miketrombone

I actually found some new information on this topic that might be of help to people that are in our same situation. From the US Embassy in London's website:

Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status (I-407)

If you wish to abandon your permanent residence and relinquish your Permanent Resident Card "Green Card", please download and print the attached form, completing those items that are highlighted in yellow.

Forms

You will need to complete the yellow-highlighted sections in form I-407, "Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Residence".

Supporting Documentation

Please return the following three items to the address below:

* Completed I-407

* Your Permanent Resident Card

* A stamped, self-addressed envelope

Mailing Address

USCIS I-407

American Embassy

P.O. Box 2444

London W1A 5WT

Once the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office receives your completed Form I-407 and your Permanent Resident Card, the appropriate documentation stamps will be placed on the form along with the USCIS officer's signature. A copy of this form will be returned to you in the stamped, self-address envelope you provide. This copy of the completed I-407 is your receipt and it validates the return of your Permanent Resident Card. You should keep a copy of the completed I-407 in your passport whenever you travel to the United States.

Once the I-407 is completed, you will revert to your previous status as a non-immigrant and may apply for admission into the United States in the manner of any other person of common nationality. This includes the use of the Visa Waiver Program, provided you meet the normal criteria for that program.

Abandoning your Permanent Resident Card and status does not affect your ability to apply to immigrate to the United States at some future time. However, you will have to begin the process anew and apply through the usual application process.

I finally found some concrete evidence that, at least in a perfect world, my wife should be treated as a normal visa waiver visitor should we abandon her status officially through the I-407! I think this is definately a better road to take than just letting your status lapse, if you know you are moving to a foreign country for more than a year.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Mike

Thanks! Great idea!

Thanks everyone for your additional comments! That's interesting, but not surprising, that they won't give you a re-entry permit that extends longer than the expiration on your 2-year GC. Makes sense. I'm not sure it would be worth it for us to apply for one, since we will most likely be moving just after my wife has only one year to go on her conditional GC.

Sweetgirl.....that was interesting what the lawyer said about not being able to apply to remove conditions outside the US. I remember someone on VJ saying they had done just that?

All of these potential problems and concerns I have will only matter if we want to move back to the US within a short period of time after we get there (less than 1yr)...which is unlikely since we won't have anything to move back to financially.

My only more permanent concern is what will happen with my wife when we are visiting family in the US and she has abandoned status and visits on a visa-waiver. Interrogation? I don't want her to have to deal with that.

Mike

Hi Sweet,

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I am planning to get a re-entry permit, as that seems like a pretty easy way to help our cause should we need to come back within a reasonable time-frame (ie less than 2 yrs).

The USCIS website says that a LPR can technically stay out of the country for up to 1 yr. w/o a re-entry permit. Of course, it will depend on what Immigration agent you get. It goes on to state that a re-entry permit will be good for up 2 yrs after you leave, and then you are SOL.

Anyway, should be interesting whatever happens.

Cheers

Mike

Thanks Spark. I think I need to do some more research on the whole tax issue. If anyone else has experience with this kind of situation, I'd like to hear the story.

Right, I realize I will always have to file an IRS tax return regardless of where I live. My question mainly centers around whether my tax-status would change whether I claim myself as a US resident or not. When I file taxes for 2006, we would only have been hypothetically out of the country for a few months, so I would prefer to file as a resident at that time---if I don't get hit financially.

As far as I know, if you are a US resident you can exclude your foreign income, and if you are a non-resident, the US will give you a credit for taxes paid to Denmark. If I were you, I'd probably sit down and fill out a tax return each way, and see which works out better. Though there may be some sort of time test that determines which you must use.

Right, I realize I will always have to file an IRS tax return regardless of where I live. My question mainly centers around whether my tax-status would change whether I claim myself as a US resident or not. When I file taxes for 2006, we would only have been hypothetically out of the country for a few months, so I would prefer to file as a resident at that time---if I don't get hit financially.

Update to this story:

I did end up getting the job in Denmark back in April, so at this point we are planning to move over there. We don't have the financial ability to maintain our current residence here, and plan to have whatever US business we need to do be based from my parents place. It seems that we probably will have to abandon my wife's GC with all of this, as the job is a permanent position, and I can't see us going back to my current job, which is not a positive situation financially. (I'm an orchestral musician, so jobs don't grow on trees)

My question is somewhat unrelated to immigration.....if we try to claim residency in the US on our tax return for 2006, will we have to pay US taxes on my overseas income? If so, then we will not be able to claim as such because we'll already be paying Scandanavian taxes, which are extremely high. Otherwise, I might try to claim residency for at least one year until I get tenure on the job.

Another related question, is it possible my wife will get hassled trying to come here on a visa waiver for a visit after she abandons status? Of course, anything is possible on any given day, but "likely" is a better word, I guess.

thanks

Mike

Mike,

Kezzie steered you in the right direction for starters. Abandonment is quite a complicated situation, there are some 'old school' practices that many PRs have employed for years which no longer fly, but people will be only to happy to tell you that the PR only has to come to the US once per year to preserve her status (not true).

If you move to Europe, you're not necessarily closing up shop in the US; I maintained my domicile and primary residence in the US while being abroad for a couple of years.

Abandonment is *very fact specific*, so what applies to someone else may not apply to you.

The PR can take out a re-entry permit as *one* measure to preserve status.

Follow the link Kezzie provided and find the Instructions for I-751 and filing from overseas (yes, you can do that).

The Consulate in the country you are staying in will be a resource to you as well. There is such a thing as a Returning Resident's visa, and of course, if it's many years later and you know you have lost status, you can always file a quick DCF abroad.

The job abroad is not a deal-killer for her status, but you will want to do some prep ahead of time if and when it becomes more serious.

I guess the bottom line is that *nothing* is "permanent" (move, status, etc).

Hi Meauxna,

Thanks very much for your reply. I checked online at the US consulate in Denmark and they do offer DCF, so that is somewhat of a relief. Do you (or anyone else) know what constitutes maintaining a domicile in the USA? Say, if I put down on my change of address notification my parent's address when/if we move, and have a bank account there for when we do business in the States, and return once or twice a year, will that be enough in your experience abroad to retain status for a period of less than 2 years?

I know there are no absolutes, I just want to get a sense of what it will take to retain status. All in all, it doesn't seem like filing for DCF is that big a deal, compared to what we've been through already. I just don't want to get over to Europe, have us both hate it, and then be stuck there for many months waiting to return.

Hi there,

I haven't posted on this forum in quite some time. However, this thread has me interested. I don't want to hijack that one, so I decided to start a new one.

My wife has now had her conditional green card since last August. I've recently learned that I have a potential job opportunity in W. Europe. If we decide to move to Europe permanently or semi-permanently, am I right to assume this will mean she'll "abandon" her permanent resident status in the US? If we decide to move back later than 1 year, I also assume we'll have to start again from square one? I can't really see how we'd maintain a residence here in the states if we move all of our assets overseas. Does it make a difference one way or the other that her Green Card is conditional? Am I also correct in thinking you can't lift conditions on a green card while living outside the US?

Thanks for any help

Mike