Hello Everyone. - Please advise me on reapplying green card for my family

[Royg 0]

Dear Members,

I would like some guidance and sharing of experience on green card RE-application process.

My wife, daughters and I obtained our green card in 2008 on a company sponsorship (beginning with H1B visa in 2005 and then subsequently to green card status). Due to family reason in 2011, we have to relocate the family back to Asia after spending almost 5 years in USA (I started working in USA since 2005).

They have been away from the country for more than 1 year now (their last entry was in Feb 2012) and their recent application for re-entry permit (SB-1) was rejected by the consulate.

I continue to have my green card status because I have been coming back for business meetings intermittently in year 2012 and have since permanently moved back to USA since Feb 2013.

Question:

1) Should I hire an immigration attorney (same person who assisted in my green card processing previously) to handle my re-application? or

2) Is the case straight forward enough for my to handle form I-130 on my own? What sort of supporting document should I include?

My deepest concern is the fact that their re-entry (SB-1) was rejected by the local consulate which in the eye of immigration may be termed as "abandoning their permanent residence rights".

Any guidance or comments would be deeply appreciated.

-Roy

[Hypnos 6,576]

An SB-1 is a returning resident visa, not a re-entry permit. The bar on those is very high, so it's unsurprising your children's applications were denied.

Their permanent residency has already been abandoned, so there is nothing you can do about that.

You will be filing an I-130 under the F2A family preference. Fortunately the priority dates for this category are only three months behind, and you'll be waiting longer than that for the I-130 approval, so you will effectively have no wait time for the priority date.

You can hire an attorney if you want, but your case doesn't seem overly complex.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

They residency status has been abandoned, as evidenced by the denial of the SB-1.

You need to apply for new visas for them. It's a lot of paperwork, but shouldn;t be needing a lawyer.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

You can apply based on their being your family but that will cause them to look at your resident pattern in the US and if you have really been living here , paying taxes and having a permanent address in the US or abusing the green card to visit the US while living some other place. If they find you have not properly maintained US residence your own green card will also be pulled.