Re-entering US after 9-10 months abroad?

[test85 0]

Hi everyone,

I will try to keep it short, but all this is due to personal reasons, and I am struggling with what is the right move forward.

 

I came to the US on a F1 visa. After two years, my wife (USC) and I married, and I received my conditional green card. Now, during ROC some issues arose, and we thought it would be best if I had an extended stay with my family (abroad). We are still together and we would be planning that I would get back to the US in May of 2018. I left the country August of 2017. The ROC was approved and I have the full green card.

 

If I register (a domicile) abroad, in order to receive healthcare locally and pay taxes for the time being (I still work remotely for my company in the US), would I get into trouble when trying to re-enter the US? My native country has a tax treaty with the US, and I fully expect tax information to be exchanged with the US.

What would be the smartest thing to do?

Am I maybe just worrying about nothing, as long as I still have ties to the US?

My wife is there, I still have an active lease, pay utilities, have credit cards, back accounts, my drivers license, etc.

 

Thank you in advance, and I hope this is the correct forum.

[NikLR 13,227]

Generally it is an issue to establish residence in another country when you are supposed to be a resident of the USA.  Expect questions if you reenter. 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

2 hours ago, test85 said:

Hi everyone,

I will try to keep it short, but all this is due to personal reasons, and I am struggling with what is the right move forward.

 

I came to the US on a F1 visa. After two years, my wife (USC) and I married, and I received my conditional green card. Now, during ROC some issues arose, and we thought it would be best if I had an extended stay with my family (abroad). We are still together and we would be planning that I would get back to the US in May of 2018. I left the country August of 2017. The ROC was approved and I have the full green card.

 

If I register (a domicile) abroad, in order to receive healthcare locally and pay taxes for the time being (I still work remotely for my company in the US), would I get into trouble when trying to re-enter the US? My native country has a tax treaty with the US, and I fully expect tax information to be exchanged with the US.

What would be the smartest thing to do?

Am I maybe just worrying about nothing, as long as I still have ties to the US?

My wife is there, I still have an active lease, pay utilities, have credit cards, back accounts, my drivers license, etc.

 

Thank you in advance, and I hope this is the correct forum.

You're in pretty good shape.  Employment with a US company while maintaining ties to the US is generally an accepted reason to be abroad. 

 

Expect to be questioned at re-entry but your ties are more than my wife and I had and we always got passed through, even after an 11-month stay outside the US.  If you want some worry-free time outside the country get back ASAP (before you are out for 6 months), apply for a travel document, take the biometrics, and then you can leave.  Apply now.  You only need to be there for biometics. 

Ask for travel document to be forwarded to your nearest embassy or consulate wherever you are going.  There's a place on the application to do that.  Good luck.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Nitas_man

[Ontarkie 14,234]

Establishing Residency in your home country and paying taxes as a resident using the health care system that is for residents only is a good way of showing you are not a US resident. 

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

As a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) of the United States, you are required to permanently reside in the United States. Of course, you can leave the country for a while if you have a good reason to do so. A good reason is if you work for a US company abroad. In that case, you'll pay income taxes in the United States, not abroad.

 

What you cannot do, is establish (or reestablish) residency outside the United States. So if you work abroad, you will have a work visa for that country. Since a citizen cannot get a work visa for his country of citizenship, instead would work there by establishing residency, that's a no-go from the get-go, and the CBP officer in charge of "admitting" you to the United States again would have you bend over and have his go with you if he found out. He *may* conclude that you voluntarily abandoned your US residency by establishing residency in your country of citizenship and just "parole" you in with the requirement attached that you'll have a chat with an immigration judge.

 

For what it's worth, the same applies to those studying abroad. A citizen of the Ukraine can study in Russia as a foreign student, and if he uses every opportunity to return to the US, he may be able to do this for years without problems. But if that Ukrainian studies in the Ukraine, he won't be able to do that is a foreign student, but only as a Ukrainian residing in the Ukraine, and that's immigration suicide.