Applied for reentry permit in March 2024, left US in May 2024 after biometric reuse

[bohgc 0]

I am GC holder since 2019. I applied for reentry permit in March 2019 and after biometric reuse I left on May 2024. My process is still pending and I see that it is taking 14.5 months for I131. Is it required to travel close to May 2025 to avoid risk of loosing GC for staying outside the country for more than a year? I don't want to wait and see the I131 getting denied for me being out of country for long.

 

Any advice?

[bohgc 0]

Applied for reentry permit on March 2024. Sorry for the typo above

[ordjnb 43]

Think this depends on your risk tolerance. I'm facing the same issues for my parents. 

 

If you can go, I'd go with a lot of evidence, with ties to the US, including tax returns, bank accounts, and your biometrics and notice letters to prove intent of returning. You can argue that you came in under the year mark, to stay legally compliant, even though you have a reentry permit pending. 

 

The risk you run is if your Re-Entry permit is denied, being away a year is abandoning your green card. 

 

To give you an idea, my parents entered the US last month, 11 months after their prior visit and got their green cards revoked and issued an NTA. My dad had a pending re-entry permit (ironically it was approved a week ago) and my mom just had hers expired 2 days before entry. We messed up by having my mom travel after expiration, but they were indeed out for a while. My dad provided a copy of his notice not the original (that's with me) and had a copy of my US passport. It's the only evidence we gave, and was very weak and my parents with their bad English were unprepared. We got super lucky as CBP made a clerical error and gave back their green cards the next day and cancelled the NTA but it gave us the scare we needed to be prepared. 

 

I'm assuming your REP will get approved in June, if everything went well, you can pass your 1 year mark and be fine, if it is denied for whatever reason (unlikely unless you weren't physically present when applying but who knows), you're going to need to apply for that SB-1 visa and chances of approval are none. 

[bohgc 0]

This was for my son and wife. Thanks for your detailed response. I am really in double mind now to just wait for the Reentry permit to complete instead of dealing with all these complications, but exceeding 1 year may trigger something in the system and will cause the denial, so I may decide at last minute. I guess 11 months vs 11 month 25 days won't make much difference for the CBP officer. Would me (US citizen) traveling along with them would make it any easier with all the required documentation off-course. I am also thinking in worst case scenario I can always sponsor them for the new GC if all this doesn't go smoothly. My only confusion is whether its worth doing that trip

Edited March 6 by bohgc

[ordjnb 43]

On 3/6/2025 at 12:15 PM, bohgc said:

This was for my son and wife. Thanks for your detailed response. I am really in double mind now to just wait for the Reentry permit to complete instead of dealing with all these complications, but exceeding 1 year may trigger something in the system and will cause the denial, so I may decide at last minute. I guess 11 months vs 11 month 25 days won't make much difference for the CBP officer. Would me (US citizen) traveling along with them would make it any easier with all the required documentation off-course. I am also thinking in worst case scenario I can always sponsor them for the new GC if all this doesn't go smoothly. My only confusion is whether its worth doing that trip

I don’t think waiting beyond a year will cause a denial. There’s cases of people who have been out for over a year and their REP was approved and they entered the US on it no problem. 
 

If you were physically in the US while you applied and not leave after mailing, the chances of denial are pretty low I’d say. That’s the only reason I see for a denial for a permit thought I’m sure there might be other reasons not applicable to you like crime. 
 

if you do do a trip I think entering with your wife does help the case.