Working Abroad as DoD Contractor

[useful89 692]

I am the USC. My wife is waiting to remove conditions. She has her temporary green card.

 

I have a job offer to work as a DoD contractor in Germany. Whether I accept it or not largely hinges on my wife’s immigration status in the US. In short, can anyone tell me what our options are?

 

I know for US military members and government civilians, there are exemptions, but I’m not sure if those exemptions apply to government contractors. Can someone please help? Thank you. 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Answering because no one else has: It has never been quite clear to me how it works if the LPR is a spouse, but I am assuming that what you refer to is the ability to preserve residence.  This is what the manual says. A contractor for DoD sounds like it might qualify (see the bit I bolded). I don’t know much about this but it sounds like the i407 needs to be approved before leaving. If no one else on VJ volunteers any actual experience it might be worth a quick consult with an immigration attorney. Please note that if you plan to be absent more than a year she will also need a re-entry permit, as also detailed in the extract below.

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3

D. Preserving Residence for Naturalization (Form N-470)

Certain applicants^[28] may seek to preserve their residence for an absence of 1 year or more to engage in qualifying employment abroad.^[29] Such applicants must file an Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes (Form N-470) in accordance with the form instructions.

In order to qualify, the following criteria must be met:

• The applicant must have been physically present in the United States as an LPR for an uninterrupted period of at least 1 year prior to working abroad.

• The application may be filed either before or after the applicant’s employment begins, but before the applicant has been abroad for a continuous period of 1 year.^[30] 

In addition, the applicant must have been:

• Employed with or under contract with the U.S. government or an American institution of research^[31] recognized as such by the Attorney General;

• Employed by an American firm or corporation engaged in the development of U.S. foreign trade and commerce, or a subsidiary thereof if more than 50 percent of its stock is owned by an American firm or corporation; or

• Employed by a public international organization of which the United States is a member by a treaty or statute and by which the applicant was not employed until after becoming an LPR.^[32] 

The applicant’s spouse and dependent unmarried sons and daughters are also entitled to such benefits during the period when they were residing abroad as dependent members of the principal applicant’s household. The application’s approval notice will include the applicant and any dependent family members who were also granted the benefit.

The approval of an application to preserve residence does not relieve an applicant (or any family members) from any applicable required period of physical presence, unless the applicant was employed by, or under contract with, the U.S. government.^[33] 

In addition, the approval of an application to preserve residence does not guarantee that the applicant (or any family members) will not be found, upon returning to the United States, to have lost LPR status through abandonment. USCIS may find that an applicant who claimed special tax exemptions as a nonresident alien to have lost LPR status through abandonment. The applicant may overcome that presumption with acceptable evidence establishing that he or she did not abandon his or her LPR status.^[34] 

Approval of an application to preserve residence also does not relieve the LPR of the need to have an appropriate travel document when the LPR seeks to return to the United States.^[35] A Permanent Resident Card (PRC) card, generally, is acceptable as a travel document only if the person has been absent for less than 1 year.^[36] If an LPR expects to be absent for more than 1 year, the LPR should also apply for a reentry permit. The LPR must actually be in the United States when he or she applies for a reentry permit.^[37]