International volunteering on a green card

[TogoAfrica 161]

My fiancé and I met in Togo Africa. I was volunteering my time teaching American Sign Languag and the Bible to the deaf. He was one of the hearing students who I taught ASL too. We quickly became friends and after two years of friendship he expressed his feelings for me. We are now currently involved in the K-1 visa petition and our request was accepted. We are now waiting for the medical and interview to be scheduled. We choice to marry in America because my mothers health is not good and we want access to America. 

 

But here is my question, we want to continuing volunteering our time and would like to go to ghana, a English country (since my french is not good and it would be easier for me and he is fine with the English language) and help teach sign language. We realize we can not do this until we get married and get the green card. We realize this also takes time (4-6 months), so our goal would be to do this travels my after one year of marriage. We would like to spend 6-8 months in Ghana teaching sign language and 4-6 months in America working seculinty. We would like to do this continually if possible. But.......if we do this, are we taking a chance they won’t let us back into America because we are not making America our home? We will be applying for american citizenship after 3 years marriage for him....but does this mean we can not pursue these goals we have until he becomes an american citizen because of fear they won’t let him back into the country because he is not making America his home? 

 

Any advice we would appreciate!!

 

this is what I found in the uscis about traveling 

“Permanent residents are free to travel outside the United States, and temporary or brief travel usually does not affect your permanent resident status. If it is determined, however, that you did not intend to make the United States your permanent home, you will be found to have abandoned your permanent resident status.  A general guide used is whether you have been absent from the United States for more than a year. Abandonment may be found to occur in trips of less than a year where it is believed you did not intend to make the United States your permanent residence.  While brief trips abroad generally are not problematic, the officer may consider criteria such as whether your intention was to visit abroad only temporarily, whether you maintained U.S. family and community ties, maintained U.S employment, filed U.S. income taxes as a resident, or otherwise established your intention to return to the United States as your permanent home. Other factors that may be considered include whether you maintained a U.S. mailing address, kept U.S. bank accounts and a valid U.S. driver’s license, own property or run a business in the United States, or any other evidence that supports the temporary nature of your absence.”

[Crazy Cat 41,888]

9 minutes ago, TogoAfrica said:

if we do this, are we taking a chance they won’t let us back into America because we are not making America our home?

Green card holders are required to make the US their primary residence....

 

9 minutes ago, TogoAfrica said:

We choice to marry in America because my mothers health is not good and we want access to America. 

Green Cards are not for "access to America". They are not tourist visas.  They are for living in the US.

 

Honestly, your plan has holes because of residency requirements.  Once he becomes a US citizen he can be outside the US as much as he wants...but living in the US for only a few months a year will bring scrutiny at the very least.

 

 

[Scandi 4,166]

Also, 4-6 months isn't the average processing time for a greencard atm. Consider yourself lucky if he gets approved for his greencard 1 year from filing. Many, many cases take longer than that now. Hopefully processing times speed up soon.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Scandi

[TogoAfrica 161]

47 minutes ago, missileman said:

Green card holders are required to make the US their primary residence....

 

Green Cards are not for "access to America". They are not tourist visas.  They are for living in the US.

 

Honestly, your plan has holes because of residency requirements.  Once he becomes a US citizen he can be outside the US as much as he wants...but living in the US for only a few months a year will bring scrutiny at the very least.

 

 

This is what we feared....we want to make America our home, but still we want to volunteer in other countries. Sadly we can not make West Africa/Togo our home because of many reasons. And it’s more practical to make America our home...we just also don’t want to give up volunteering teaching sign language in west Africa. The need for volunteers is large for this. But it seems like our goals/desires have complications. Thank you for your thoughts! 

[TogoAfrica 161]

23 minutes ago, Scandi said:

Also, 4-6 months isn't the average processing time for a greencard atm. Consider yourself lucky if he gets approved for his greencard 1 year from filing. Many, many cases take longer than that now. Hopefully processing times speed up soon.

Wow! We originally thought 3 months....then we heard 4-6 months and you are saying a year 😮. And this means he can not work for a year or more until he gets the green Card? Hmmmm 😏

[Scandi 4,166]

3 hours ago, TogoAfrica said:

Wow! We originally thought 3 months....then we heard 4-6 months and you are saying a year 😮. And this means he can not work for a year or more until he gets the green Card? Hmmmm 😏

If you read up on the process you will find info on this. While waiting for his greencard he has the option of also applying for an employment authorization document. That is a temporary thing that allows him to work while waiting for his greencard. The EAD takes about 5-7 months currently, I have seen cases where it has taken longer than that though, although it's not as common.

 

The EAD is for work inside the US.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Scandi