on Conditional Green card, leaving for work opportunities abroad

[Bubble3 0]

Me= Australian, on conditional greencard (married 2009). Arrived early 2009 on a K1 visa.

husband = American citizen

My husband (american citizen) has been offered work in my home country (Australia). I am on a conditional green card, as we were married in 2009 and my AOS was lodged shortly after we married.

We are thinking that we may like to return to Australia, however its taken us this long (and much money) to be able to live in the USA and get my conditional green card.

So my questions are,

1. If we were to leave the USA before my the conditions are lifted, what happens to my greencard?

2. In the event that we return to the USA in the future, what happens then? (do I have to go through the whole process again?

3. Would it be advisable to wait until the conditions are lifted from my greencard before pursuing work abroad?

4. If we would like to go and do some volunteer work abroad for 6 months or more, what type of proceedure do I, as the conditional greencard holder need to go through?

thank you so much!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

My husband (american citizen) has been offered work in my home country (Australia). I am on a conditional green card, as we were married in 2009 and my AOS was lodged shortly after we married.

We are thinking that we may like to return to Australia, however its taken us this long (and much money) to be able to live in the USA and get my conditional green card.

So my questions are,

1. If we were to leave the USA before my the conditions are lifted, what happens to my greencard?

2. In the event that we return to the USA in the future, what happens then? (do I have to go through the whole process again?

3. Would it be advisable to wait until the conditions are lifted from my greencard before pursuing work abroad?

4. If we would like to go and do some volunteer work abroad for 6 months or more, what type of proceedure do I, as the conditional greencard holder need to go through?

thank you so much!

I don't know the answers to all your questions but here goes:

1. You have a certain number of months you are allowed to remain outside the US before you are deemed to have abandoned your LPR

2. If you don't maintain residency enough to maintain your LPR status then yes you will need to do another process. HOWEVER, one idea would be to voluntarily give up your greencard, and then apply for Direct Consular Filing (DCF) before his job is up in Australia to get your greencard again. I don't know whether they'll give you a hard time about it, but yeah...

3. With conditions lifted you still have certain residency requirements. It would be best (in my personal opinion) to wait 3 years until you have applied for American Citizenship. then he can go to Australia to work and get HIS australian passport then you can both come and go as you please. No residency/visa requirements. However, if this job pays way more, you'll be able to save money, opportunity of a lifetime type thing then do it. Someone should be able to help you out about the DCF part.

4. I know there's something called a re-entry permit but I don't know too much about it. Hopefully someone else can help you out.

I'm going to move this to "Effects of Major Family Changes on Immigration Benefits" as this doesn't apply to AOS.

** moving from "Adjustment of Status (Green Card) from Family Based Visas" to "Effects of Major Family Changes on Immigration Benefits" as this topic is more about how this change will affect your GC etc**

[Nik+Heather 121]

Me= Australian, on conditional greencard (married 2009). Arrived early 2009 on a K1 visa.

husband = American citizen

My husband (american citizen) has been offered work in my home country (Australia). I am on a conditional green card, as we were married in 2009 and my AOS was lodged shortly after we married.

We are thinking that we may like to return to Australia, however its taken us this long (and much money) to be able to live in the USA and get my conditional green card.

So my questions are,

1. If we were to leave the USA before my the conditions are lifted, what happens to my greencard?

2. In the event that we return to the USA in the future, what happens then? (do I have to go through the whole process again?

3. Would it be advisable to wait until the conditions are lifted from my greencard before pursuing work abroad?

4. If we would like to go and do some volunteer work abroad for 6 months or more, what type of proceedure do I, as the conditional greencard holder need to go through?

thank you so much!

Any time you are living outside of the US you have abandoned your residency regardless of if it is conditional or just plain permanent residence. You're no longer residing here, so how can you be a resident sort of thing. The rule of thumb is about 1 year. You can apply for a re-entry permit for long stays outside of the US (it's I-131, actually!). Once your conditional GC expires, that's it. You have to be living in the US to lift conditions. This burden will be upon you until you get your citizenship, which I haven't researched to much extent, but you should look up how long you have to be physically present in the US to qualify for naturalization - just trying to come in for a week to keep your GC updated probably isn't going to cut it.

So basically, if your timeline for returning to the US is "someday" then yes, you'll have to do the process all over again. The good news is that when you decide to come back to the US, you can do direct consular filing (DCF) and be together through the process, and if you've been married for 2 years or longer, you'll get a 10 years card.

[payxibka 10,044]

Me= Australian, on conditional greencard (married 2009). Arrived early 2009 on a K1 visa.

husband = American citizen

My husband (american citizen) has been offered work in my home country (Australia). I am on a conditional green card, as we were married in 2009 and my AOS was lodged shortly after we married.

We are thinking that we may like to return to Australia, however its taken us this long (and much money) to be able to live in the USA and get my conditional green card.

So my questions are,

1. If we were to leave the USA before my the conditions are lifted, what happens to my greencard?

2. In the event that we return to the USA in the future, what happens then? (do I have to go through the whole process again?

3. Would it be advisable to wait until the conditions are lifted from my greencard before pursuing work abroad?

4. If we would like to go and do some volunteer work abroad for 6 months or more, what type of proceedure do I, as the conditional greencard holder need to go through?

thank you so much!

1) unless you file to lift conditions to your greencard it will expire

2) maybe... depends on your situation and facts and circumstances but unless you "maintain" your residency (conditional or otherwise) you may need to go through the "returning resident" process.

3) Your choice... it is all about "maintaining" residency which is the same regardless of what greencard you have...

4) if you depart for a year or more then you need a re-entry permit....

[Bubble3 0]

Any time you are living outside of the US you have abandoned your residency regardless of if it is conditional or just plain permanent residence. You're no longer residing here, so how can you be a resident sort of thing. The rule of thumb is about 1 year. You can apply for a re-entry permit for long stays outside of the US (it's I-131, actually!). Once your conditional GC expires, that's it. You have to be living in the US to lift conditions. This burden will be upon you until you get your citizenship, which I haven't researched to much extent, but you should look up how long you have to be physically present in the US to qualify for naturalization - just trying to come in for a week to keep your GC updated probably isn't going to cut it.

So basically, if your timeline for returning to the US is "someday" then yes, you'll have to do the process all over again. The good news is that when you decide to come back to the US, you can do direct consular filing (DCF) and be together through the process, and if you've been married for 2 years or longer, you'll get a 10 years card.

HI Nik and Heather,

thanks for the information.

Some quick question about DCF:

1. If I were to reapply via DCF at a later date, does this mean that I would do it in Australia before returning to the USA?

2. Does DCF enable me to live abroad, and then reapply for a conditional GC? (return to the status I was before giving up my GC?)

thanks, I really appreciate it!

(never would have thought that after all this time and effort that we would be considering leaving the USA)

[VanessaTony 3,567]

1. If I were to reapply via DCF at a later date, does this mean that I would do it in Australia before returning to the USA?

2. Does DCF enable me to live abroad, and then reapply for a conditional GC? (return to the status I was before giving up my GC?)

1. Yes. You would apply while in Australia.

2. Where abroad? Australia or another country? Here is the guide for DCF: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...om&page=dcf If you applied for DCF after you have been married for more than 2 years you will obtain a NON-conditional greencard... the card you would have received after applying for ROC.

I believe this does affect your naturalisation stuff though. Normally you can apply after 3 years of being an LPR based on marriage to a USC.

Edited March 1, 2010 by Vanessa&Tony

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

Option 1:

Try to extend your US stay another year. Become a USC (a dual citizen for you) and you can live wherever you want and move freely without any restraints.

Option 2:

Go to Australia and when the time comes to move back, do DCF and get a 10-year card.

Option 3:

Try to pull of the difficult task of maintaining residence, by declaring this a temporary move after you got your 10-year GC. Get a reentry permit, which gives you up to 2 years of wiggle room. Since you apply for this upfront, you clearly show that you want to stay a LPR. Of course, you need to wait until you got your 10-year card.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Duplicate moved from AOS forum and merged with thread previously moved from AOS forum