15 year Green Card holder, moving overseas; how to keep the Green Card?

[BigNose42 0]

I am a natural born US citizen, and my spouse of these past 7 years is a 15 year permanent resident alien (Green Card since 15 years ago, citizen of Japan).

We will be moving to Europe in a few months.

To set the stage, my spouse owns real property in own name in the US, plus is joint tenant owner on our own home; has bank accounts, 401(k) retirement plans, other investments. We expect to return to the US annually to visit friends and my family (spouse's family all lives back home in Japan) and to take care of business items. We both will continue to file our joint US tax return; we will be taking the foreign income exclusion / foreign tax credit.

Any tips and tricks for making it less likely that the US will consider my spouse to have abandoned US residency and revoke the Green Card the longer we're away (years)?

Thanks

[Marcus and Laura 4]

Why not file for Citizenship? Japanese citizens might be able to hold Dual citizenship if your spouse is worried about giving up her Japanese citizenship.

[Joanna&Bobby 3]

Why not file for Citizenship? Japanese citizens might be able to hold Dual citizenship if your spouse is worried about giving up her Japanese citizenship.

That was exactly my thought. They can't take away her citizenship...(the US citizenship). I don't know about Japan? Look into it!

[BigNose42 0]

Why not file for Citizenship? Japanese citizens might be able to hold Dual citizenship if your spouse is worried about giving up her Japanese citizenship.

That was exactly my thought. They can't take away her citizenship...(the US citizenship). I don't know about Japan? Look into it!

I have thought of that. And I do have friends in comparable relationships (one US citizen spouse, the other Japanese citizen + US Green Card holder spouse) who have done just that. My spouse hasn't wanted to do it, mostly out of fear of 1) extra work, and 2) any possibility of messing up Japanese citizenship and an investment in Japanese social welfare / retirement benefits.

I am comfortable that all of those could be avoided. I should point out that the nuisance of possibly losing the Green Card is probably larger than nuisance of going through the US naturalization process and handling the Japanese dual citizenship question.

In case I can't convince my spouse to go that route, any advice on my original question, about how to reduce the possibility of the US authorities deciding that my spouse has abandoned US residence?

Thanks

[Joanna&Bobby 3]

Basically I think you need to be very,very carefull about that... If you are planning to reside mainly outside the US and still keep the permanent residency. I think you should look more into filing for citizenship and the consequences it's going to have on her japanese citizenship.

Read this: http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/B4.pdf (you should check out Form N-470 Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/N-470instr.pdf)

[Joanna&Bobby 3]

Well... I read the N-470 and it seems like it works for religious workers or US government workers...I wish I knew how to help you

[hotairguy 0]

Why not file for Citizenship? Japanese citizens might be able to hold Dual citizenship if your spouse is worried about giving up her Japanese citizenship.

That was exactly my thought. They can't take away her citizenship...(the US citizenship). I don't know about Japan? Look into it!

I have thought of that. And I do have friends in comparable relationships (one US citizen spouse, the other Japanese citizen + US Green Card holder spouse) who have done just that. My spouse hasn't wanted to do it, mostly out of fear of 1) extra work, and 2) any possibility of messing up Japanese citizenship and an investment in Japanese social welfare / retirement benefits.

I am comfortable that all of those could be avoided. I should point out that the nuisance of possibly losing the Green Card is probably larger than nuisance of going through the US naturalization process and handling the Japanese dual citizenship question.

In case I can't convince my spouse to go that route, any advice on my original question, about how to reduce the possibility of the US authorities deciding that my spouse has abandoned US residence?

Thanks

If you decide to move and your husband gives up his desire to have his primary residence in the U.S., then he will lose status as he should! If you decide later to move back to the US, then you will need to go through the entire process all over again. If you do plan to come back and think it may be a possibility, then you need to file for naturalization now! No tricks about this, just apply for what you desire.

[BigNose42 0]

Thanks for the references. I read the I-131 and N-470 instructions. The N-470 is not applicable. The I-131 talks about planning to "be outside" the US for over 1 year. This leads to a clarifying question:

If a permanent resident alien of the US lives outside of US, and makes trips back to the US at least annually, will the USCIS consider the person to have "been outside" for over 1 year? Or is it enough to maintain US permanent resident alien status to return every year, and file US resident tax returns?

To hotairguy, who commented:

>If you decide to move and your husband gives up his desire to have his primary residence in the U.S., then he will lose status as he should!

First of all, my spouse has no desire to give up permanent resident alien status in the US; otherwise why would I be asking all of these question? Yes, I did see that the words you used are "give up desire to have primary residence in the US". Immigrations law does not deal with "primary residence", and neither do my questions.

Second, please withhold the moral judgments "will lose status as he should". Governments and immigration laws are not moral, they are legal. I am interested in fully understanding legal rights and obligations. I am a moral person and desire to obey those laws to the fullest benefit they permit me and my spouse.

Japanese citizens can naturalize as US citizens without losing their Japanese citizenship. It does bring complexities, as does all dual national status. We looked in to it a few years ago (before the current situation of planning to live outside of the US arose), so we need to look in to it again.

To everyone, thanks for your continuing and very valuable assistance!

[Joanna&Bobby 3]

"If a permanent resident alien of the US lives outside of US, and makes trips back to the US at least annually, will the USCIS consider the person to have "been outside" for over 1 year? Or is it enough to maintain US permanent resident alien status to return every year, and file US resident tax returns?"

I think this is a good question for an experienced immigration attorney. I would contact one to have a definite answer. This is a serious issue.

[BigNose42 0]

Ugh. I just read the Japanese nationality law (English translation available on Japan's Ministry of Justice web site at http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/information/tnl-01.html) and my spouse naturalizing in to the US does not seem like a good idea.

So, we do our best to keep my spouse's permanent resident alien status, and deal with re-establishing it as my spouse (I'm a US citizen) if at some point in the future it becomes an issue.

[Joanna&Bobby 3]

Ugh. I just read the Japanese nationality law (English translation available on Japan's Ministry of Justice web site at http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/information/tnl-01.html) and my spouse naturalizing in to the US does not seem like a good idea.

So, we do our best to keep my spouse's permanent resident alien status, and deal with re-establishing it as my spouse (I'm a US citizen) if at some point in the future it becomes an issue.

I couldn't open your link... But I wish you good luck with everything! And seriously...ask an immigration attorney, because they know tricks that we might not... Been there done that!

[hotairguy 0]

Thanks for the references. I read the I-131 and N-470 instructions. The N-470 is not applicable. The I-131 talks about planning to "be outside" the US for over 1 year. This leads to a clarifying question:

If a permanent resident alien of the US lives outside of US, and makes trips back to the US at least annually, will the USCIS consider the person to have "been outside" for over 1 year? Or is it enough to maintain US permanent resident alien status to return every year, and file US resident tax returns?

To hotairguy, who commented:

>If you decide to move and your husband gives up his desire to have his primary residence in the U.S., then he will lose status as he should!

First of all, my spouse has no desire to give up permanent resident alien status in the US; otherwise why would I be asking all of these question? Yes, I did see that the words you used are "give up desire to have primary residence in the US". Immigrations law does not deal with "primary residence", and neither do my questions.

Second, please withhold the moral judgments "will lose status as he should". Governments and immigration laws are not moral, they are legal. I am interested in fully understanding legal rights and obligations. I am a moral person and desire to obey those laws to the fullest benefit they permit me and my spouse.

Japanese citizens can naturalize as US citizens without losing their Japanese citizenship. It does bring complexities, as does all dual national status. We looked in to it a few years ago (before the current situation of planning to live outside of the US arose), so we need to look in to it again.

To everyone, thanks for your continuing and very valuable assistance!

Ok, next time I will just answer your question with what you want to hear, would that make you happy? Jeez, people are so sensitive around here!

[BigNose42 0]

Ugh. I just read the Japanese nationality law (English translation available on Japan's Ministry of Justice web site at http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/information/tnl-01.html) and my spouse naturalizing in to the US does not seem like a good idea.

So, we do our best to keep my spouse's permanent resident alien status, and deal with re-establishing it as my spouse (I'm a US citizen) if at some point in the future it becomes an issue.

I couldn't open your link... But I wish you good luck with everything! And seriously...ask an immigration attorney, because they know tricks that we might not... Been there done that!

Sorry about the link - the HTML parser in this blog/ board/ php/ whatever tacked on the closing parenthesis of the surrounding link.

Here's the actual link:

http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/information/tnl-01.html

[Joanna&Bobby 3]

Ugh. I just read the Japanese nationality law (English translation available on Japan's Ministry of Justice web site at http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/information/tnl-01.html) and my spouse naturalizing in to the US does not seem like a good idea.

So, we do our best to keep my spouse's permanent resident alien status, and deal with re-establishing it as my spouse (I'm a US citizen) if at some point in the future it becomes an issue.

I couldn't open your link... But I wish you good luck with everything! And seriously...ask an immigration attorney, because they know tricks that we might not... Been there done that!

Sorry about the link - the HTML parser in this blog/ board/ php/ whatever tacked on the closing parenthesis of the surrounding link.

Here's the actual link:

http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/information/tnl-01.html

I got to read the link...sounds like they are tough in Japan, and she would lose her citizenship if she took the US one?

[pushbrk 13,098]

Ugh. I just read the Japanese nationality law (English translation available on Japan's Ministry of Justice web site at http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/information/tnl-01.html) and my spouse naturalizing in to the US does not seem like a good idea.

So, we do our best to keep my spouse's permanent resident alien status, and deal with re-establishing it as my spouse (I'm a US citizen) if at some point in the future it becomes an issue.

I had a conversation about this with the managing officer of a US POE earlier this year. In the conversation, I indicated our plan was to have homes in the US and China and spend at least several months a year in the US. He clearly indicated that wouldn't qualify as maintaining permanent resident status, even if we jointly owned a home in the US. In reality, the decision to allow entry using the green card is going to be up to the CBP officer with each individual entry. I would expect them to be reasonable as long as you carefully handle any answers to questions asked. One can be truthful without disclosing a lot of details. I think there's a good chance that if the absense is less than a year, you would be ok at least the first few times. All you need is a CBP officer having a bad day, who looks and sees from entry and exit stamps that the LPR is spending far more time outside the US than inside, to upset the apple cart.

At least in the case of Japan, she can likely continue to visit the USA on the VWP or a visitor visa until such time (if ever) she wishes to regain LPR status. That luxury is not currently available to my Chinese wife, so we're going to have some decisions to make in two or three years. Until then, our trips to China will definitely be "visits" so no worries.