I-130 Appvd, Can I move overseas?

[Kristine 0]

We finally got the I-130 approved! However, since the time we submitted all the forms/paperwork, we started thinking that we would like to move to my husband's home country (Guatemala) to live. If I move from the USA to my husband's home country, will that jeopardize his permanent residence status?? Can we have dual residences (that is, go back and forth between living in the USA and Guatemala?). If I don't have a job in the USA, will THAT jeopardize his status? Finally, let's say everything is approved and he gets permanent residence status. Can we at that point move to Guatemala and will everything be OK? Just trying to figure out what our options are at this point.

Thanks in advance!

[meauxna 15]

Kristine,

The technical name for a Green Card is a Permanent Resident card; note the 'permanent'.

There is a list of rights and responsibilities, including maintaining one's PR status at this page: http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/PermRes.htm

Is your husband in the US now, or is the I-130 for an immigrant visa to move here?

We were doing a similar thing, but the cost got to be too much. We buckled down in the US for a short time instead, and now as a USC, my husband can go wehre he wants, for as long as he wants.

As long as he takes me with.

[Yodrak 7]

Kristine,

As meauxna points out, the immigration status Permanent Resident means exactly what is says - permanently in residence in the USA. Yes, you can have dual residences - as long as the primary one is in the USA and you can demonstrate that the residence in the USA is indeed the primary residence.

You can find the factors that are important for a PR to consider if they plan on spending significant time out of the USA and want to retain their status on the USCIS web site.

If you're going to 'push the envelope' you might want to have a consultation with an immigration attorney who has had experience with abandonment of status cases.

Yodrak

We finally got the I-130 approved! However, since the time we submitted all the forms/paperwork, we started thinking that we would like to move to my husband's home country (Guatemala) to live. If I move from the USA to my husband's home country, will that jeopardize his permanent residence status?? Can we have dual residences (that is, go back and forth between living in the USA and Guatemala?). If I don't have a job in the USA, will THAT jeopardize his status? Finally, let's say everything is approved and he gets permanent residence status. Can we at that point move to Guatemala and will everything be OK? Just trying to figure out what our options are at this point.

Thanks in advance!

Edited August 31, 2006 by Yodrak

[Kristine 0]

Is your husband in the US now, or is the I-130 for an immigrant visa to move here?

Thanks for the reply! My husband is NOT in the US now. Sounds like we're better off sticking around in the US... that's a bummer. Thanks again for your help!

[Yodrak 7]

Kristine,

Why are you better off sticking around in the USA? If you want to live in Guatemala, go live there.

And if that's where you want to live, your husband has no need to be a PR of the USA.

Yodrak

Is your husband in the US now, or is the I-130 for an immigrant visa to move here?

Thanks for the reply! My husband is NOT in the US now. Sounds like we're better off sticking around in the US... that's a bummer. Thanks again for your help!

[Kristine 0]

Kristine,

Why are you better off sticking around in the USA? If you want to live in Guatemala, go live there.

And if that's where you want to live, your husband has no need to be a PR of the USA.

Yodrak

The thing is, we'd probably move back within a year or so. So we were thinking maybe I should just move there NOW, and then move back to the US once my husband receives the immigrant visa. I just received the NOA2, so it probably won't be another 6-8 months before we get an interview, right? Then once he gets the immigrant visa, we have 6 months to use it. Which in total gives us the year that we need to get his business up and running in Guatemala....?

I guess our other option is to remove ourselves from the I-130 process and just reapply in a year once we're ready to move back?