travelereaux

Look into a reentry permit. If your spouse can stay in the US long enough to get one (after being approved for a green card), that can allow for an extended stay outside the US without jeopardizing permanent residence.

So to update on what happened, both the Embassy and USCIS said her entering alone would not be a problem. And when she entered that turned out to be true-- it was not a problem. She even discussed the fact that I was staying behind with the officer who processed her because he asked where I was and where our baby was. She answered honestly that we were staying in Europe. I suppose there will be responses claiming this is some massively unlikely exception.... however exactly two weeks later my friend's wife did the exact same thing. Again no issues or problems. Both did quick turnaround flights where the return flight was ~24 hours after arrival in the US.

Domicile is a complex determination that probably requires at least some formal legal education to understand. But there are a few overriding principles including that a person can only have one domicile at any given time. And where you are currently physically located or living has little to no bearing on where your domicile is. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/domicile Great point about the 8 months remaining on my contract (which brought me temporarily overseas). I read up on the 6 months rule and it sounds like a lot of suspicion and hassle is reduced if she avoids being outside the US beyond that length of time.

My foreign spouse was recently approved for permanent residence and has a visa in her passport from the Embassy. They told her she has approx 6 months to enter the United States. Will she be denied entry if she flies to the US without me? I am stationed in Europe for work (contractor, not military employee) and we have a 3 month old baby , with no one we trust the baby with for 36 hours for us to fly to the US and back. And my job does not end for 8 months so we can't immediately move back to the US together. The goal is just to activate her visa and get the PR card. Can we accomplish that by simply having her fly to the US alone, the turn around and fly back here the next day? The only addresses I listed with USCIS, NVC, and the Embassy are my permanent address in the US and my parents address there (for receiving mail). Legally, I believe I am domiciled and resident In the US and not "living overseas" in the sense of having changed my domicile because this is a temporary overseas assignment.