If we live outside the USA and would like visa to visit family.

[walran 24]

My wife and I are in Utah legally (she has a green card). We plan on moving to Nepal on a permanent basis in just under 3 years. To do that she needs to maintain her citizenship there.  My question is if we can show that we have our permanent residence abroad can she get a visitors visa for the US so that we an visit family once a year for a month or two???

 

I have heard that they don't let spouses do that if one or the other is a citizen..

[Roel 7,192]

Do not move abroad until your spouse receive her US citizenship. You said maintain citizenship but she's only a resident. IF you move she'll loose her green card and then if you ever decide to move back to the US you'll need to start the long and expensive spouse visa process from the start. 

 

If you want to pernamently move abroad but don't want to wait foe your wife's citizenship,  contact Uscis and officially have your wife give away her green card. 

 

Then whenever you want to visit US as tourists she can apply for normal toursit visa. (Just remember it's never guaranteed that she'll receive one). 

[walran 24]

1 minute ago, Roel said:

Do not move abroad until your spouse receive her US citizenship. You said maintain citizenship but she's only a resident. IF you move she'll loose her green card and then if you ever decide to move back to the US you'll need to start the long and expensive spouse visa process from the start. 

 

If you want to pernamently move abroad but don't want to wait foe your wife's citizenship,  contact Uscis and officially have your wife give away her green card. 

 

Then whenever you want to visit US as tourists she can apply for normal toursit visa. (Just remember it's never guaranteed that she'll receive one). 

Thank you, They don't allow dual citizenship in Nepal unfortunately as travel is much easier with a US passport.  We plan on moving permanently to Nepal just coming back for yearly visits. Is there a specific way to surrender the green card to the USCIS?

 

Thanks!

[Roel 7,192]

Ah didn't realize they don't allow dual citizenships. 

 

https://www.uscis.gov/i-407

[apple21 953]

She has to lose her US residency first before she can surrender her GC.

 

IF a GC holder is outside the US for 1 year or more that’s when they lose their US residency. The GC surrendering will be done in the US Embassy in Nepal. 

[Danilu 11]

I read some posts about surrendering the GC, but I thought  the resident had to do it right after leaving the USA.

[NikLR 13,227]

On 5/7/2018 at 11:08 AM, apple21 said:

She has to lose her US residency first before she can surrender her GC.

 

IF a GC holder is outside the US for 1 year or more that’s when they lose their US residency. The GC surrendering will be done in the US Embassy in Nepal. 

They can surrender their green card while abroad immediately. They dont need to wait a year. 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

On 5/7/2018 at 10:08 AM, apple21 said:

She has to lose her US residency first before she can surrender her GC.

 

 

 

36 minutes ago, Danilu said:

I read some posts about surrendering the GC, but I thought  the resident had to do it right after leaving the USA.

Neither of these is accurate. You can surrender your GC any time you want, although you may have already been deemed to have abandoned residency by the time you do if you take long enough As I understand it even in the latter case it’s still worth doing officially to (1) help for gaining entry on any future trips (2) as a “clean” indication that you are no longer required to file tax returns with the irs.

[walran 24]

Some have mentioned that it is a year outside that it takes to lose their green card.. I think it is actually only 6 months that you can be outside the United states. If you spend more time than 180 days that can automatically void your visa/green card.

 

[Danilu 11]

Thanks for this valuable information, SusieQQQ. I want to do the right thing, given that I'm moving back to my country soon  and  don`t want to have troubles if I decided to apply for a tourist visa in the future.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

36 minutes ago, walran said:

Some have mentioned that it is a year outside that it takes to lose their green card.. I think it is actually only 6 months that you can be outside the United states. If you spend more time than 180 days that can automatically void your visa/green card.

 

Incorrect, seeing as you are presumably on the way to getting a green card please make sure to familiarize yourself with the requirements -

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/international-travel-permanent-resident

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/maintaining-permanent-residence

 

then much more detailed: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/M-618.pdf

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

37 minutes ago, Danilu said:

Thanks for this valuable information, SusieQQQ. I want to do the right thing, given that I'm moving back to my country soon  and  don`t want to have troubles if I decided to apply for a tourist visa in the future.

Nothing is guaranteed of cours, but a voluntary surrender of a GC is pretty strong evidence against immigrant intent. Good luck!

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

1 hour ago, walran said:

Some have mentioned that it is a year outside that it takes to lose their green card.. I think it is actually only 6 months that you can be outside the United states. If you spend more time than 180 days that can automatically void your visa/green card.

 

Not automatically

 

It is up to CBP's discretion whether or not to admit an LPR after 180 days outside the US. They may let 'em in with a lecture, or worse case, refer the 180+day'er to an immigration judge for abandonment. But nothing is automatic..

[Going through 5,671]

2 hours ago, walran said:

I think it is actually only 6 months that you can be outside the United states. If you spend more time than 180 days that can automatically void your visa/green card.

Not true.

 

6 months outside of the States can give one a harder time at the border and more scrutiny when reentering, but it is 12 months outside the States that has the presumption of abandoning one's green card (and even then, it's not going to happen automatically).

Edited July 13, 2018 by Going through

[walran 24]

23 hours ago, Going through said:

Not true.

 

6 months outside of the States can give one a harder time at the border and more scrutiny when reentering, but it is 12 months outside the States that has the presumption of abandoning one's green card (and even then, it's not going to happen automatically).

Good to know! SO my question is if we spend 10 months outside the US each year should I assume that we will lose her greencard?