Rob

Hi,

Thanks everyone for the advice.  Wanted to follow-up for the record in case others face this situation.

I called CPB to explain the situation and they looked in their computer and saw that my wife had indeed been admitted incorrectly ("Admitted" instead of "Paroled").  They asked her to please visit the local CBP Deferred Inspection office at JFK airport (Terminal 5 Arrivals, across from baggage claim 6, walk-ins permitted).  My wife went today and they updated their official record, issued a correct I-94 (electronically) that shows "Class of Admission: DA", and put a new Paroled stamp in her passport. So, hopefully this helps someone if it happens to them.  Now that her I-94 arrival record is fixed, we can proceed to renew her combo card.  A mental note for the future is to always check the stamp they put in the passport before leaving the airport. I think the original admitting officer somehow mistook her combo card for a green card and processed it as such. Still, I'm not quite sure how that can happen since I assume the officer scans it into the computer. Thankfully we are not too far from the Deferred Inspection Office.

So my wife and I just returned from international travel yesterday and she showed her Combo Card to the immigration folks at the airport (since her AOS is still being processed).  They stamped her passport as "Admitted" instead of the usual "Paroled".  I'm hoping this won't pose any problem for us later on, but just wondering if anyone has any experience with this happening before? Usually when we enter, they take a bit extra time with her and have to dig around to find their special Paroled stamp. I didn't notice this until today, hoping it's not a big deal. Thanks.

Hi,

I have read a lot of contradictory information regarding international travel while a renewal application for a combo card (EOD + AP) is pending.  I have several questions I'm hoping people can help answer:

1) If my wife's combo card expires at the end of June 2019 and we have a trip planned for end of March, ideally when should I submit the renewal paperwork?

2) I understand that the EOD will get an automatic 180 day extension once I submit the renewal paperwork, but I don't think the AP gets any automatic extension right?

3) Will traveling while the combo card renewal is pending invalidate the AP part of the renewal request?

4) Will traveling while the combo card renewal is pending cancel the original I-485 AOS request? Obviously this would be very bad.

For folks who have a valid AP or combo card but need to renew soon, it seems like a silly rule that any international travel could invalidate or cancel the renewal request or the entire AOS. Any information or recent experiences with this sort of thing are appreciated. Perhaps safest thing to do is submit the paperwork after we return in April, but that is cutting it kindof close to the combo card expiration date.

Thanks!

Wow, this is great information. I really appreciate everyone sharing their experience. It sounds like some people have gone through the same process that we are about to embark on. We don't yet know if she will be forced to relinquish her GC, but it certainly is a possibility (the 'hiring/appointment' process takes a long time so we are still very early on and don't have much info yet). I'm relieved to hear that she should be able to remain in the US if she ever needs to convert back from G4 to GC (e.g. job loss, end-of-appointment, etc). One of my biggest worries would be that she would be forced out of the US for a long time while the whole G4->GC process goes on. With a young child to care for, this would not be a good situation. For those concerned about tax evasion, I have just learned that many international organizations do collect a form of taxes from their employees in an attempt to equalize pay between employees who do have to pay US income taxes and those who do not. So I'm not sure that converting to G4 really has any tax benefit at the end of the day.

Thanks everyone for your replies so far. We are approaching this very carefully and I completely agree it's a very bizarre situation so let me clarify a few things. First, she would be representing her country (Japan) essentially in a pseudo-diplomatic fashion, so her pursuing US citizenship at this time is probably not a good idea. It would hurt and/or eliminate her future career prospects as far as the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned. She has Japanese friends who are already working on G4 visas and they seem to think that the G4 visa is somehow a great thing to have with lots of perks, although none of them ever had a green card. That is why we are exploring this G4 option and trying to find out as much as possible. I readily admit I don't know all the pros/cons of a G4 vs. green card. The two potential G4 advantages we know of are:

1) Not paying US income taxes since she would be in a pseudo-diplomatic role.

2) Being able to bring her parents to live in the US very easily (I heard she just needs to fill out one form and it can be approved in a matter of days by the US State Dept). Sponsoring her parents without her being a USC is impossible right? And she doesn't want to become a USC (yet) for the aforementioned reasons. So this is an important consideration especially since her parents are getting older and may need long term care at some point. Not only that, but they may want to help care for our young child.

From the replies so far, it sounds like for her to convert to a G4 is a complicated affair since she has to renounce her LPR and leave the country to re-enter on G4. But my biggest concern would be whether she could ever get her GC back if need be. It sounds like it may be possible, but I would want to be 100% sure about this if we were to go the G4 route. We are just weighing all the options. Thanks everyone!

Hello,

I have a complicated question and I wasn't sure where to post it so I decided to stick it in the K1 forum since that's how I sponsored my wife for her GC. First I wanted to thank everyone in advance for all the help with visa questions over the years. Thanks to this website, I was able to sponsor my wife (fiance at the time) for a K1 that was successfully AOS'ed into a GC. We've been happily married for a while now, and it's been a long time since we worried about visa issues. She recently got an offer to work for an international organization in NYC. She really wants to work there, but we're not sure what to do about her visa status. She has the option to give up her GC and convert to a G4 non-immigrant (diplomatic?) visa. As far as I can tell, the G4 visa has many benefits, such as not having to pay US income taxes, and she could bring her parents to the US very easily on a G4 visa. So here's my question: is it possible to go from a GC to a G4 visa and then later in life, get her GC back? Do we have to go through the whole GC sponsoring process again (I guess it would be K3 this time around?) in order to get her GC back? After the G4 expires (perhaps due to job loss, etc), would she have to leave the USA while I sponsored her again for a GC? I'm not sure how USCIS views this sort of thing and whether they would grant her another GC. Are there other potential problems with going from GC -> G4 -> GC that I'm not thinking of? We will be consulting a lawyer but I like to find out as much as possible beforehand (and to make sure what they tell me is correct!). Thanks very much!