If like me you’re a permanent resident in the USA you may need to consider what effects being out of the country might have on your permanent resident status.
If you’re a permanent resident then you already know the road to get this far is filled with phone calls, appointments, photographs, fingerprints, forms, more forms, money, money and more money. It should therefore come as no surprise to find that in order to leave the USA for an extended period it will involve more of the above. At the time of writing this post, if you intend to be out of the country for over a year, you will need to apply for an I131 re-entry permit. Failure to do this will be interpreted as an abandonment of your residency. This will mean you will have to reapply for your permanent resident status!! If the pain of doing this the first time is as fresh to you as it is to me, then I’m sure it’s not something you wish to repeat.
At the time of writing this post, if you intend to leave the USA for less than a year you will not need to apply for a re-entry permit. You will be able to enter the USA with your permanent resident card as usual.
In addition to the I131 form, you might also want to consider filing the N-470 which is used to preserve residence for naturalization purposes. Ok so what does that mean? Well in order to apply for naturalization/citizenship into the USA you must have a certain amount of years residing in the country. The timeframe varies upon differing scenarios which is something we won’t go into here. The point is that if you stay outside of the USA for a year or more then all the time you’ve accrued in the USA will revert to zero unless you apply for the N-470.
For the I131 you MUST be in the USA in order to be present for the required biometric appointment. You’re allowed to leave the country before receiving your re-entry permit though as it can be sent to foreign addresses which includes an embassy or consulate. You don’t have to be in the USA in order to apply for the N-470, but you have to apply for it within a year of departing the USA.
The wait for visa/permit applications to be processed can be lengthy so ensure you apply for these early to avoid potential problems affecting your travel plans.
Information on both of these applications can be found at the following links:
Obviously it’s advantageous to check the government website http://www.uscis.gov/ to receive the most up to date information pertaining to visa requirements for permanent residents. The comments here are only intended to bring your attention to the potential need to apply for certain documentation in order to continue your residency in the USA.
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