msherema

Ah I get it now. Thanks for clarifying! So once you are out of the country is there a way to preserve residency?

Oh wait, i think it's just for those who need a visa - which I don't need as a Canadian. But because I am still considered a PR I cannot stay up here for much longer without it.

I have been trying to read up on advance parole vs re-entry permit and I am not sure what the difference is. We are not planning to come back for at least a year, maybe two.

Also, going onto the USCIS website, there is an option for people outside the US to submit. I can't find enough details to know if I can go this route but I am going to try.

Well, apparently you can submit an I-131 if you have been out of the US for less than a year. Until COVID I was going back and forth regularly and all I did was tell them I was a PhD student and it was fine. I lived in the US as a permanent resident for six years prior to starting my very long PhD. It was the customs officer who suggested I apply to naturalize. That's why the N-470 form came up. Apparently full time grad school precludes the paperwork others have to go through? Not sure but this last trip was the first time I-131 came up, and judging from student bulletin boards, this is pretty common. But with COVID and not being able to cross the border and my card expiring during that time it became a different story I guess. Oh and almost forgot: Yes we have been filing taxes since my hubby is still a citizen.

Well, I never knew I was still a permanent resident any longer, but after travelling to the US with an expired green card I found out I am! Apparently you can't get rid of it too easily, and I am glad for it. We left the US years ago for me to go to grad school in Canada. Between being a parent, along with COVID restrictions and part-time work my PhD has lasted nine years. (!) But the border services agent in Vermont told me that I needed to file a series of forms, starting with i-90 for my expired green card, and then either 1-131 or N-470. It's wasn't clear to me which one, and I wasn't convinced he was 100 percent clear either. In the end he said to file 1-131 and that I would have two years to file for naturalization - which I now realize I must do if we are to ever travel to/live in the US again over the long term. But it seems that you can only file the I-131 from the US. Does anyone have any information on whether that has changed since COVID? This is very stressful as we are planning to go back for a family visit this summer and I don't quite know which route to go. Thanks!