Green Card India

Question:

I have heard of the reentry permit. If we take this, how long can we stay outside without losing our green cards and hopefully not resetting our citizenship time. We have another 2.5 years to go before we can file for our citzenship.

is there a web site that explains very clearly as to what the requirements are?.

If I go to work for my company in India , can we use the job transfer as a way of maintaining the green card?.

Answer:

My father is not doing well and I am strongly thinking of moving to India temporarily. We hold a green card( my wife and I) and my son is a US Citizen. We do not want to lose our green card.

is there a web site that explains very clearly as to what the requirements are?.

If I go to work for my company in India , can we use the job transfer as a way of maintaining the green card?.

I doubt we can keep our home. We might have to sell it or rent it out. We do have stocks, mutual funds and IRAs that we can show as property.

If you have so much wealth why ask here? Consult an attorney and get the proper advice.

What has it to do with welth, where somebody gets his information?

You can remain outside the U.S. for just under 2 years. Then you would have to return to the U.S. Then you could leave and return again less than one year later. During your visit to the U.S., you should probably apply for a new reentry permit (these cannot be applied for when the applicant is physically outside the U.S.)

We have another 2.5 years to go before

The citizenship application requires that at least 2.5 years out of the immediately previous 5 years have been spent physically in the U.S. Also, if you leave for more than 6 months at a time, you must convince INS that you maintained permanent resident status.

Here are some websites on the topic:

http://travel.state.gov/visa;returning_alien.html http://www.americanlaw.com/maintlpr.html http://www.vkblaw.com/law/maintain.htm http://foreignborn.com/visas_imm/entering_us/12returning-residentalie... http://antaoandchuang.com/i-keeping.html

With a reentry permit, you can leave for up to two years. You can then return and apply for another one. The third reentry permit, and subsequent ones, would only be issued for one year.

As for naturalization, that's trickier. You must satisfy not just residency requirement (having a GC for five years) but also physical presence requirement. See http://www.ins.gov/graphics/services/natz/require.htm for details.

In general, the requirements are that you must have spent at least half of the last five years physically in the US, and there must not have been any absence of more than six months. There are exceptions to that rule.

Also, you must have resided in the district where you are applying for at least three months.

Basically, that means that in order to be naturalized, you would have to do the following:

- return every six months (not a day over six months!) for a few days. - move back to the US after 4 years and six months since you got your GC. You can then apply three months later (three months before the fifth anniversary) and be naturalized.

One more catch that is easy to overlook: if you wait until you were out of the US for more than 2 1/2 years, your physical presence would have been too far in the past, and would have to wait another 2 1/2 years before you are eligible for naturalization.