attending school overseas as an LPR

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I received an email from a good VJ friend inquiring about this for his son. I could not find any posting he made here (he said in the email he would post it here also) so I will post my response to him (minus names) for others to review that may be interested in this. My good VJ friend is welcome to post any details he wishes, but I will allow him to make that choice

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Hi __________:

So let me run this down for you quickly. I did not find your post on VJ, but maybe I looked in the wrong place, I would like to answer it.

I have addressed this many times on VJ and you can probably find it by doing a search also.

Make an infopass appointment and ask them about an emergency AP (reentry permit) They can do one and send it overseas if needed so he can leave soon.

Sergey speaks excellent English, almost without an accent, so he has no trouble communicationg with CBP officers. Could be an issue? They need to understand from HIM why he is out of the country, maybe he cannot get that across to them? That said, this is something that needs planning and preparation, like anything else for an LPR. Each time Sergey returned he had the following documentation with him to show he had maintained his US residency.

1. Vermont Drivers License

2. Recent bank statements from Vermont bank, showing activity (it is how we sent him money)

3. Most recent tax return with w-2. (Sergey always had a summer/winter break job)

4. SSS (draft) registration card. A registration card is optional...get him one!

5. Registration at his Russian school AS A USA RESIDENT showing his address in Vermont as his HOME ADDRESS...translated. This is VERY important. He cannot be going to school there claiming to be a resident of another country. YES it means we paid foreign student tuition. It was still cheaper than an education here and a better institutuion. Since he is Ukrainian, not Russian, we would have paid foreign student tuition anyway. This always concerns me when LPRs attend school in their HOME country as often they are claiming to be residents of that country to get free or very low price tuition. Claiming to be a resident of another country will cause you to lose US residency. You should not only NOT claim to be a resident of another country but document that you ARE claiming to be a US resident while overseas. This is one of those things where you need to not only comply, but go out of your way to PROVE you are complying.

6. US issued credit card

7. US issued debit card (he got both of these from his credit union here)

8. Updated USCIS notices (if any) showing progress of his status, such as his receipt for application of Removal of Conditions

9. Copy of an AR-11 from 2010 showing he reported his change of address when we moved

He kept this all in a folder. Before he returned each time I made sure it was all updated, he printed 3 new bank statements online, I emailed him a recent tax return if needed (I was doing his returns for him online) and either skyped or called him a week before and made sure he had everything. Hand over this folder WITH his passport and green card when he arrives at POE. Sergey NEVER had a question asked, except stuff like what school he went to and if they had sports teams and other BS. He did this for four years of his 5 year Master's program (first year was before he became a US resident)

The trick to this is maintaining US residency. You have to show you are doing all you can to maintain US residency. It also means that he spends as much time in the US as possible, which means when he had winter break he returned here the day after his last class and returned the day before his first class. He didn't like that. So what? If he has a 2 month summer break, he is back in the US for 2 months. His winter break was about a month and was later than our universities take, usually all of January. He was back for a month and even worked during that time. (he has a job as a night stocker at the grocery store down the street and they are always short handed. They keep him as an "employee" on the books and he just works when he is here, they never object to another guy working at night and they pay him an extra $2 per hour to work nights)