Annual time in US for visa holders

[R&OC 370]

10 hours ago, Roel said:

Well, common sense - Legal residents of the US, need to keep their legal residency in the US...

 

If someone use their green card to "live" in the US only for few months every year, there is a BIG chance that eventually immigration officers will question that person and they will face the risk of loosing the green card.

 

If someone knows they will not live permanently in the US, then IMO they should NOT bother with acquiring green card.

I usually tend to agree with you but this time I don't - I wish the US would offer a residency (stay) without the intent to move. My husband and I have commuted between Germany and the US for a while on an ESTA. I am a professor with tenure and life-time employment in Germany BUT given my husbands career in the military and the lack of flexibility his job brings, we had no other choice than to file for the CR1 visa. I am doing a lot from home and wasn't too interested in finding a new position in the US (especially given the different structures of tenure track /non-tenure track paths in the US versus Germany)... we initially just wanted to make sure that CBP wouldn't flag me for commuting back and forth or even worse, wouldn't allow me to enter the country anymore in fear of me pursuing an AOS.

 

Having said that, I wish there would be a happy medium. As he is up for a change of duty station soon, we really don't know where the military is going to take us anyway.

[R&OC 370]

10 hours ago, Roel said:

 

 

If someone knows they will not live permanently in the US, then IMO they should NOT bother with acquiring green card.

That's the thing, though. We do want to live in the the US permanently after his retirement but right now, while he is on active duty and I am working, too - it is a bit of a challenge.

[bad4tatt 168]

10 hours ago, Roel said:

Well, common sense - Legal residents of the US, need to keep their legal residency in the US...

 

If someone use their green card to "live" in the US only for few months every year, there is a BIG chance that eventually immigration officers will question that person and they will face the risk of loosing the green card.

 

If someone knows they will not live permanently in the US, then IMO they should NOT bother with acquiring green card.

This is exactly what OP is doing. They do this a lot in Vancouver Canada as well. When border patrol gets suspicious of the activity they are screwed.

[Roel 7,192]

8 minutes ago, R&OC said:

That's the thing, though. We do want to live in the the US permanently after his retirement but right now, while he is on active duty and I am working, too - it is a bit of a challenge.

This is where sacrifice comes - immigrants needs to leave their "old" live behind (home, families, job) if they want to be with their US spouses. For me, personally, it was an easy choice though.  Unfortunately it is what it is. You can't have a cake and eat it too. We can't do anything about it.

 

On a side note, I like how military moves us around. It's an interesting experience.

Edited July 10, 2018 by Roel

[R&OC 370]

9 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Study the original "source" and you'll see it's not as simple as you would hope.  Essentially "live" in the USA more than not and don't leave for a year without coming back.

 

It is always a judgment call on each entry.

 

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

I just went over the link and do have a question in regards to that without wanting to open a new threat. I have travelled extensively for the past twenty years. As an academic, you may find yourself all over the world for conferences, guest lectures etc. My children do not want to immigrate at this point as they both do not want to pursue the military life style of moving every 2 years right now. Both say, they love to join us upon my husbands retirements.

 

So two questions in one: Job wise I will always travel a lot no matter if the country of origin is Germany or the US plus occasional trips to accompany my children on long flights, weddings etc. I am somewhat worried that we may have problems then.

[Boiler 44,870]

3 hours ago, R&OC said:

I just went over the link and do have a question in regards to that without wanting to open a new threat. I have travelled extensively for the past twenty years. As an academic, you may find yourself all over the world for conferences, guest lectures etc. My children do not want to immigrate at this point as they both do not want to pursue the military life style of moving every 2 years right now. Both say, they love to join us upon my husbands retirements.

 

So two questions in one: Job wise I will always travel a lot no matter if the country of origin is Germany or the US plus occasional trips to accompany my children on long flights, weddings etc. I am somewhat worried that we may have problems then.

Naturalise after 3 years and then you can come and go as you wish.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

4 hours ago, R&OC said:

 

So two questions in one: Job wise I will always travel a lot no matter if the country of origin is Germany or the US plus occasional trips to accompany my children on long flights, weddings etc. I am somewhat worried that we may have problems then.

 None of these kinds of travels imply you would be abandoning residence. I don’t see any problems. However if you were to make your primary residence in Germany and attempt to visit the US a couple months a year to keep your green card - that would be where an issue arises.

Edited July 10, 2018 by SusieQQQ

[pushbrk 12,569]

There are no travel restrictions.  Simply maintain your LPR status.  Reside in the USA.

[pushbrk 12,569]

6 hours ago, R&OC said:

That's the thing, though. We do want to live in the the US permanently after his retirement but right now, while he is on active duty and I am working, too - it is a bit of a challenge.

If you are with your spouse while he is deployed abroad, that is also considered as living in the USA.

[Visitor User 253]

If a green card holder never leaves the USA during their entire time they were a green card holder. Does it make the case stronger to obtain USC?

[Going through 5,669]

1 hour ago, Visitor User said:

If a green card holder never leaves the USA during their entire time they were a green card holder. Does it make the case stronger to obtain USC?

Never leaving the US will guarantee that you meet the physical presence requirement, nothing more.

[pushbrk 12,569]

5 hours ago, Visitor User said:

If a green card holder never leaves the USA during their entire time they were a green card holder. Does it make the case stronger to obtain USC?

No, that's not a criteria.

[NikLR 13,227]

~~moved to general immigration discussion.  Topic is not specific to the IR1/CR1 process~~

[Ben & Katy 168]

Down here where I live in the borderlands of Arizona/Mexico a lot of people from Nogales,AZ come and go everyday between both Nogales AZ/Mexico.  I guess my question is once my spouse and I are in the USA does it matter if we decided to spend one weekend per month visiting relatives in Mexico?  Example; arrive friday evening and leave to come home to the USA on Sunday afternoon?  

[Boiler 44,870]

Just need to keep track as I doubt you would otherwise have much of a record.