We screwed up...what are our options?

[CBKB 12]

I'm a U.S. citizen and my wife is a Japanese citizen and U.S. permanent resident (IR-1). Until recently we've lived in the U.S. long-term--we moved from Japan to the U.S. in 1999 and went through the immigration process at that point. We moved back to Japan just this past April so my wife could be closer to her ailing mother. As part of this plan she took a faculty job at a Japanese university--I'm continuing to work part-time for my U.S. employer (remotely) and will add to that a part-time adjunct position at my wife's university this coming April. Her initial contract is for three years (and renewable multiple times) but we might like to move back to the U.S. at the end of that time.

We came back to the U.S. a few days ago for a Christmas visit to family here and got hassled at immigration for her being outside the country for 8 months. We were told to apply for a re-entry permit (I-327 via form I-131) before she goes back to Japan but there's no way we have the time for that--we have only about a week here over the holidays, and the process requires biometrics and apparently long waits for approval. We have another trip to the U.S. already booked for March so we have to figure something out before then. Of course, we're now very much starting to regret not having her naturalize while we lived in the U.S.; we were completely ignorant of the rules and thought that as long as she came back within a year things would be okay. She directly told the immigration officer that she'd taken a job in Japan and he wrote "I-327 advised" under the entry stamp in her passport.

Are we just pretty much out of luck with retaining her status? We don't have the option of her staying in the U.S. continually for a month+ in order to wait for a biometrics appointment (she can't get that much time off all at once) not to mention the fact that we're leaving back to Japan in a couple of days and I assume she'd have more serious hassle trying to enter again with the "I-327 advised" notation in her passport.

Any ideas/input/options? Are we stuck just filing an I-407 to relinquish her IR-1 status and starting all over again once we're ready to move back to the U.S.?

Thanks!

[canadian_wife 1,827]

Just to be clear, she has a 10 year green card correct?

Has she assumed any resident benefits in Japan? Such as voting, any socialized medicine (not sure if that happens in Japan), residential tax benefits?

good luck

[CBKB 12]

Yes, she's on her second 10-year green card (I think the first was ~2001-2011). We're all (family of four) on Japan's national health insurance, our kids are in school, etc.

[aaron2020 11,651]

I'm a U.S. citizen and my wife is a Japanese citizen and U.S. permanent resident (IR-1). Until recently we've lived in the U.S. long-term--we moved from Japan to the U.S. in 1999 and went through the immigration process at that point. We moved back to Japan just this past April so my wife could be closer to her ailing mother. As part of this plan she took a faculty job at a Japanese university--I'm continuing to work part-time for my U.S. employer (remotely) and will add to that a part-time adjunct position at my wife's university this coming April. Her initial contract is for three years (and renewable multiple times) but we might like to move back to the U.S. at the end of that time.

We came back to the U.S. a few days ago for a Christmas visit to family here and got hassled at immigration for her being outside the country for 8 months. We were told to apply for a re-entry permit (I-327 via form I-131) before she goes back to Japan but there's no way we have the time for that--we have only about a week here over the holidays, and the process requires biometrics and apparently long waits for approval. We have another trip to the U.S. already booked for March so we have to figure something out before then. Of course, we're now very much starting to regret not having her naturalize while we lived in the U.S.; we were completely ignorant of the rules and thought that as long as she came back within a year things would be okay. She directly told the immigration officer that she'd taken a job in Japan and he wrote "I-327 advised" under the entry stamp in her passport.

Are we just pretty much out of luck with retaining her status? We don't have the option of her staying in the U.S. continually for a month+ in order to wait for a biometrics appointment (she can't get that much time off all at once) not to mention the fact that we're leaving back to Japan in a couple of days and I assume she'd have more serious hassle trying to enter again with the "I-327 advised" notation in her passport.

Any ideas/input/options? Are we stuck just filing an I-407 to relinquish her IR-1 status and starting all over again once we're ready to move back to the U.S.?

Thanks!

Hi,

You are stuck with filing all over again when she is ready to return to the US.

Under Japanese laws, your wife would lose her Japanese citizenship if she naturalizes and become a US citizen. Japan would not recognize dual citizenship for your wife. This is why lots of my Japanese friends will not naturalize and become US citizens.

The Re-Entry Permit is only good for 2 years and requires your wife to maintain her ties to the US. Google "maintaining legal permanent residency USCIS." The Re-Entry Permit only means her time outside the US is not counted against her. She still needs to comply with the rest of the terms of maintaining her LPR status.

While you viewed your wife as getting harassed, the CBP officer was doing his job to scrutinize green card holders who have violated the terms of their US residency.

If I were you and already got a warning, then I would file to surrender her green card at a US Embassy/Consulate, use the VWP to travel to the US, and reapply for a green card about a year before her intended return to the US.

Best of luck.

Edited December 28, 2015 by aaron2020