Leaving the country with conditional permanent residency

[jalevy03 0]

Hi everyone,

My wife is a Japanese citizen who entered on U.S. in July of 2008 on a K1 fiancee visa. We received her conditional permanent residency card this past winter. I'm in the middle of researching Ph.D. programs, a few of which are in Canada. They would start in the fall of 2010, before we'd be able to apply to have the conditions on her permanent residency removed. If a Canadian program turned out to the best fit for us and we ended up in Vancouver or Toronto for five to seven years, what would the process for her if I wanted to return to the United States to work after I got my degree? Would we have to do all the preliminary paperwork for a marriage visa from the beginning? Would we go back to conditional permanent residency, still having to wait two years to get the conditions removed? Or would some other kind of visa be better?

Thanks for your help!

[Bobby+Umit 161]

As a LPR, she would need to get permission to leave the US for 2 years (which is the max on that permission) (I am not sure if you can do them back to back)

If she doesn't get this permission, or maintains her LPR status, she will lose it.

Also - she will need her LPR status to go to Canada, and if she loses it, she will need whatever visa Japanese vistors need for Canada.

Most likely, she would have to refile for another shot at the LPR (CR-1), if she loses it (being gone for 7 years from the US)

[jalevy03 0]

Thanks for responding! I assume that if we were to live in Canada for seven years and then come back to the U.S., we'd do it under an IR1 visa? It looks like we'd still have to do the long drawn-out I-130 first, but isn't there a visa that she could get as the wife of someone working in the U.S. so that she could live here while we waited for the forms to go through but perhaps not be able to work herself? It seems a little silly to be planning out this far in advance, but I want to make sure getting her back into the country won't be impossible. I'm not sure if I'll even end up working here!

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Not sure of the laws up north - have to wait for someone to swing by from that area.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

If you were both legally resident in Canada you could do a DCF - if they still allow that by then. DCF means you directly file the I-130 at the US Consulate in Canada (Montreal), the processing for her green card is done there, and then she enters as an IR-1. Since you would have been married for more than 2 years at the time, she would have a 10 year green card, not a conditional 2 year card.

Your wife can be included on your student application but you must provide proof of the relationship and both of you would need to complete the necessary immigration requirements (ie. if a medical is required, both of you must do it, etc.). You must also provide proof of how you intend to be supporting yourself and your wife while you are at school, and you would probably ne4ed to reapply on a yearly basis to keep your student visa valid. The problem comes when your wife is no longer considered a PR of the US because you are outside of the US for too long and her green card would be considered abandoned. She may then need to obtain a visa as well for Canada - I honestly don't know how the circumstances would work in that case.

If you postponed your graduate work until your wife has her US citizenship then you would not have to face the visa problems or any problems of returning to the US.

Here is a useful link for student visa information in Canada: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/faq/study/index.asp

Edited August 8, 2009 by Kathryn41

[Jamaican JNR 2]

Hi everyone,

My wife is a Japanese citizen who entered on U.S. in July of 2008 on a K1 fiancee visa. We received her conditional permanent residency card this past winter. I'm in the middle of researching Ph.D. programs, a few of which are in Canada. They would start in the fall of 2010, before we'd be able to apply to have the conditions on her permanent residency removed. If a Canadian program turned out to the best fit for us and we ended up in Vancouver or Toronto for five to seven years, what would the process for her if I wanted to return to the United States to work after I got my degree? Would we have to do all the preliminary paperwork for a marriage visa from the beginning? Would we go back to conditional permanent residency, still having to wait two years to get the conditions removed? Or would some other kind of visa be better?

Thanks for your help!

What I would do is to remove the conditions from her green card first (2010), then apply for re-entry permit which is good for 2 years. The only other problem that I see coming is the period of time that your wife might be out of the US for. If she is out for 5 - 7 years then they will take away her green-card (abandoned her US residency).

I think you should let her stay in the US for 3 years; then she could apply to become a USC. Citizens can stay out for anytime.