expire? Surrender it ASAP? 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers, 

 

-J

She should apply for citizenship since she is eligible through marriage. Once she is done you can move wherever, knowing that you are done with USCIS forever

[jskibo 588]

14 hours ago, retheem said:

She should apply for citizenship since she is eligible through marriage. Once she is done you can move wherever, knowing that you are done with USCIS forever

No she can't as she's living in Switzerland and thus doesn't meet the residency

[Chancy 6,241]

13 minutes ago, jskibo said:

No she can't as she's living in Switzerland and thus doesn't meet the residency

 

Unless OP is in the military or has other qualifying employment.  Even if that was the case, they must have clear intent to return and reside in the US at the end of the assignment abroad.  In this case, intent is unclear.  So yeah, it doesn't look like OP's wife is eligible to apply for citizenship, assuming she even wants to.

 

[jskibo 588]

24 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Unless OP is in the military or has other qualifying employment.  Even if that was the case, they must have clear intent to return and reside in the US at the end of the assignment abroad.  In this case, intent is unclear.  So yeah, it doesn't look like OP's wife is eligible to apply for citizenship, assuming she even wants to.

 

One would assume his "working in Switzerland" would preclude him being in the military as its a neutral country and not a NATO member

[Chancy 6,241]

8 minutes ago, jskibo said:

One would assume his "working in Switzerland" would preclude him being in the military as its a neutral country and not a NATO member

 

True, but there are other qualifying employment that counts towards eligibility.  Like working for a company that develops US trade interests, which would make sense for Switzerland.

 

Edited September 21, 2020 by Chancy
clarification

[HRQX 4,145]

2 hours ago, jskibo said:

One would assume his "working in Switzerland" would preclude him being in the military as its a neutral country and not a NATO member

Not just the military. INA 319(b): "Any person, (1) whose spouse is (A) a citizen of the United States, (B) in the employment of the Government of the United States, or of an American institution of research recognized as such by the Attorney General, or of an American firm or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the development of foreign trade and commerce of the United States, or a subsidiary thereof, or of a public international organization in which the United States participates by treaty or statute, or is authorized to perform the ministerial or priestly functions of a religious denomination having a bona fide organization within the United States, or is engaged solely as a missionary by a religious denomination or by an interdenominational mission organization having a bona fide organization within the United States, and (C) regularly stationed abroad in such employment, and (2) who is in the United States at the time of naturalization, and (3) who declares before the Attorney General in good faith an intention to take up residence within the United States immediately upon the termination of such employment abroad of the citizen spouse, may be naturalized upon compliance with all the requirements of the naturalization laws, except that no prior residence or specified period of physical presence within the United States or within a State or a district of the Service in the United States or proof thereof shall be required."

[jskibo 588]

8 minutes ago, HRQX said:

Not just the military. INA 319(b): "Any person, (1) whose spouse is (A) a citizen of the United States, (B) in the employment of the Government of the United States, or of an American institution of research recognized as such by the Attorney General, or of an American firm or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the development of foreign trade and commerce of the United States, or a subsidiary thereof, or of a public international organization in which the United States participates by treaty or statute, or is authorized to perform the ministerial or priestly functions of a religious denomination having a bona fide organization within the United States, or is engaged solely as a missionary by a religious denomination or by an interdenominational mission organization having a bona fide organization within the United States, and (C) regularly stationed abroad in such employment, and (2) who is in the United States at the time of naturalization, and (3) who declares before the Attorney General in good faith an intention to take up residence within the United States immediately upon the termination of such employment abroad of the citizen spouse, may be naturalized upon compliance with all the requirements of the naturalization laws, except that no prior residence or specified period of physical presence within the United States or within a State or a district of the Service in the United States or proof thereof shall be required."

Yes, there are those corner cases.  OP doesn't state he's military or an Expat employee of the USG.  My initial response was to the other member who stated his wife could naturalize.  

Edited September 21, 2020 by jskibo

[mushroomspore 3,044]

22 hours ago, jamisteven said:

Hey All,  my wife and I lived in the US from 2016 to 2018 / 2 years and then at beginning of 2019 moved to Switzerland due to my job.

 

She has a permanent resident card that doesnt expire until 2029 and at this time it is unclear if we will be moving back to the US or not as we are soon expecting our first child, of course would like to keep the greencard if at all possible so we dont need to go through that headache of a process all over again should we decide to go back to the states, but dont want any trouble either.

 

Just not exactly sure what to do here,  keep it and let it expire? Surrender it ASAP? 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers, 

 

-J

I would keep the card until you know for sure if you will be coming back to the US. They allow some out-of-country LPR's to apply for citizenship, provided they meet certain requirements. But the biggest obstacle here is that you are unsure if you will actually be coming back to the US. Until you know that for sure, you can't move forward either. Keep the card. In the meantime, I'm guessing you and your wife have still been filing US taxes jointly at least? That's some evidence of maintaining US ties. And do you know if there's any possibility that your job will send you guys back to the US?

[jamisteven 4]

Thanks for all the replies. 

 

I am not in the military so that wouldnt apply, seems for now we will be holding onto the GC. We still have bank accounts there and are still filing taxes jointly but at the same time we own a house here in Switzerland and with a kid on the way I think we wont be going back for at least another 3 years unless something major happens with my job.