CR-1 Residency Question

[kshoemoney 4]

If a spouse is granted CR-1 visa, but they need to stay in their home country for a while after they were approved (say they needed to stay past than the 6 months they are allowed to activate the visa), could they travel to the US to activate the CR-1 and then travel back to their home country until they have tied up all their loose ends there and then come back to live in the US after that? In short, there any requirements that you stay in the US after you activate your CR-1?

 

Also, would this affect at all your application to remove the conditional status after 2 years? Is there any residency length requirement on that application?

 

Thank you

[geowrian 22,337]

One can enter on the immigrant visa one day and leave the next. The endorsed immigrant visa acts as a green card for up to 1 year.

 

That said, how long are we talking to "tie up loose ends"? A couple months? Six or more months? A year?

A couple months would likely be fine. At 6 months or more, they are technically applying for admission, and the CBPO may question their actual permanent residency. It's usually not an issue the first time. At 1 year or longer, there is a presumption of having abandoned permanent residency.

 

There is no length of presence required for ROC. However, if the time abroad is without the spouse and is extended, it may raise questions about the validity of the marriage since you are not living together.

 

Time abroad can be factors for eligibility for naturalization later (both in physical presence and continuous residency).

[kshoemoney 4]

10 minutes ago, geowrian said:

There is no length of presence required for ROC. However, if the time abroad is without the spouse and is extended, it may raise questions about the validity of the marriage since you are not living together.

Ok thank you so much for your help!