Green card abandoment issues

[spiderandi 0]

I've made a big mistake... My wife is a US citizen and I am a British citizen (from Scotland). We have been married since 2005. We were married in Scotland and lived here for two years before deciding to move back to my wife's home city San Antonio (on a K3 visa). We had our first child in May 2009 and I got my 10-year green card in August of the same year.

After the birth of my daughter I started to get anxious about my elderly grandparents, to whom I'm very close, being able to meet her before they passed away. Then in February 2010 we found out that my grandfather had terminal cancer and would most likely only live for a few months longer. With a combination of homesickness, tiredness and grief I pushed for a move back home as soon as possible. By the time we got my wife's UK visa and my daughter's passport it was the beginning of May and my grandmother had had a stroke due to the stress of my grandfather's illness and a week later my grandfather slipped away. It was too late at this point to turn back and I think I still thought it was a good idea to return so we did so in June.

After living here for almost 9 months I fully realise how foolish I've been. Financially, we can't afford to live here. We want to return but I don't know if I'll still be able to get into the country using my green card. The USCIS still hold the address details for the apartment we left in June. That's why I'm here. I would be really grateful if someone who's been in a similar situation could please offer some advice on what to do.

Edited March 11, 2011 by spiderandi

[amykathleen2005 441]

Are you asking if they know that you've been gone or if you are in trouble for not registering your new address with USCIS?

[Little_My 464]

From what I have understood from USCIS website and reading the instructions and regulations, the general rule of thumb is that you are considered to have abandoned your permanent resident status when you live outside the US for a period of one year or more. USCIS states the following:

A general guide used is whether you have been absent from the United States for more than a year. Abandonment may be found to occur in trips of less than a year where it is believed you did not intend to make the United States your permanent residence.

I would think that in your particular situation, there are "extenuating circumstances" due to the health situation of your grandparents, which most likely would work in your favour. If you have ties to show to the US (family ties, a job, apartment, driver's lisence..), that will also help to prove that your intention was not to permanently leave US, and that you travelled back to UK due to a family emergency.

I would say that your best option would be to try to get back here before you've been abroad for a full year or more. That also shows that you are aware of the requirements and are obeying them.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

9 months?

If CBP asks you at the POE what you've been doing in England, you tell 'em that you went there to be with your terminally ill parents during the lasts months of their life and now that you buried them are returning "home" to the Lone Star State.

Shouldn't be a problem if you know how to present your story.

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

I agree with JustBob. If you are returning to the USA (permanently, to live) within the next month or so, you should be fine. They may give you a hard time at the border but they will probably let you in. Make sure you don;t stay out for longer than a year, that could cause issues.

[spiderandi 0]

Thanks belatedly for the advice everyone. Unfortunately, we haven't taken it in time. We had decided, supposedly for good, that we would stay here and give it a real go but it's only taken a couple months to break our resolve, my wife's especially, again.

Now it has been over a year that we've been in Scotland and we're wanting to go back. We can both have our jobs back if we want them and we filed our 2010 taxes on time. Therefore my question is, would a Returning Resident's Visa be the way to go or should we just give up on this green card and apply for a new one and if so would I have to officially abandon status first?

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

I think it is worth trying for a returning resident visa for you, considering your grandfather's death and grandmother's stroke.

[spiderandi 0]

I'm seriously considering the SB-1 but I don't know if it's slighty disingenuous to do so. I'd have to prove that I never intended to leave the U.S for such a length of timed even when I have a job here and we got a U.K marriage visa for my wife before arriving back in Scotland. I think my only defence could be that due of grief I made decisions which I now regret and want to reverse. We did go about getting our 2 year old daughter's U.S passport (she travelled with us on a U.K passport) in April before the year outside of the U.S was up. Possibly that could be used to support the fact that we had an intention of return to the States. However, the reason we are still not back yet is more based on lack of decisiveness rather than something g outwith our control.