vince_w

When I got my green card I was told by my lawyer to not exceed 6 consecutive months outside the United States. So far I've been following that rule for the last 3 years even though we pretty much live abroad now.

I'm wondering though how strict this requirement is? I'm not going to be applying for citizenship anytime soon since my country doesn't allow dual citizenship but I don't want to lose my permanent residency in the U.S. either. For example, this year I'd have to go back in Nov to be under 6 months but my wife and I would rather go back to the U.S. in Dec in time for Christmas which would put us at 7.5 months.

In case it's relevant, we own an apartment in the U.S. and we're always on time in paying our property taxes, mortgage and filing our taxes. My friend told me that as long as we're under 1 year and pay taxes we should be fine but he might not know what he's talking about

We're currently abroad and since we can't send packages by fedex or UPS to a PO Box we decided to fedex our I-751 application to a friend in the US who will then mail it for us. Can someone tell us what the recommended method is for our friend to send our I-751 application? Registered, certified, priority, overnight etc.... We're sending it to the VSC (address below). Thanks for any help.

USCIS Vermont Service Center

75 Lower Welden Street

P.O. Box 200

St. Albans, VT 05479-0001

We're currently abroad and are sending in our I-751 application. Can someone confirm that it is OK to send it by UPS? I'm a little worried since the address listed for the VSC (see below) has a PO Box in it. If it's not a good idea, can someone recommend an alternative?

USCIS Vermont Service Center

75 Lower Welden Street

P.O. Box 200

St. Albans, VT 05479-0001

Thanks for any advice.

My understanding is that the process happens in these steps:

1. Send in I-751 application
2. Receive NOA
3. Go to biometric appointment
4. Receive approval letter
5. Receive 10 year GC

My questions are:

• Does the NOA also contain your biometric appointment date? Or do you get a separate letter telling you when your biometric is?
• Can you travel in and out of the US with the NOA or do you have to wait for the approval letter and/or 10 yr GC?

Thanks for any help. We called USCIS but surprisingly couldn't get a straight answer to these two questions.

Cool! We will definitely try the walk in after getting the NOA - will let you all know how that works out.

The backup plan is to reschedule our flight so we leave Miami later. What makes me most nervous is getting the biometric appointment too EARLY because we wouldn't even know we missed it since we don't have someone checking our mail. We couldn't figure out a way to check biometric dates online (can someone tell us if this is possible?) and USCIS told us we couldn't call to find out either.

So I guess my main concern boils down to this: Is it possible to get a biometric appointment in less than 18 days of the VSC receiving our application?

Our situation is as follows:

• My green card expires on 4June2009
• We live in Miami Beach but are currently abroad
• We need to send in our I-751 application (to VSC)
• We're trying to minimize our time in the US

After reading people's timelines we decided on the following:

• We bought tickets so we arrive in Miami on 24May and leave Miami on 22June
• We're sending the I-751 package so it arrives at the VSC on 7May

We basically want to make sure the biometric appointment is no earlier than 24May and no later than 22June. Can people confirm that this is a good plan? We're a little nervous about the biometric appointment being scheduled before 24May especially since we don't have someone checking our mail. Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions.

My green card expires on 4 June 2009 and I'm looking to file the I-751. My wife and I want to go abroad for the next few months on 8 March 2009.

Is it a bad idea to leave the US without having filed the I-751, and come back before 4June (for e.g. 26May) and then file the I-751? Will we have trouble with immigration at the airport if I have a GC that's expiring in a few days and I don't have an extension letter?

The reason we don't want to file now before we leave is that we don't want to miss the biometric appointment if the date is set during the days we're out of the country. Does anyone have recommendations given my timeline? We're feeling very lost and stressed since we don't know who else to ask.