Child Green Card 18 years ago

[dansui 0]

One of my colleagues has an interesting situation with his wife's daughter.

18 years ago, my colleague married an Italian woman and sponsored his wife and his wife's daughter for permanent residency. His step-daughter's green card had no expiration date on it, and after she graduated high school, she went to college in Italy and has lived there ever since. My colleague is still married to is step-daughter's mother.

What would his step-daughter have to do to get a current green card?

Thanks for all your help!!

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

The greencard may have no expiration date on it, but if the step daughter went to Italy and never came back, she is no longer a LPR, as she hasn't resided in the USA for a long time. That being said, the step daughter MAY have a claim to US citizenship as the parents were married before her 18th birthday (especially if the bio mom became a citizen too); I know little about those laws, and they also changed over the last 18 years, so he should look into that. Failing that, do the parents live in the USA? If so, they could re-petition the daughter, but if she is over 21 and/ or married, it could take a while.

[aleful 1,905]

One of my colleagues has an interesting situation with his wife's daughter.

18 years ago, my colleague married an Italian woman and sponsored his wife and his wife's daughter for permanent residency. His step-daughter's green card had no expiration date on it, and after she graduated high school, she went to college in Italy and has lived there ever since. My colleague is still married to is step-daughter's mother.

What would his step-daughter have to do to get a current green card?

Thanks for all your help!!

she is no longer a LPR, she would have to start all over again. the card may not have an expiration date, but being a resident means one has to reside in the country or after a year one looses their LPR status.

if her mother is a USC and lives in the US, she can file a petition on her behalf.

that's what happened to me. I had a GC when I was a child. due to personal reasons I went back to my country for 25 years, of course, loosing my LPR status.

My USC mom filed for me in 1999 and I had to start all over again. Now, I'm a USC. I said to myself, I will never loose my LPR status again, so I became a citizen.

The only difference is since she did have an A#, they have to write down the number on the form and if she ever got a SS number, the social security number is forever, so they must put it on all the forms.

[pushbrk 12,884]

she is no longer a LPR, she would have to start all over again. the card may not have an expiration date, but being a resident means one has to reside in the country or after a year one looses their LPR status.

if her mother is a USC and lives in the US, she can file a petition on her behalf.

that's what happened to me. I had a GC when I was a child. due to personal reasons I went back to my country for 25 years, of course, loosing my LPR status.

My USC mom filed for me in 1999 and I had to start all over again. Now, I'm a USC. I said to myself, I will never loose my LPR status again, so I became a citizen.

The only difference is since she did have an A#, they have to write down the number on the form and if she ever got a SS number, the social security number is forever, so they must put it on all the forms.

The previous answers resemble the facts but she has not formally given up her residency "status". She MAY be able to re-enter the USA with the old green card and simply resume residency but he eligibility for citizenship will be impacted by her long absence regardless. This is a decision made at the Port of Entry. If she's allowed in, she's gold. If not allowed to enter, she'll need a new immigrant visa as the immediate relative of a US citizen. Is her mother now a citizen?

Edited October 12, 2010 by pushbrk

[aleful 1,905]

The previous answers resemble the facts but she has not formally given up her residency "status". She MAY be able to re-enter the USA with the old green card and simply resume residency but he eligibility for citizenship will be impacted by her long absence regardless. This is a decision made at the Port of Entry. If she's allowed in, she's gold. If not allowed to enter, she'll need a new immigrant visa as the immediate relative of a US citizen. Is her mother now a citizen?

I didn't either. I never formally gave up my GC. I entered on a visitor visa My GC was a very old one, with no expiration date and yes, it was green, from the '60's

[Darnell 8,478]

*** not a K-3 visa topic, moving to 'General Immigration Related Discussion' forum ***

Edited October 12, 2010 by Darnell

[dansui 0]

Thanks for all the suggestions!!