Staying out of the USA for more than 180 days

[Marc&Rosie 0]

Can you stay out of the USA for more than or close to 180 days without the extended stay paperwork? I read where some customs officers at airports will pull people away and question them if it's even close to the 180 days?

Edited June 4, 2013 by Marc&Rosie

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

**** Moving from AOS to Travelling during US immigration forum ****

There is no hard and fast rule, it depends on your case, whether you can prove you still reside in the USA, and how often you do this. Generally, under 6 months is not a problem, 6 months -1 year you may run into difficulty depending on the officer at the border, and over 1 year you loose the greencard.

One trip that is almost/ just over 6 months should be fine- doing this several times in a row, not so much.

[Jamnan_n_Steve 17]

A >6-month absence will break continuous residence for citizenship (military spouses, and other special cases excepted). Citizenship brings many benefits including a U.S. passport, the right to vote, the right to collect social security survivor benefits overseas, etc. Think long and hard about the long term.

Steve from Jamnan_n_Steve

[Darnell 8,478]

why not just apply for a re-entry permit before leaving the USA ? That trumps many things, to have it in hand when returning through a POE.

[Darnell 8,478]

apologies, i reread all of your posts here and I gotta say -

over 180 days she's running a huge risk , so if'n YanYan had this issue, she'd be on the plane at day 179. I don't care the cost, and neither should you.

[Lisa Anderson 0]

Customs officers can stop and ask questions to anyone. They usually can’t deny entry for one trip that is close to 180 days (but not over). However, if it’s the 2^nd time in close proximity to each other, expect issues.

[Marc&Rosie 0]

She was here for 14 months before we went back for her birthday and 2nd anniversary then she stayed to take care of her parents. When she comes back it'll be right at 170 days.

[EmigratingSwede 16]

When I first moved I only stayed in the U.S. for a few weeks before I went back to wrap up my old life. It took some time to quit my job (Gracefully, without leaving in the middle of a project), sell the condo etc. I returned after almost six months and had no problems. The CBP officer asked me why I had been gone so long and I told him exactly why. That was it. No more questions.

[sapc 0]

When I first moved I only stayed in the U.S. for a few weeks before I went back to wrap up my old life. It took some time to quit my job (Gracefully, without leaving in the middle of a project), sell the condo etc. I returned after almost six months and had no problems. The CBP officer asked me why I had been gone so long and I told him exactly why. That was it. No more questions.

You did exactly what my husband and I are going to do (from Norway) and I'm glad to hear it went ok. I have one question though; did you do us tax returns for the time you were in Sweden? Did you have to pay taxes to both the US and Sweden?

[EmigratingSwede 16]

Yes we did have to declare my Swedish income. However you can exclude about $90000 of foreign income. We also had to file all kinds of forms to show any foreign (Swedish) bank account that at any point during the year had over $10000 in them (and state the max amount in them for the year). We ended up going to H&R block and paying them $500 to do our taxes for us. We only paid a total of $500 in taxes that year (I didn't start working until November except for some consulting early on) so paying $500 for someone to do our taxes felt expensive, but I would rather do that then get audited later. Next year it will be easier. No foreign income and no bank accounts with $10k+ in them. I should be able to just use turbo tax.