In short, I am a U.S. citizen, and my parents obtained Green Cards in 2018 valid for 10 years. They live in Ukraine and visited the U.S. at least once a year for up to 4 weeks (every 9-10 months on average) in 2018 and 2019. Then there was COVID, and now there's a war. In 2022 and 2023, they visited once each with a gap of 9-10 months. The reason they needed to stay in Ukraine is to care for my grandmother (86 years old), and my mother works for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
Yesterday, we all flew to USA. During passport control, we were asked why my parents were last in the U.S. in June 2023 and returned after 9 months. We provided reasons (as mentioned above - caregiving and military service for my mother). After that, we were taken to a separate room, and another officer asked the same questions and said we needed to file Form I-131 and provided printed documents with explanations. He also said that if this continues, they may revoke the Green Cards.
I know from the internet and printed materials that Form I-131 must be filed if the Green Card will be outside the U.S. for more than 1 year - in the case of my parents, they will be forced to stay in Ukraine until the end of the war but can fly to the U.S. for a couple of weeks every 6-9 months. Of course, the risk of losing the Green Card is unacceptable to us, and we want to understand what needs to be done to prevent this - my parents fully intend to obtain U.S. passports in the future, but circumstances are as they are.
In connection with this, I have a couple of questions for you:
Is it really necessary to file Form I-131 if they will be coming to the U.S. every 9-10 months?
What happens to their status after 2028 when the Green Card expires?
