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Comment by jbn | Hacker News Reader

US citizen here. I have a special situation which I think will be only of interest to me...

My wife (a green card holder) and I have moved abroad and her travel document is expiring soon (in July). We have no returned to the US in the past 3 years, and were not planning to visit only for the purpose of resetting the counter..

We are planning to actually fly into the US for a vacation right after the expiry date... what if anything can be done to renew or extend the travel document (a.k.a re-entry permit)? Of course we are in good standing with respect to US taxation.

Else, can she apply for an ESTA (country of citizenship is part of the visa waiver program for tourists), which I believe be done up to 3 days before travel (is it ok to apply right at the deadline when the permit is about to expire but just so we travel 1 or 2 days immediately after expiry) ?

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Oh wow. Your wife is going to have to prove she hasn't abandoned her residency, which is normally automatic with a 2+ year absence (or even 1+ year without a re-entry permit). This will come down to establishing existing ties to the United States. Married to a US citizen helps but this doesn't mean you can stay abroad indefinitely either.

I hope she was filing US taxes while abroad. Every US citizen and LPR has to do this. Not doing so is more evidence of residency abandonment.

An obvious exception here is if you were sent internationally to work for your US employer on what is essentially a temporary assignment eg working for a US consulate in another country.

You have the option of just returning to the US before her green card expires. This will probably land her case in immigration court and you will need a laywer. Or you apply for re-entry at an embassy. You will also need a lawyer.

Get a lawyer.

If you do return and then leave again in relatively short order, you can probably kiss that green card goodbye, particularly if it's before your immigration court date. USCIS takes the view that green cards are for people who reside in the United States. The only form of "return when I want" status is citizenship.

> Oh wow. Your wife is going to have to prove she hasn't abandoned her residency, which is normally automatic with a 2+ year absence (or even 1+ year without a re-entry permit).

Practically, it depends on how picky the CBP officer is. I personally know of a guy who re-entered the US on his Green Card after a 7 year absence. From what he told me, he didn't even get sent to secondary inspection and was just welcomed back home. He flew into JFK.

I don't see them yoinking the GC of someone who has a US citizen spouse because of >2y absence, even though the law tells them to.

If she is no longer residing in the US, the legal thing is to enter as a visitor. There are two problems with this, first they will require her to sign a form giving up the green card status, and two, they may be suspicious that she actually intends to be a visitor since she is married to a US citizen.

They are definitely not going to let you extend the permit after it expired especially since you don't really meet the criteria for it (temporary long duration absence).

If you entered before it expires, you probably wouldn't face questions from CBP since you did get the permit, but that is just my guess.

She may find herself in the position I was in after 20 years we left the US, I stopped using my green card for entering the US because I was no longer a resident, but didn't realise I was required to physically hand it in when I was done with it (it was 20 years later) - got stopped at the border and got a good talking to. So make sure you hand it in when you're done with it

Good questions and a not-uncommon situation. This is very specific to your situation so please email me.

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