Green Card Granted, But Not Ready To Move Yet...

[phb30432]

Hello guys, hope you are all well. I have a bit of a problem, my parents and sister all have green cards. We are from the UK and are not yet ready to move to the USA due to my sister still being in full-time education.

We were told that they need to visit the US at least once every six months, otherwise their green cards will be revoked. As I'm sure you can all imagine, this is becoming very difficult to accomplish due to work commitments, not to mention VERY expensive too.

I have been told by somebody that there is a form you can use to apply for an extension that means the US only needs to be visited ONCE a year, rather than every six months, by explaining your particular circumstances, e.g. Still being in university.

Does anyone here know anything about this, or any other way around it for that matter?

Any sort of help will be greatly appreciated, many thanks in advance :cheerful:

[eau_xplain]

Sounds like a sticky situation.

How much longer will your sister need to say in the UK and finish her education? Do your parents have to stay with her?

I don't really know how long your parents and sister have to activate their green card. But they can come in and activate their cards and then have the following options:

a) depart and return every six months; or
b) apply for a re-entry permit which allows them to stay away for longer than 1 year but not more than 2 years; or
c) apply for a returning resident visa if they intend to stay away for longer than 2 years

Whichever option they take, they will have to prove that their primary residence is here in the US. I do suggest that you talk to a knowledgeable lawyer so that you can get more information about what your parents and sister will need to do/keep doing so that USCIS will not determine them as having abandoned their legal permanent resident status.

[Laura]

I think you need to look into what is called a "travel document" which should allow you to keep your PR status without living in the U.S. You will not accumulate any time toward applying for citizenship though.

Here's some information:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_1333.html

[phb30432]

Hello again, and thank you for your replies.

How long can we stay outside of the USA by filing a re-entry permit form?

My sister is about to embark on a four-year degree, can we file a consecutive re-entry permit form, say in one year from now?

Filing the form from the States shouldn't be too much trouble, thanks.

It's unfortunate the way things have turned out, but this is the way things have turned out, the GC 's took eleven years to come around, and at that time we couldn't predict what stage of our education we'd be at. I would imagine that there must be other people in the same boat, who cannot just up and leave on demand, after living in a country their whole lives. I hope I find the help here to resolve my predicament, many thanks once again.

[phb30432]

Thanks again guys. Do you know roughly how long it takes to file and process the re-entry form, so in other words, how long would we need to wait in the USA for the form, before we could leave for the two year period?

Also, what is involved in the form, do I need to give reasons for leaving for the duration of the form, and provide any evidence?

Kindest regards.