Leave US (LPR) while F2A is pending

[sloan21 0]

Hello,

I hope you can help me.

My mom just received her green card (She came here on IR-5 visa) yesterday. She started the petition for my 18 year old sister in the Philippines (F2A) and was approved in August 2015, now the documents are in NVC and we are still waiting for the case number. My question is, my mom wants to go to the Philippines for vacation in December this year and stay in the Philippines for maybe 5 months. Can she go to the Philippines while the F2A visa is pending? If so, how long can she stay in the Philippines without losing her permanent residence and not affecting the F2A visa application for my sister?

Thanks for the help.

Have a great day!

[Pragati Soni 4]

1) She can travel outside US wherever she wants. She will jeopardise her Green card if she stays outside US continuously more than 6months. If she wants to stay longer than 6 months and less than 2 years, then you should apply re entry permit for her which allows her to stay upto 2 years outside US.

2) there is no impact to the f2a petition as long as your mom maintains US address and proof of US ties.