Extended Trips May Cause Loss of Green Card

Lawful permanent residents who travel abroad for an extended period should familiarize themselves with the rules pertaining to abandonment of permanent residence.

They may be refused admission when they come back and faced with the possibility of losing their green card.

A returning resident who is found to have abandoned his/her permanent residence by an officer of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the port of entry will be charged under immigration laws as an immigrant who is not in possession of a valid entry document.

He/she will be issued a Notice to Appear before an immigration judge. At the hearing, the government has the burden to prove abandonment of residence.

Remaining outside the U.S. continuously for over a year is considered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as abandonment of residence. An absence of less than a year may also lead to a finding of abandonment especially if the U.S. resident lived and worked abroad and did not establish continuous intent to return to the U.S.

In one case, a lawful permanent resident stayed in the U.S. for less than one-third of his time and spent the rest in London to be with his wife and daughter, who were waiting for their immigrant visas. During his stay in the U.S., he worked temporarily and lived in temporary housing. The court held that he had relinquished his permanent resident status although he was absent from the U.S. for less than a year at a time.

The USCIS looks at the intent of the green card holder rather than the length of his stay abroad in determining abandonment of residence.

One who is returning from a temporary visit abroad is considered to have the intent to maintain his permanent residence in the U.S.

A trip is considered a temporary visit abroad if it is for a relatively short period fixed by some early event or if the visit will terminate upon the occurrence of an event with a reasonable possibility of occurring within a short period of time.

In case the event does not take place within a relatively short period of time, the trip will be considered as temporary visit abroad only if the resident shows a continuous and uninterrupted intent to return during the visit.

Some criteria used in determining the presence of a continuous, uninterrupted intention to return include property and business affiliations in the U.S., family ties, length of residence in the U.S. and family and business ties in the foreign country.

In one case, a permanent resident was found not to have abandoned his residence in the U.S. although he took three trips abroad and was absent from the U.S. for fifteen months during his third trip.

The purpose of his first trip which lasted four months was to sell items and take care of some school matters for his children. In his second trip of six months, he took care of his dying mother. His third trip, which lasted for fifteen months, was for the sale of his family house.

The court, in deciding the case, took into consideration the totality of circumstances. It noted that given the fact that his wife and children lived in the U.S., his trips abroad were temporary visits and did not show a lack of continuous, uninterrupted intention to return.