Finishing College in Ukraine

[Grid 0]

My stepson would like to return to Ukraine to finish is college degree and then return to the US. It would take him 2 years to graduate. He probably will receive his AOS this month or next. He has already received his AP. Will he risk losing his LPR status if he is out of the country for 2 years? Are their any precautions that we should take to improve his chances of returning after his degree? Thanks.

Grid

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My stepson would like to return to Ukraine to finish is college degree and then return to the US. It would take him 2 years to graduate. He probably will receive his AOS this month or next. He has already received his AP. Will he risk losing his LPR status if he is out of the country for 2 years? Are their any precautions that we should take to improve his chances of returning after his degree? Thanks.

Grid

Our son is also taking college courses in Moscow and will be coming here for the summer and returning to Moscow after his summer vacation for approx. 10 months and then coming bhack here for the summer. W ehave been advised by the CO during our AOS process that an absence of under one year for education is not a problem, anything more than that requires an approved AP with departure and return dates. I can only say they were very co-operative with us about this. We now deal with an officer at our local office as that is where our file now lives.

Check with your local office, simply tell them the "deal" and I think they will work with you.

[Grid 0]

My stepson would like to return to Ukraine to finish is college degree and then return to the US. It would take him 2 years to graduate. He probably will receive his AOS this month or next. He has already received his AP. Will he risk losing his LPR status if he is out of the country for 2 years? Are their any precautions that we should take to improve his chances of returning after his degree? Thanks.

Grid

Our son is also taking college courses in Moscow and will be coming here for the summer and returning to Moscow after his summer vacation for approx. 10 months and then coming bhack here for the summer. W ehave been advised by the CO during our AOS process that an absence of under one year for education is not a problem, anything more than that requires an approved AP with departure and return dates. I can only say they were very co-operative with us about this. We now deal with an officer at our local office as that is where our file now lives.

Check with your local office, simply tell them the "deal" and I think they will work with you.

How would I check with my local office? I think that it would be the Chicago office? Thanks.

[Ree 9]

He could get a re-entry permit, this document will let him to be out of the country for up two years. Or if he could switch to zaochnuyu formu obucheniya (sorry, I don't know how to translate it to English), and go to Ukraine only twice a year for his sessions.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Is it a problem for him to return to the US once a year?

[payxibka 10,047]

My stepson would like to return to Ukraine to finish is college degree and then return to the US. It would take him 2 years to graduate. He probably will receive his AOS this month or next. He has already received his AP. Will he risk losing his LPR status if he is out of the country for 2 years? Are their any precautions that we should take to improve his chances of returning after his degree? Thanks.

Grid

Our son is also taking college courses in Moscow and will be coming here for the summer and returning to Moscow after his summer vacation for approx. 10 months and then coming bhack here for the summer. W ehave been advised by the CO during our AOS process that an absence of under one year for education is not a problem, anything more than that requires an approved AP with departure and return dates. I can only say they were very co-operative with us about this. We now deal with an officer at our local office as that is where our file now lives.

Check with your local office, simply tell them the "deal" and I think they will work with you.

How would I check with my local office? I think that it would be the Chicago office? Thanks.

INFOPASS appointment

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My stepson would like to return to Ukraine to finish is college degree and then return to the US. It would take him 2 years to graduate. He probably will receive his AOS this month or next. He has already received his AP. Will he risk losing his LPR status if he is out of the country for 2 years? Are their any precautions that we should take to improve his chances of returning after his degree? Thanks.

Grid

Where will he have his AOS interview? That is your local office. Ours is St. Albans. We were told after the AOS our file would stay there and if we needed to get an AP for him to contact the office. They said they would be sure to process it in time for him to leave and even offered to send it to the Mosocw consulate if he left without it. Though for less than one year, we were told we do not need it. Can your son just come home for the summer? That is what our son will do.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Looks like Grid is off the grid

[GiGii 4]

My stepson would like to return to Ukraine to finish is college degree and then return to the US. It would take him 2 years to graduate. He probably will receive his AOS this month or next. He has already received his AP. Will he risk losing his LPR status if he is out of the country for 2 years? Are their any precautions that we should take to improve his chances of returning after his degree? Thanks.

Grid

Where will he have his AOS interview? That is your local office. Ours is St. Albans. We were told after the AOS our file would stay there and if we needed to get an AP for him to contact the office. They said they would be sure to process it in time for him to leave and even offered to send it to the Mosocw consulate if he left without it. Though for less than one year, we were told we do not need it. Can your son just come home for the summer? That is what our son will do.

Gary, seems you are confusing AOS with AP status. AP is advance parole, meaning you are waiting for the GC. I also don't know what "deal" you struck up with an immigration officer. There are no "deals", everyone gets the same status or rights depending on status.

Grid - I'd recommend that he waits to get the GC before going to study. He only needs to come back to the US once a year to keep the green card active and alleviate any problems. He can visit during the summer or spring/winter vacation, couldn't he? This would be better than playing games with re-entry permits.

[himher 634]

With a travel document this is not a problem. Re-entry is becoming a problem at POE when travelling on a green card only without US sponsor, stays outside the US greater than 6 months, and entering without a travel document. Word (among my fellow expats) is that there is a pattern of additional scrutiny with family members visiting the US with green cards only after extended stays outside the US.

Is it a problem for him to return to the US once a year?

[Grid 0]

I have been told by USCIS that with a reentry permit there is no problem returning to the US after an absence for up until 2 years. However, he must return for the biometrics appointment and interview for changing his CGC to a 10 year GC. So it looks like that even with the reentry permit, he will have to return 90 days before the expiration of the CGC so that he can be present for these appointments. This means that he will have to return to the US after 21 months not 24 months and this will likely interrupt his school year. I think that he his taking a risk by going back to Ukraine, but its not my choice.

Grid

[Old Dominion 26]

I agree, it's a risk if only because we have no idea of what might happen next to tighten up immigration procedures from certain countries, including the Ukraine. The old USSR may have disappeared, but its various republics are still very vulnerable to some kind of domination from Moscow, and teh US relationships with Moscow and the former republics remain tenuos.