Question:
I'm currently living in Australia and an Australian Citizen.
My father is American Citizen and he have submitted a form for me to obtain
a green card about 6 years ago.
I would obtain my green card shortly.
Once I obtained my green card I will stay in America for a few months then I
need go back to Australia after that to complete my study ~ 1, 2 years
Can I do this and will I lose my green card status?
Is there a minimum stay in US after I obtained my green card before I can
travel outside of America?
Answer:
You can probably file form I-131 when you are in the US which may let
you stay outside of the US "safely" for up to two years. See
http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-131.htm
I don't know what the circumstances are under which they refuse to
grant a reentry permit.
You may also want to take a look at form N-470 at
http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/n-470.htm but I don't think
it's going to be relevant to you.
From what I have heard about this, you have to live in the US at least 6
months and a day every year. If you don't, the authorities don't see you
as living in the US and therefore have no need for a green card. You mi-
ght want to contact USCIS and find out for sure. It would suck to lose a
GC after having waited so many years.
That could be dangerous, theoretically you could lose it in a day, pack
up your belongings, sell your house, quit your job and move overseas.
One of the benefits as I see it in getting Citizenship.
You have heard wrong...
A permenent resident has to reside permanently in the US. It is called
"permanent resident" for a reason.
This does not preclude *temporary* absences.
If the authorities determine that you have abandoned your residence in the
US, absences of 1 day can be enough to lose the GC.
For temporary absences of less than 180 days, there usually is no problem.
For temporary absences of more than 180 days but less than 1 year, the
person would seek admission to the US upon return, and all the grounds of
inadmissibility apply, e.g., communicable disease, public charge, etc.
For absences over 1 year, the GC is lost unless the person has a reentry
permit applied for before leaving.
The reentry permit allows a PR to apply for admission anytime during its
validity (2 years from issuance, except in rare circumstances.)
All these timeframes have nothing to do with the calendar year. They are
durations.
Even if abroad, it is also very important to file US tax returns as tax
resident and to declare the worldwide income on these returns.
What am I wrong about? You said it yourself, if you're outside the US
for max 180 days(6 months) then there is no problem!!
Read again what you said: "you have to live in the US at least 6 months
and a day every year."
That is definitely wrong. First off, you don't "have to live 6 months and a day"
in the US. Second, the requirements are not based on the calendar year.
I said that *temporary* absences are ok for certain amounts of time.
Well then you know more than the immigration officer that told me wh-
at I wrote!
Well, you can look it up yourself. The immigration law is online on the USCIS
website.
That's where I get my information from...
It is known that CIS frontline people often give wrong and sometimes dangerous
"advice". There are lots of posts and news articles about that.
This a fuzzy area of the law. If you feel like doing some research, you
can go to the "virual law library" at www.usdoj.gov/eoir -- and under
AG/BIA decisions, look up "Kane" in volume 15 and "Huang" in volume 19.
There is a MYTH that retention of permanent residence is dependent upon
time -- it is NOT -- it is based upon whether or not your INTENT is to
have a temporary absense. Of course, subjective intent is inferred from
objective facts, one of which can be time.
Where time IS important is on the validity of return documents. You can
file for a book style "renentry permit" while in the US. This is good
for two years and expresses an intent to return. A green card is good
for admission within a year of departure. Another alternative is to ap-
ply and obtain an "SB-1" returning resident visa from the consulate.
One important factor of intent to retain LPR is to file your UNITED STA-
TES tax return on WORLDWIDE income.
BTW, in talking about "admission documents" above, please note that the
green card will be a valid BOARDING document.
As I said, this is a gray area -- you should be careful. But lengthy
absenses are allowed as long as they are temporary in nature.
