Permanent resident holder, temporarily living in home country

[Jennyjenny81 0]

Hi! My husband received his green card in 2011. We lived and worked in Germany 2015-2017( he applied for a re-entry permit), and we went back to the states. In June he was about to be laid off, but was offered a role in his home country. Myself and the kids joined him a few months later. 
 

We are about to do taxes and the 330 day residence test for foreign income exclusion, and he just had a panic that he should have filed for a re-entry permit. I think his fear is that the US government will think he’s abandoned residence in the USA. The thing is, we maintain a home and a mortgage payment in the USA, and all my family is there. 
 

His contract in the home country had a probation period and is not a permanent role. And furthermore we found out in December his employer is laying off 99% of their workforce, so we will likely return to the states near the end of the summer.

 

Should he be worried? Is there much risk in this situation? Apologizes if I haven’t called out all these forms correctly, thank you

[OldUser 6,662]

Yes, there is a risk since he spend a signigicant amount of time outside of the US.

 

He should be back in the US before 1 year mark or he's risking losing LPR status.

 

Maintaining house and mortgage will help to prove ties to the US, but do not assume this is all he needs and he's good.

 

His clock for naturalization already might have been reset since continuous residence was broken. 

Edited February 7, 2023 by OldUser

[Jennyjenny81 0]

Does it help that he’s been back to the states about every 6 weeks since he moved abroad in July? And would it also helped if he went ahead and filed for the re-entry permit in the meantime?

[OldUser 6,662]

56 minutes ago, Jennyjenny81 said:

Does it help that he’s been back to the states about every 6 weeks since he moved abroad in July? And would it also helped if he went ahead and filed for the re-entry permit in the meantime?

 

It helps if LPR spends more time in the US than outside in any given period of time.

Not sure whether re-entry permit would be helpful now. It also takes a lot of time to get processed. Maybe @Mike E or @Crazy Catcan suggest?

[Jennyjenny81 0]

38 minutes ago, OldUser said:

 

It helps if LPR spends more time in the US than outside in any given period of time.

Not sure whether re-entry permit would be helpful now. It also takes a lot of time to get processed. Maybe @Mike E or @Crazy Catcan suggest?

I think what’s going to end up happening, is that we will move back to the states almost a year to the day, from when we left. In a calendar year, it’ll we end up being 6 months us, and 6 months home country.

 

And essentially, he would be most at risk when crossing back into the USA if the border guard determines he has spent too much time out of the USA? 

[Mike E 11,739]

File to get the re-entry permit. Better late than never. 

[Jennyjenny81 0]

5 minutes ago, Mike E said:

File to get the re-entry permit. Better late than never. 

Thank you. He was also due to file his renewal, which is already done. He’ll get on that asap!