leaving the US for 6mths after Divorce

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Jim, Buddy . . .

the I.O. is a Lady from Down Under who expressed her desire to leave for about 6 months to see her family. Advising her to get a Reentry Permit in this case would be a huge waste of money, IMHO.

Howdy, Bob.

I have no idea what gender the OP is, and I wrongly concluded "she" was a "he". Apologies for that.

Re. the reentry permit, I was commenting on what her attorney told her. If I was in her shoes, and I was better than 95% sure that a reentry permit wouldn't be necessary, then I'd agree that it's a waste of money. I guess how "huge" the waste would be is relative. On the other hand, how would that expense compare to paying for two more flights to Australia and back, plus the extra time and expense of obtaining a returning resident visa? If I wasn't pretty darn sure it wouldn't be necessary, I'd consider the $385 to be like insurance - better to have it and not need it then vice versa.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I just looked up the processing times for the re entry permit and it's at 3 months... meaning I won't be here. any ideas what I should do? the 3 months just a first look at the applications right so when I need to get the bio stuff complete, I won't be in the US at that time... maybe i'll just buy a return ticket and be back before the 6 mths is up...

I now remember all the stress that came with the process in the beginning...

You only need to APPLY from within the US. If you look at the form you can have the document sent to a consulate in another country (part 7). Biometrics will be about 2 weeks to a month after you send in the form.

If you don't want to risk it being sent overseas, you can wait to see if it arrives before you leave, if it doesn't, you can make an infopass to speed it up (make sure you put a date on the form that you MUST leave by) or just have a friend checking your mail and have them forward it to you when it arrives.

Good luck!