need advice...wife may lose green card

[Rob&Pame 2]

Hi everyone,

My wife came to the US on 6/18/11. We were married on 6/25/11. She received her green card in November 2011.

In April 2014, we decided to move to her home country of Costa Rica. At that time we thought it would be permanent and did not think we would return to the US. It was not important to us to maintain the residency at this time.

We left in April 2014, came back to the US for 3 weeks in September 2014, then just re-entered the US on June 30, 2015. When we entered on 6/30, the official reminded my wife that she needed to live here in order to maintain residency and that she should be careful or the system would flag her and she'd have to go before an immigration judge.

Technically she has abandoned her residency because we left the US with the intent to live in Costa Rica. Our intent is to stay here in the US to live now. I start work on August 3 but my wife was planning to go back to Costa Rica next week to wrap up some things there and then return to the US. We are afraid now that if she leaves then she will not be able to come back.

What steps can we take to be sure she will be able to re-enter the US? Do we need to abandon the green card and start the process over? Can she come back on a tourist visa and then re-apply for residency?

Thanks,

Rob

[Darnell 8,478]

i say chase a re-entry permit NOW before she leaves the USA.

can please study her current green card, let us know the expiration month and year?

[Boiler 45,532]

I would let others sort out the loose ends and stay here for a while.

[Rob&Pame 2]

Her card expires 12/17/23.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

What proof do you have of maintaining residency in the US while you were gone ? Taxes ?

[Rob&Pame 2]

What if she absolutely can't stay here at this time?

[Boiler 45,532]

Seems unlikely

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hi Rob,

Everything is fine. Only an immigration judge can take her green card away.

Assuming you guys are in your new place in the U.S., she should go to the DMV to get a state ID card with the address of her U.S. resident. Then get a bank account with her U.S. address. Both would support that she is maintaining her green card.

Safe travels.

[Rob&Pame 2]

If we apply for a re-entry permit, will they review our tax return from 2014?

[Boiler 45,532]

Maybe? Not sure I have ever seen any definitive information on what goes on behind the scenes.

[Rob&Pame 2]

I just read the form. Part 5, Question 2 asks:

Since you became a permanent resident of the US, have you ever filed a Federal income tax return as a nonresident or failed to file a Federal income tax return because you considered yourself to be a nonresident? (If yes, give details on a separate sheet of paper).

Last year we did live in Costa Rica and when I did our taxes we were exempt from health care because we were non-residents.

The instructions for the form I-131 state: "If you file a nonresident alien tax return or do not file a tax return, you may be regarded as having abandoned residence in the United States and as having lost your permanent resident status under the INA. As a consequence, you may be ineligible for a visa or other document for which permanent resident aliens are eligible.

You may also be inadmissible to the United States if you seek admission as a returning resident, and you may become ineligible for adjustment of status as a permanent resident, or naturalization on the basis of your original entry."

I'm starting to think we should not apply for a re-entry permit at all and it sounds like now she might not even be eligible to become a citizen at all?

[Boiler 45,532]

Refi!e your taxes?