Easy entry to US, now need to leave again!

[stephenlloyd 0]

Hi all!

I am so glad to find his site! Wish I could have found it earlier actually!

My question is very similar (or possibly the same, as I'm unfamiliar with some of the jargon used here)

My wife, is a US citizen by birth, and we have been married for over 3 years now. I am South African by birth, but we met in the Caribbean. Very long story, but to cut it very short, I was unable to get the required police clearance for my IV, as my residency on the caribbean island we lived on was never processed. After 3 years of trying, we finally managed to get my IV on Oct 23 2008.

To complicate matters, my wife is sudying medicine, and we have had to move to the UK for +- 6 months for her to continue her schooling. (ideally we would have moved to the US, but now are moving there in April, before my IV expires.)

My question is, we want to go to the US for Christmas, for about 10 days, and then return to the UK until April.

Will they allow me back in after almost 4 months?

My IV in my PP expires on April 22nd 2009, and we had originally planned on just staying in the UK until April 10th (when my wife's rotation finished) then going to the States. But now the Christmas plans have come up, and I thought if its possible, it may be a good thing to get the ball rolling regarding my green card/citizenship etc by activating my IV earlier.

My Visa in my PP does state..."upon endorsement serves as temporary I-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year"....

I'm guessing this means it acts as a green card for a year once it is stamped at the POE? (which will be Denver by the way)

And if so, I could technically leave for up to a year at a time, so should be ok for 4 months?

Is that correct? Or should we just not go home for Christmas and stay in the UK? I've never been to the States, so we are really keen to do Christmas with my wife's family as its been 5 years or so for her since she has had a US Christmas.

Thanks a lot, and apologies if I am repeating a question that has already been dealt with. Justy really don't want to get this wrong!

Regards

Stephen

[Back2Charleston 0]

Although I started this topic, I can't really answer your specific question, I'm afraid - or at least, I cant answer it with any authority! That said, as far as I understand it, your situation is ok since you have that stamp in your passport.

I sure hope I'm right, since I'm about to put theory into practice tomorrow. I entered the US on 4th November, had my passport stamped, hung around for 10 days trying to buy a house then had to shoot straight back to Europe for business.

I'm done today and I'm flying back from Amsterdam tomorrow.

If I don't reply ever again, I'm stuck somewhere in no-mans land!

But I don't believe that'll happen to me or to you.

Cheers,

JR

[stephenlloyd 0]

Although I started this topic, I can't really answer your specific question, I'm afraid - or at least, I cant answer it with any authority! That said, as far as I understand it, your situation is ok since you have that stamp in your passport.

I sure hope I'm right, since I'm about to put theory into practice tomorrow. I entered the US on 4th November, had my passport stamped, hung around for 10 days trying to buy a house then had to shoot straight back to Europe for business.

I'm done today and I'm flying back from Amsterdam tomorrow.

If I don't reply ever again, I'm stuck somewhere in no-mans land!

But I don't believe that'll happen to me or to you.

Cheers,

JR

Thanks JR!

Haha! I was wondering how you were doing...seemed a while since you posted so wasn't sure what happened with your situation.

Well, all I can say is, I'm glad to have you as a guinea Pig, and would really appreciate any feedback as to what happens when you return! I'm sure, from what people are saying, that all will be fine, especially since they didn't seem to hassle you when you left, did they? Not that they usually bother anyone on departure in my experience.

Great! I wish you luck, and please let me know what happens! I want to buy tickets before they go through the roof!

Cheers

Stephen

[milimelo 4,481]

Stephen,

you can definitely enter on IV visa, activate it and leave until April. That's what we did - came for a visit in the end of may 2007 and then left in the second week of June and I returned to the US on 12/15 - all the time I was in my home country where my husband was deployed. Besides couple of questions at POE I had no problem re-entering the US.

Just make sure someone watches your mail for your GC (mine never came which is another story) so they can mail it to you even though you're all set with the I-551 stamp.

milimelo

[stephenlloyd 0]

Stephen,

you can definitely enter on IV visa, activate it and leave until April. That's what we did - came for a visit in the end of may 2007 and then left in the second week of June and I returned to the US on 12/15 - all the time I was in my home country where my husband was deployed. Besides couple of questions at POE I had no problem re-entering the US.

Just make sure someone watches your mail for your GC (mine never came which is another story) so they can mail it to you even though you're all set with the I-551 stamp.

milimelo

Awesome! Thanks Milimelo!

Really appreciate the feedback. Yeah I was wondering what was gonna happen with the GC, but I guess I can just get it posted.

Still gonna wait to hear back from JR tomorrow hopefully (just want to make extra sure ).

I hope all goes well for you in the future!

Kind regards

Stephen

[Back2Charleston 0]

Thanks JR!

Haha! I was wondering how you were doing...seemed a while since you posted so wasn't sure what happened with your situation.

Well, all I can say is, I'm glad to have you as a guinea Pig, and would really appreciate any feedback as to what happens when you return! I'm sure, from what people are saying, that all will be fine, especially since they didn't seem to hassle you when you left, did they? Not that they usually bother anyone on departure in my experience.

Great! I wish you luck, and please let me know what happens! I want to buy tickets before they go through the roof!

Cheers

Stephen

I'm not promising tomorrow, but I'll try - right now, I'm overnighting in Amsterdam airport, then catching a 10:00am flight tomorrow.

FWIW, my initial entry (on November 4th) was painless and easy, via JFK - p'raps everyone was distracted by election news? Life has been kind of busy since arriving - I had a week of visiting with family in New York and PA, then we moved down to Charleston. I had work to do - an online training class - for the following week, from 3:00am through 11:00am, then spent the time house-hunting. I think we have one - but I then flew back here (and no problems in leaving!) to work in Holland for a week.

Once I get back, I'll go online asap and update you once more, but I might need to catch a few ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz first - don't panic if there's nothing until Sunday am Eastern.

Jeremy (JR)

[stephenlloyd 0]

Thanks JR!

Haha! I was wondering how you were doing...seemed a while since you posted so wasn't sure what happened with your situation.

Well, all I can say is, I'm glad to have you as a guinea Pig, and would really appreciate any feedback as to what happens when you return! I'm sure, from what people are saying, that all will be fine, especially since they didn't seem to hassle you when you left, did they? Not that they usually bother anyone on departure in my experience.

Great! I wish you luck, and please let me know what happens! I want to buy tickets before they go through the roof!

Cheers

Stephen

I'm not promising tomorrow, but I'll try - right now, I'm overnighting in Amsterdam airport, then catching a 10:00am flight tomorrow.

FWIW, my initial entry (on November 4th) was painless and easy, via JFK - p'raps everyone was distracted by election news? Life has been kind of busy since arriving - I had a week of visiting with family in New York and PA, then we moved down to Charleston. I had work to do - an online training class - for the following week, from 3:00am through 11:00am, then spent the time house-hunting. I think we have one - but I then flew back here (and no problems in leaving!) to work in Holland for a week.

Once I get back, I'll go online asap and update you once more, but I might need to catch a few ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz first - don't panic if there's nothing until Sunday am Eastern.

Jeremy (JR)

Don't worry JR, I won't send out the search parites until Monday morning!

Good luck with the flights, gosh I hate flying! And thanks for the extra info. Hope the house hunting turns out to have been successful, it is a buyers market at the moment!

Cheers

Stephen

[Back2Charleston 0]

Don't worry JR, I won't send out the search parites until Monday morning!

Good luck with the flights, gosh I hate flying! And thanks for the extra info. Hope the house hunting turns out to have been successful, it is a buyers market at the moment!

Cheers

Stephen

OK, call off the dogs. I made it back quite safely ... the immigration guy asked me whether I'd had my green card yet. When I said "no", he grunted "figures ... they're always late".

And that was the extent of the questioning.

I guess I'm "in the system" - your journey should be equally simple then, I trust.

Now, I just need to get my body clock adjusted properly to Eastern time.

[stephenlloyd 0]

Don't worry JR, I won't send out the search parites until Monday morning!

Good luck with the flights, gosh I hate flying! And thanks for the extra info. Hope the house hunting turns out to have been successful, it is a buyers market at the moment!

Cheers

Stephen

OK, call off the dogs. I made it back quite safely ... the immigration guy asked me whether I'd had my green card yet. When I said "no", he grunted "figures ... they're always late".

And that was the extent of the questioning.

I guess I'm "in the system" - your journey should be equally simple then, I trust.

Now, I just need to get my body clock adjusted properly to Eastern time.

Awesome! Great news, glad to hear all went well!

Busy trying to find tickets all morning.

Good luck with everything!

Stephen

[stephenlloyd 0]

Don't worry JR, I won't send out the search parites until Monday morning!

Good luck with the flights, gosh I hate flying! And thanks for the extra info. Hope the house hunting turns out to have been successful, it is a buyers market at the moment!

Cheers

Stephen

OK, call off the dogs. I made it back quite safely ... the immigration guy asked me whether I'd had my green card yet. When I said "no", he grunted "figures ... they're always late".

And that was the extent of the questioning.

I guess I'm "in the system" - your journey should be equally simple then, I trust.

Now, I just need to get my body clock adjusted properly to Eastern time.

Awesome! Great news, glad to hear all went well!

Busy trying to find tickets all morning.

Good luck with everything!

Stephen

Ok, so we got our tickets, flying in on the 16th Dec, to Denver through Minnesota. Returning to the UK Dec 31st.

One last question, will I go through immigration in Minnesota, or in Denver where the final destination is?

Thanks

[stephenlloyd 0]

Don't worry JR, I won't send out the search parites until Monday morning!

Good luck with the flights, gosh I hate flying! And thanks for the extra info. Hope the house hunting turns out to have been successful, it is a buyers market at the moment!

Cheers

Stephen

OK, call off the dogs. I made it back quite safely ... the immigration guy asked me whether I'd had my green card yet. When I said "no", he grunted "figures ... they're always late".

And that was the extent of the questioning.

I guess I'm "in the system" - your journey should be equally simple then, I trust.

Now, I just need to get my body clock adjusted properly to Eastern time.

Awesome! Great news, glad to hear all went well!

Busy trying to find tickets all morning.

Good luck with everything!

Stephen

Ok, so we got our tickets, flying in on the 16th Dec, to Denver through Minnesota. Returning to the UK Dec 31st.

One last question, will I go through immigration in Minnesota, or in Denver where the final destination is?

Thanks

Ok, don't worry to reply to that last one, I found the answer myself like a big boy.

Thanks again!