Moving back to US before US citizen wife

[Scotsman99]

Hello all,

Summary: I moved to California in 1996 on an H1-B to work for a database company as a software engineer. In 2001 my employment based Green Card was issued. I married my US citizen girlfriend in California at the end of 2001. We lived in CA until Jan 2006 at which point we moved to Scotland. So I was a tax paying bonna fide legal resident for nearly 10 years, 5 on a Green Card.

We had no plans to move back to the US at that point (hindsight is proving to be 20/20!). I'd never heard of a re-entry permit so never applied. So my Green Card has lapsed but we'd like to move back to the US (preferably with me getting another software engineering position in Silicon Valley and moving out there first to generate some income and set up a base). Is there any way/any easy way to do this ? Cash isn't an issue in terms of being able to prove our ability to sustain ourselves.

Any help with this appreciated!

Gary

[Daniel Green]

We had no plans to move back to the US at that point (hindsight is proving to be 20/20!).

I'm handling a case like this at the moment. (Although my client never left the U.S. for over a year, he still is facing some of the same issues you would face upon returning to the U.S.)

If you did not intend to return to the U.S. when you left, a responsible representative would be unable to contest a DHS finding of abandonment of lawful premanent residency in your case, since your intent was to leave the U.S. for good.

If you re-enter the U.S., the CBP (U.S. border guards) could find that you have been out of the U.S. for more than a year. If they make such a finding, they could admit you to the U.S. while at the same time issuing you a notice to appear( a summons to immigration court) as a person who was applying for admission without proper entry documents. Your legal permanent resident status does not terminate until you either relinquish it or it is terminated in removal proceedings. If you don't have a criminal record, CBP will let you in, but could start the process of removal proceedings nonetheless.

If you are placed in proceedings you could reapply for lpr status since you have a USC wife.

If you reenter the U.S. without a hassle, nothing is there to prevent CBP from issuing you a notice to appear at your next entry. So if you move back to the U.S. and stay here for 1, 4, 8 years, CBP could issue you a Notice to Appear, since subsequent trips do not cure a prior departure from the U.S. with the intent to remain abroad.

-Dan

[Scotsman99]

We had no plans to move back to the US at that point (hindsight is proving to be 20/20!).

I'm handling a case like this at the moment. (Although my client never left the U.S. for over a year, he still is facing some of the same issues you would face upon returning to the U.S.)

If you did not intend to return to the U.S. when you left, a responsible representative would be unable to contest a DHS finding of abandonment of lawful premanent residency in your case, since your intent was to leave the U.S. for good.

If you re-enter the U.S., the CBP (U.S. border guards) could find that you have been out of the U.S. for more than a year. If they make such a finding, they could admit you to the U.S. while at the same time issuing you a notice to appear( a summons to immigration court) as a person who was applying for admission without proper entry documents. Your legal permanent resident status does not terminate until you either relinquish it or it is terminated in removal proceedings. If you don't have a criminal record, CBP will let you in, but could start the process of removal proceedings nonetheless.

If you are placed in proceedings you could reapply for lpr status since you have a USC wife.

If you reenter the U.S. without a hassle, nothing is there to prevent CBP from issuing you a notice to appear at your next entry. So if you move back to the U.S. and stay here for 1, 4, 8 years, CBP could issue you a Notice to Appear, since subsequent trips do not cure a prior departure from the U.S. with the intent to remain abroad.

-Dan

Thanks for that. Advice I have been given elsewhere is to have my wife apply for permanent residency for me via DCF to the London embassy and start from scratch.