Forgot to surrender GC, unable to obtain ETSA and travelling in 5 days

[sjavj 1]

Hey guys, 

 

Hoping to get some insight from fellow visajourneyers. My wife obtained her permanent greencard in 2014 but career/life circumstances have led both of us to her home country in the UK for the past three years, where we are stable have incomes and a home. The idea had always been to just re-start the greencard process in a 5-10 years if/when we moved back to the United States.

 

Fast forward and we are planning to visit my family in the USA for a short 2-week stay and we now see the gravity of the situation in which we've totally neglected the normal steps that would allow my wife be able to re-enter the US. My wife was denied ETSA and we realized we should have sorted a bunch of things out months in advance.  As it stands we 1. did not surrender her green card in advance as we thought it would simply expire on its own and as such we 2. are not able to obtain ETSA or a regular travel visa. 3. We never got re-entry permits because we felt it was not applicable in our situation. 

 

We are set to fly out in 5 days... are we (removed) outta luck? Or is there some glimmer of hope that my wife would be allowed entry in the USA based on the fact that we can demonstrate that we do not intend for my wife to stay in the the USA. We have a return ticket and a job, car payments, house payments etc. back in the UK.  Would it be wise to prepare to submit an i-407 or would this preclude her ability to be let in the USA.

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Unlockable
removed foul language

[Ontarkie 14,378]

~~Moved to Tourist Visas, from Working and Traveling- the topic is about visiting~~

[geowrian 22,338]

First issue would be boarding the flight. Without an ESTA, valid green card, or valid visa, there's no way to board.

 

Edit: Was the green card for 2 years or 10 years?

Edited December 16, 2019 by geowrian

[designguy 1,179]

22 minutes ago, sjavj said:

USA based on the fact that we can demonstrate that we do not intend for my wife to stay in the the USA

Trying to enter the US on an expired green card and trying to improve the case by convincing the officer she doesn't intend to stay is probably not the right track.

 

She could expect to be asked to sign the I-407 or appear in front of an immigration judge to have her status as an LPR revoked.

Edited December 16, 2019 by designguy

[sjavj 1]

12 minutes ago, designguy said:

Trying to enter the US on an expired green card and trying to improve the case by convincing the officer she doesn't intend to stay is probably not the right track.

 

She could expect to be asked to sign the I-407 or appear in front of an immigration judge to have her status as an LPR revoked.

Thanks for responding! We have no problem with signing and submitting an I-407. We would have done it months ago if we had done our research.

 

If we submit our I-407 to the customs officer, do you think it is it possible my wife can be allowed entry then? 

[designguy 1,179]

2 minutes ago, sjavj said:

If we submit our I-407 to the customs officer, do you think it is it possible my wife can be allowed entry then?

Is the current green card expired?

[sjavj 1]

19 minutes ago, geowrian said:

First issue would be boarding the flight. Without an ESTA, valid green card, or valid visa, there's no way to board.

 

Edit: Was the green card for 2 years or 10 years?

Thanks for responding! It is valid for 10 years. It least on the UK side we should be fine to board the flight using this Visa. It's at the POE in the USA where we are anticipating problems and pondering if it is even worth the trouble for my wife to try... 

[sjavj 1]

Just now, designguy said:

Is the current green card expired?

current. is good for 10 years beginning in 2014.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

1. The last couple of times I flew from the UK to the US on my green card, I was asked how long I had been out the US for. I don’t think they anymore take an unexpired green card at face value, at least not always. 

 

2. Arriving with an i407 basically tells them you knew she was ineligible to enter but still didn’t get either an ESTA (ok, you tried) or a visa (I guess you left it too late to get a visa appointment if you are flying imminently? If you haven’t checked then at least do that first in case you can swing it) but absent any of those no, I can’t see them allowing her in.  You might ask for her to be paroled in to see an immigration judge, but as its not really serious request to try stay in the US long term, doing that could just mess up future chances of entry. 

Honestly, I think your best course of action is postpone the trip/get a B visa.

Edited December 16, 2019 by SusieQQQ

[Downloader 199]

How long has she been out of the US?

[sjavj 1]

2 minutes ago, Downloader said:

How long has she been out of the US?

3 years. 

[sjavj 1]

5 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

1. The last couple of times I flew from the UK to the US on my green card, I was asked how long I had been out the US for. I don’t think they anymore take an unexpired green card at face value, at least not always. 

 

2. Arriving with an i407 basically tells them you knew she was ineligible to enter but still didn’t get either an ESTA (ok, you tried) or a visa (I guess you left it too late to get a visa appointment if you are flying imminently? If you haven’t checked then at least do that first in case you can swing it) but absent any of those no, I can’t see them allowing her in.  You might ask for her to be paroled in to see an immigration judge, but as its not really serious request to try stay in the US long term, doing that could just mess up future chances of entry. 

Honestly, I think your best course of action is postpone the trip/get a B visa.

Yeah I think we're in a tough spot... Unfortunately it's too late to postpone the trip and getting the B visa isn't possible unless a greencard's been surrendered. 

 

In terms of the I-407, I think we'd offer to submit one if the officer gave us the option. But we wouldn't lead with this. 

 

 

[designguy 1,179]

8 minutes ago, sjavj said:

Yeah I think we're in a tough spot... Unfortunately it's too late to postpone the trip and getting the B visa isn't possible unless a greencard's been surrendered. 

 

In terms of the I-407, I think we'd offer to submit one if the officer gave us the option. But we wouldn't lead with this. 

Guess you just have to be prepared to be turned away at the border

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

13 minutes ago, sjavj said:

Yeah I think we're in a tough spot... Unfortunately it's too late to postpone the trip and getting the B visa isn't possible unless a greencard's been surrendered. 

 

In terms of the I-407, I think we'd offer to submit one if the officer gave us the option. But we wouldn't lead with this. 

 

 

Just remember that if you present the green card to fly with, and the checkin agent asks how long she has been out the US for, she can’t lie in order to board.

And then if they don’t ask her, what happens when you get to the US? I don’t believe CBP agents have the discretion to let someone in on B status when they are arriving without either ESTA or a B visa.  So the only options are either she signs i407 and catches the first plane back to the UK without passing the border, or they parole her in and the only justification for doing that would be to see an IJ. Which probably would not happen while you were there (huge backlog) and even if it did, having an IJ strip someone of LPR status looks much worse for future visit visa applications than a voluntary surrender. 

 

I’m not sure what you’re still waiting for re surrendering the green card, why not get the process started so everything else can fall into place?

Edited December 16, 2019 by SusieQQQ

[Going through 5,671]

12 minutes ago, sjavj said:

In terms of the I-407, I think we'd offer to submit one if the officer gave us the option. But we wouldn't lead with this. 

Not sure what else you could lead with, to be honest.

 

Once the CBP officer finds out she's been residing outside of the US for 3 years, there is no real other option I can see being presented to you in that moment.