permanent resident (greencard holder till 2015) mission work outside of country

[bekam 0]

Hey there-

My husband is Mexican and has permanent residency card (greencard) valid through 2025 in the US. We are employed with a missions agency and will be going back to Mexico for about 2 years to work in an orphanage.

My question(s) is this :

If we want to leave and live in Mexico for 2 years does he have to file for the "reentry visa" (form i-131) ?

Is there another form he has to fill out?

Is there any way we can avoid this all together by coming back to US every 6 months or year (I read that when looking into the i-131)

Will being out of the country affect him when he applies for citizenship when we get back ? We have ties to the US (family, car, work, church etc...) so I don't think that they will be suspicious of "abandonment of country"

Any help or advice on what to file would be appreciated! visajourney helped us back in 2011 /2012 when we got married and now yall can help again

[Hypnos 6,576]

It's safest to apply for a re-entry permit before he leaves. You can request it be sent to a US consular post outside the US though (so delivered to a US embassy or consulate in Mexico) if you wish.

He may need to demonstrate that he has maintained his permanent residency in the US (continued to file federal income taxes, maintain insurance policies, maintained a residence, etc.)

Being outside the US for so long will probably reset his continuous residence and/or physical presence requirements for naturalisation, meaning he would need to wait for three more years once he permanently returns to the US before being eligible for naturalisation.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Hypnos