mikediamond

Dear All at Visa Journey,

My wife and I are considering the re-entry permit as we wish to remain in the UK for me to complete a masters degree. 

Anyone had any positive/negative experiences with this re-entry procedure or have any advice/warnings for this permit? 

 Thanks

Hello,

I'm a green card holder (UKC) and left the U.S. in May to return to the U.K. to visit family for the summer.  Whilst in the U.K., I was offered a job that I decided to take.  I've been working since July and made an appointment at the London U.S. embassy to abandon my permanent residency and surrender my green card today.  However, when the embassy employee noticed that I had only left in May, he refused to accept my abandonment as I had not been abroad for over a year.  He asked if I was planning on going back to the U.S. in any form before 1 year of leaving.  I said I'm returning to visit in November, as well as, Christmas and a few weeks early next year.  He stated that I have to continue to enter on my green card until I have "abandoned" my residency for over a year. I informed the employee that I am currently working in the U.K. and he said I could still maintain my citizenship timeline if I returned to the U.S. within 6 months of leaving regardless of having employment abroad.  He also said that I had the option to go back to the U.S. at any time before May 2018 to file a reentry permit even though I obtained my job after leaving the U.S. and am currently employed abroad.

My wife (USC / UKC) and I are very confused as we thought obtaining work abroad automatically means you've abandoned your residency. However, I was in the embassy today, and they told me that having employment abroad didn't matter toward citizenship as long as I reentered before six months of being away.

My work contract is only a year and we could move back to the US at that point.  If I enter in November (before 6 months have lapsed) and then reenter in April 2018 (before another six months have lapsed) and stay until I am eligible to file for citizenship in July 2018, does this mean I might still stand a chance of gaining citizenship?

Thank you so much for any help.  We are trying to make this decision quickly as I would need to book a flight soon to avoid being out of the country for more than six months.

Hi Lainie,

How do you know you are not eligible for the VWP? Have you tried ESTA?

When I was refused my visa at the embassy this is what the official informed me at the time. I have also spoken to other people that have also been denied this visa and they have stated that they are also no longer eligible for VWP. To try ESTA you need a flight number which requires buying a flight which I am not prepared to do considering the info I have received from others that have been in this position. I have not read any info from anyone that has been denied a visa and are still eligible for VWP. If this is true then please send some links over.

What stage of the IR1 are you at?

We have sent the first packet of info and paid the first amount. We are now required to complete the ds, notice of intent I am not sure of the terms sorry,....medical, interview etc.

It's not true that citizens of VWP countries are automatically ineligible for the B1/B2. Plenty of people get tourist visas from these countries.

This info is from the official at the embassy that denied my visa and from numerous people that I have met and also from other forums. Many people may have been granted these visas but I was not one of them and now I am asking what are my options to travel. Again if you know of any info that exists of young British people (not retired) that are eligible for VWP that have been given the B2 visa then please send over any info you have seen....

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice on a situation.

My wife (USC) and I (UKC) filed for a Greencard in London about 15 months ago. We have been in London now for around 4 years with another 1 year spent in Spain. We have taken such a long time to process the Greencard as we really do not want to leave England/Europe. We applied for the Greencard at a time when we thought that we did want to return to the US, however these feeling only really lasted about 2 weeks (my wife had not been back for around 18 months at this point) and by that time we had already applied and paid the first payment.

The tricky part is as follows:

We are perfectly happy to terminate the entire process but something is still causing a problem; I was actually denied a B2 visa about 4 years ago as I was eligible for the Visa Waiver Program and this the embassy stated was the reason I was denied. I applied for this visa as we wanted to travel around America for 6 months as opposed to 3 months without working as we had saved up enough money to do this, then head into South America. I was completely unaware that as a British Citizen and eligible for VWP I would certainly be refused the B2 visa until I was in the interview and informed of this....! Big mistake on my part.

Now I am not eligible for the VWP and about to terminate an IR-1 application so have not been allowed to even visit for the past 4 years and am concerned for the future, what do I do to simply go on holiday to the US in my position if I do terminate this process?????

Any information and support is welcomed.

Thanks,

Mike

• Thanks Penguin.

This is great information as we are planning a move for late next year if possible.

So we have 12 months from the petition approval to send back the next packet that we shall receive?

Thanks.

Mike.

Hello everyone,

My wife and I have recently applied through the London Embassy for the greencard. We sent the I-130 with the payment etc in May and got the approval notice in June. We are now waiting for the next package to arrive before proceeding with the next part of collecting all of the required info and completing the necessary forms.

We would like to know how much time we have to respond to this next package that we will receive which is the DS-230 I believe. Do we have to send everything back within 3 months or can we wait 9 months or even 18 months to get everything back to the embassy? We started this process now as we do not plan to go back to America as soon as we anticipated.

I appreciate all information and guidance.

Thanks.

Mike.