D2345

2 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

No.  They can look at the totality of circumstances.  If a person is taking multiple trips and making brief visits to the US, then that person can lose their LPR status.

It is up to an immigration judge to take away LPR status.  CBP can only refer LPR to immigration court to strip them of their LPR status.  

 

LPR who want to be out of the country for up to 2 years should apply for a Re-Entry Permit.

 

Being outside the US can also affect eligibility to naturalize.

Can you cite your source for that line in red?

Leaving the US for less than 6 months per year means you would be spending a majority of your time in the US, not just brief visits to the US.

The paperwork we got with the GC actually says you can't leave the US for longer than 12 months at a time, or you risk losing the GC. It doesn't even mention the 6 month rule at all...

So here is what I’ve found on the internet regarding international travel after GC:

1. You can travel outside the US for up to 6 months on a single trip without problems.

2. There’s no limit on how many times you can leave the US every year as long as it’s less than 6 months total per year.

Is this correct?

On 5/2/2021 at 1:26 PM, SusieQQQ said:

9 months a year ...every year? As opposed to just once or twice? Sorry, but that’s not residing in the US. And you can’t renew re-entry permits into perpetuity.

Stay 9+ months in the US, then stay 9 months in her home country, then come back to US for another 9+ months and repeat.

That would be our ideal situation, if it was possible. We would still be spending a majority of our time in the US like that, but it means we would pay 50% less on flights every year and not waste as much time flying back and forth for 30 hours per trip.

I'm an American citizen and my wife is Indonesian, but she also has U.S. legal permanent residency (green card already).

We would like to travel to Europe together for tourism, but Indonesians need a Schengen visa to visit Europe.

Has anyone here gone through the process of getting a Schengen tourist visa for their spouse? Any advice for us? Thanks

I'm an American citizen, and my wife is Indonesian, but she has U.S. legal permanent residency (green card already).

We would like to travel to Mexico together for vacation. Normally, Indonesians need a visa to visit Mexico, but I heard there's an exception for people who have a U.S. visa, even if they're not American citizens.

Has anyone heard of this, or done something similar?

What do we need to do next after we enter the United States?

My spouse will get a 10 year green card so presumably we don't need to mess with that anytime soon.

How do we get her a social security number? Is there anything else we need to do?

The visa packet we received didn't explain any of this, and I'm having a hard time finding much info online.

Thanks

1 hour ago, payxibka said:

1.  Anytime, fee is the same 

Hi,

I understand the fee is the same, but I just wanted to make sure we won't get the shorter green card if we pay the fee before our 2nd anniversary.

So the green card doesn't start processing at all until after we enter the US? Even if we pay the fee now?

Thanks

We received a visa for my spouse and plan to enter the United States after our 2nd anniversary (to get the 10 year green card).

Questions:

• When do we pay the green card fee? Do we need to wait and pay it after our 2nd anniversary so they mail us the right green card?
• There is a 5 day gap between our anniversary date and the day we're planning to enter the US. In other words, we'll enter the US only 5 days after our anniversary. Is that enough?
• At customs and immigration, will I be able to enter the country with my spouse in the same line to make sure there aren't any issues? It's been so long I can't remember how the lines are sorted.
• We weren't given any visa packet or medical file to bring to the border. Is there anything we need to bring aside from the visa?
• Any tips on what to say to the border officer regarding our 2nd anniversary to make sure he notices it?

Thanks

How long can they legally hold onto her passport without giving us a specific reason?

We already gave them all of the info they requested.

On May 6, we had our CR1 visa interview at the U.S. embassy in Jakarta, and they happily approved my wife's visa in 5 or 10 minutes. They also kept her passport and gave her an approval letter. Great.

Then, on May 7, we got a cryptic email from JakIV (same place) saying her application requires additional administrative processing and it's "suspended" until they receive more information. At first, we thought the email was a glitch because like I said, they already approved her visa.

We responded to their email and asked if it was a mistake, and we attached a photo of her visa approval letter they gave us the day before. Today they replied with the exact same email again, saying it needs additional administrative processing. We also noticed her visa status on CEAC says Refused.

The problem is, all of the questions in their AP email are questions we already answered in her original visa application. They didn't tell us about any problem with her application.

They're asking her full name, DOB, visa type, past travel history, names of relatives or children, past addresses, emails, phone numbers, and social media handles.

We already answered all of these questions in the original application, so today we replied to them with the same exact answers. What happens next?

They didn't even explain to us what information or documents are missing. Everything was accurate the first time. Why are they being so difficult and/or incompetent?

Anyone have any other ideas?

18 hours ago, Timona said:

Is her GC 10 years or 2 years?

 

Regardless, I think you should be good. Otherwise can chime in

10 year GC

My spouse and I are extensive travelers and we’re struggling with the requirement to not leave the US for more than 5-6 months at a time or risk losing her permanent resident status.

Flights to her home country are very long and expensive (30+ hours of flight time) so it's going to be very tedious and pricey to fly back and forth repeatedly, and we would also like to spend some time traveling in neighboring countries in Asia without having to worry about the clock ticking on her U.S. green card.

Does anyone have experience with getting a U.S. re-entry permit to stay longer outside of the country?

Ideally I think we’d stay out of the US for up to 9 months at a time, but still would like to keep the US as our permanent residence since that is genuinely what it is.

We just got our interview appointment for May 6, which is the worst date possible because Indonesia will start a 2 week travel ban across the entire country on that date because of the Muslim holiday. No cars, no boats, no flights.

Even if we manage to get there in time for the interview, we'll likely get stuck in Jakarta for weeks.

How hard is it to reschedule the interview a few days earlier?

I can also add an employment verification letter to my I-864 if that's needed.

But I'm still confused if tax returns are good enough, or if I need transcripts. I haven't been able to find a definitive answer anywhere.

32 minutes ago, Letspaintcookies said:

The pro for transcripts is that you only need them and nothing else. When you send the return you have to add the W2, 1099 and whatever else you had to do your taxes. That's a lot of paper and not as easy to read as a transcript. Usually when you call for your transcript that's a pretty straight forward thing. Did it twice and didn't took me longer than 3 minutes.

I already have 3 years of my tax returns and W2s assembled, so that part wouldn't be a problem.

I already tried calling the IRS about transcripts and can't get through to a person to talk to them about when my 2019 transcript will be posted online. Their phone line is all computerized responses.

Are tax returns good enough for the I-864, or do I need transcripts directly from the IRS website? I read several websites that seemed to think transcripts are much better.

The problem is that I tried to get my latest transcripts from the IRS site, but they only have 2017 and 2018 (my 2019 is not posted on their site yet). I also tried calling the IRS but got placed in an endless answering machine loop.

Does anyone have an update to this thread for 2021?

We have the same question as the OP.

Based on the info from HRQX, do we need to prepare and bring the DS-5540 form too then?

I searched for the DS-5540 form and it doesn't seem to be available online at all anymore. It looks like it was pulled from the gov website, so we have no way to fill it out.

I’ve read some recent topics about the new DS-5540 form and how it’s apparently not needed at this time.

If that’s correct, is there any need for me to buy health insurance for my wife (the visa applicant) before we start the NVC phase?

We are young and healthy, so we’d rather not buy health insurance at this time unless it’s required.

My wife would like to take my last name, but we've already submitted Form I-130.

At what point will she be able to change her name to take my last name without introducing lots of extra hassle in the immigration process?

I’m looking at the IRS page for applying for an ITIN, and it seems to indicate that you can do it with a certified copy from the issuing agency.

It says nothing about an acceptance agent being required.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/how-do-i-apply-for-an-itin

I’ve attached a screenshot to this post.

The wording from the IRS seems to indicate that my wife could just get a copy of her national ID card from the civil office here and that would be good enough (since the copy is coming from the issuing agency itself).

Correct? Any clarification would be helpful.

On 10/11/2020 at 10:02 AM, Wuozopo said:

One reason not to do this is the hassle getting the ITIN when the spouse is not present in the US. You apply for it concurrent with your next income tax filing (early 2021), sending a paper filing to Austin, TX. You will be mailing things back and forth for the spouse to sign (paper tax return, written statement electing for spouse to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes, ITIN application form). You will need the spouse’s actual foreign passport to mail to Austin with the other things. Or you will have to find a certifying acceptance agent in the foreign country to certify the foreign passport. That is usually a large CPA firm, but not all countries have acceptance agents.

 

If you can jump those hurdles, then go for it. It is most beneficial when the foreign spouse doesn’t have complicated investment income, which would be taxable on your joint return. You could also amend the 2020 return after the spouse has a SSN to get the better tax break if there is one. 
 

List of countries with Acceptance Agents. Find one without an asterisk. Those with an asterisk can not certify.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/acceptance-agent-program

 

Thanks, but I'm a bit confused by that link in your post.

First of all, none of the countries in that list have an asterisk. Also, most countries in the world are missing from the list entirely, including my spouse's country.

Mailing her passport internationally seems a bit crazy.

From what I understand, it's possible (and legal) to file income taxes as "married filing jointly" together with a foreign spouse (non-resident alien with no SSN yet), if you get an ITIN number for them from the IRS, etc.

Is there any reason not to do this? Could it have any kind of negative impact on the IR-1 application process? Just double checking. Thanks.

We've already submitted Form I-130, but haven't got a response to that application yet. So that's where we're at in the process, if it makes any difference.

On 6/23/2020 at 10:26 AM, geowrian said:

I'm going off the information you have provided.

You said "I'm an expat staying overseas in Indonesia with my wife at the moment."

expat: "a person who lives outside their native country."

 

"I'm not likely to be back in the USA for awhile if I can avoid it."

 

So you say you are visiting, but also refer to living abroad. You have expressed a desire to remain abroad until at least Sept. 2021.

To me, this is living abroad. Per the FAM's definition (https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM010203.html), which is from on the INA definition:

 

If my understanding is incorrect, that's fine. I do not know the specifics of your living arrangement and travel history. You do.

I will just refer to the definitions of these terms within an immigration context. Specific words have specific meanings here.  You will need to decide if they apply to your situation or not.

 

For instance, if you have only been abroad for a few months and living in temporary housings (i.e. hotels), that is materially different than somebody who has been working abroad for 2 years and residing in a spouse's house.

 

At the end of the day, I think all the domicile discussion is moot, though. As noted previously, I do not expect them to question your domicile or intent to establish domicile given the information presented in this thread. If you were petitioning somebody other than a spouse, the question would be more likely to arise IMO.

Hi,

Just to revisit this subject momentarily, let’s suppose I say in the Form I-130 that I live with my spouse at the hotel address in Indonesia. It’s more of a “homestay” type small hotel.

Like you said, in some sense that may be accurate because it’s been more than just a brief stay. And I could use the US address as my mailing address since I have relatives there to check mail.

In that case, will it cause any problems or raise any new issues for my application if I say we’re presently living together in Indonesia? The owner would be happy to help if we need legal verification/documentation of any kind. And my Indonesia visa is still valid.
 

Before the pandemic we were only staying at the hotel one month at a time, between visiting other countries. But now during the pandemic we’ve been stuck here for several months.

The problem with leaving the hotel out of my application is not just that it hurts our chances of approval, but also I’d be saying we’ve never lived together since marriage, which is not really truthful either. We’ve been together ever since marriage, for more than a year, although we did spend a lot of that time traveling in various countries together.

I could see this going either way. But I know I need to be clear in my Form I-130 that we HAVE lived and been together since marriage. So now I’m wondering if maybe my best bet is listing that we live together at the hotel.

Any thoughts on going that route?