Traveling Outside U.S. After IR1 Green Card

[D2345 2]

My spouse and I are extensive travelers and we’re struggling with the requirement to not leave the US for more than 5-6 months at a time or risk losing her permanent resident status.

 

Flights to her home country are very long and expensive (30+ hours of flight time) so it's going to be very tedious and pricey to fly back and forth repeatedly, and we would also like to spend some time traveling in neighboring countries in Asia without having to worry about the clock ticking on her U.S. green card.

 

Does anyone have experience with getting a U.S. re-entry permit to stay longer outside of the country?

 

Ideally I think we’d stay out of the US for up to 9 months at a time, but still would like to keep the US as our permanent residence since that is genuinely what it is.

Edited April 29, 2021 by D2345

[Timona 4,208]

Is her GC 10 years or 2 years?

 

Regardless, I think you should be good. Otherwise can chime in

[Crazy Cat 42,198]

47 minutes ago, D2345 said:

My spouse and I are extensive travelers and we’re struggling with the requirement to not leave the US for more than 5-6 months at a time or risk losing her permanent resident status.

 

Flights to her home country are very long and expensive (30+ hours of flight time) so it's going to be very tedious and pricey to fly back and forth repeatedly, and we would also like to spend some time traveling in neighboring countries in Asia without having to worry about the clock ticking on her U.S. green card.

 

Does anyone have experience with getting a U.S. re-entry permit to stay longer outside of the country?

 

Ideally I think we’d stay out of the US for up to 9 months at a time, but still would like to keep the US as our permanent residence since that is genuinely what it is.

Technically, a legal resident can stay outside the US for up to a year.   But staying outside the US for 9 months a year repeatedly is unrealistic.  A Green Card is not intended to for just visits to the US. 

Edited April 29, 2021 by Lucky Cat

[D2345 2]

18 hours ago, Timona said:

Is her GC 10 years or 2 years?

 

Regardless, I think you should be good. Otherwise can chime in

10 year GC

[D2345 2]

Anyone have any other ideas?

[payxibka 10,047]

On 4/29/2021 at 8:27 AM, D2345 said:

My spouse and I are extensive travelers and we’re struggling with the requirement to not leave the US for more than 5-6 months at a time or risk losing her permanent resident status.

 

Flights to her home country are very long and expensive (30+ hours of flight time) so it's going to be very tedious and pricey to fly back and forth repeatedly, and we would also like to spend some time traveling in neighboring countries in Asia without having to worry about the clock ticking on her U.S. green card.

 

Does anyone have experience with getting a U.S. re-entry permit to stay longer outside of the country?

 

Ideally I think we’d stay out of the US for up to 9 months at a time, but still would like to keep the US as our permanent residence since that is genuinely what it is.

How long will you step back into the US?  Ideally you should spend more time in the US than away 

[aaron2020 11,651]

1 hour ago, D2345 said:

Anyone have any other ideas?

Get a Re-Entry Permit.  It will allow her to be outside the US for up to 2 years without abandoning her legal permanent residency.  Only her time outside the US is not counted against her.  She must do everything else to maintain her legal permanent residency such as filing US tax returns, not taking residency outside the US, etc.  Google Re-Entry Permit and maintaining legal permanent residency.  

Please be aware that staying outside the US for more than 6 months at a time means she will not be able to obtain US citizenship.  While being outside the US for more than 6 months with a Re-Entry Permit will not affect her legal permanent residency, but it will affect her eligibility to become a US citizen.

Edited May 2, 2021 by aaron2020

[Crazy Cat 42,198]

1 minute ago, aaron2020 said:

Get a Re-Entry Permit.  It will allow her to be outside the US for up to 2 years without abandoning her legal permanent residency.  Only her time outside the US is not counted against her.  She must do everything else to maintain her legal permanent residency such as filing US tax returns, not taking residency outside the US, etc.  Google Re-Entry Permit and maintaining legal permanent residency.  

^^^  Best answer available to stay outside the US for a year or more^^^

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

9 months a year ...every year? As opposed to just once or twice? Sorry, but that’s not residing in the US. And you can’t renew re-entry permits into perpetuity.

[Ryan H 3,828]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Working & Traveling During US Immigration forum.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

On 5/2/2021 at 9:12 AM, D2345 said:

Anyone have any other ideas?

Deal with the residency rules until she's been here long enough to file for US citizenship, have her do so, and then as soon as that process is done she can spend as much time outside the US and still come back as she'd like?

 

Yes, that will take a while. But at the end you can do what you'd like to without any problems in the future.

Edited May 3, 2021 by DaveAndAnastasia

[D2345 2]

On 5/2/2021 at 1:26 PM, SusieQQQ said:

9 months a year ...every year? As opposed to just once or twice? Sorry, but that’s not residing in the US. And you can’t renew re-entry permits into perpetuity.

Stay 9+ months in the US, then stay 9 months in her home country, then come back to US for another 9+ months and repeat.

 

That would be our ideal situation, if it was possible. We would still be spending a majority of our time in the US like that, but it means we would pay 50% less on flights every year and not waste as much time flying back and forth for 30 hours per trip.

[D2345 2]

So here is what I’ve found on the internet regarding international travel after GC:

 

1. You can travel outside the US for up to 6 months on a single trip without problems.

 

2. There’s no limit on how many times you can leave the US every year as long as it’s less than 6 months total per year.

 

Is this correct?

[aaron2020 11,651]

1 hour ago, D2345 said:

So here is what I’ve found on the internet regarding international travel after GC:

 

1. You can travel outside the US for up to 6 months on a single trip without problems.

 

2. There’s no limit on how many times you can leave the US every year as long as it’s less than 6 months total per year.

 

Is this correct?

No.  They can look at the totality of circumstances.  If a person is taking multiple trips and making brief visits to the US, then that person can lose their LPR status.

It is up to an immigration judge to take away LPR status.  CBP can only refer LPR to immigration court to strip them of their LPR status.  

 

LPR who want to be out of the country for up to 2 years should apply for a Re-Entry Permit.

 

Being outside the US can also affect eligibility to naturalize.

[D2345 2]

2 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

No.  They can look at the totality of circumstances.  If a person is taking multiple trips and making brief visits to the US, then that person can lose their LPR status.

It is up to an immigration judge to take away LPR status.  CBP can only refer LPR to immigration court to strip them of their LPR status.  

 

LPR who want to be out of the country for up to 2 years should apply for a Re-Entry Permit.

 

Being outside the US can also affect eligibility to naturalize.

Can you cite your source for that line in red?

 

Leaving the US for less than 6 months per year means you would be spending a majority of your time in the US, not just brief visits to the US.

 

The paperwork we got with the GC actually says you can't leave the US for longer than 12 months at a time, or you risk losing the GC. It doesn't even mention the 6 month rule at all...