Green Card Holders Considering a Move Abroad: Here’s What You Need To Know

It is a common misconception that green card holders need only enter the United States once per year to maintain a green card. In addition to entering the country at least once a year, card holders must demonstrate their continued intent to remain permanent residents.

Maintaining permanent resident (green card) status

To maintain status for this purpose, you must preserve sufficient ties to the US to indicate that you consider the US to be your permanent home. To determine your intentions, the government will look at several factors, including:

• The length of your absence;
• The reason you are traveling;
• Whether you have a fixed date to return to the US;
• Whether you have continued to file tax returns as a resident alien;
• Whether you have maintained bank accounts, property and a driver’s license;
• The location of your family; and
• The location of your employment (i.e., US versus foreign employer, permanent versus temporary employment abroad, fixed-term employment contract).

Trips outside the US for less than six months do not usually pose a problem.

Trips outside the US of between six continuous months and one continuous year in duration may raise a red flag with an immigration officer upon your return. You may need to explain your absence, but you should be readmitted to the US based on your green card, without further documentation.

An approved reentry permit can facilitate US re-entry while you are abroad

If you travel abroad for a continuous year or more, you will be required to present a valid reentry permit to be readmitted to the US.

You must apply for the reentry permit in the US and attend a biometrics appointment so that your fingerprints and photographs can be collected, though a biometrics waiver will be granted in some circumstances. You may depart the country once your application is filed but must return for your biometrics appointment.

If you have urgent travel plans, it is possible to request expedited processing of the reentry permit application. Please contact your designated Fragomen professional in such cases.

Once your reentry permit is approved and issued, you may collect it at a US consular post or overseas US immigration office, or you may have it mailed to a US address. An initial reentry permit is typically valid for two years and is not extendable, though you may apply for a new one.

When you return to the US, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may still investigate whether you have abandoned your permanent residency and may ask about the factors listed above; the permit simply prevents the CBP from relying solely on your absence as a basis for determining whether you have abandoned your permanent resident status.

Note that trips outside of the US for one continuous year or more may raise issues in connection with any future application for naturalization to US citizenship, as described below.

Also, the reentry permit does not guarantee readmission to the US; rather, it certifies that the trip abroad has been accepted by the government as temporary.

An approved reentry permit will not preserve eligibility for a naturalization (citizenship) application

An overseas assignment may prevent a permanent resident from meeting the following naturalization requirements: 1) that you must reside continuously in the US for a period of five years following lawful admission to permanent residence; and 2) that you must be actually physically present in the US for at least 30 months at the time of filing your naturalization application.

Thus, it is possible that frequent trips (within every 12 months) back into the US may help preserve the ability to return to the country as a permanent resident, but an absence from the US may still serve to break the continuity of permanent residence for naturalization purposes.

Limited provision to preserve continuity of residence for naturalization purposes

If you plan to remain outside of the US for a year or more, you may apply to the USCIS for special benefits that will preserve the continuity of your residence during the extended absence. To qualify for extended absence benefits, you must have been physically present and residing in the US as a permanent resident for one year – with no absence from the US whatsoever – prior to the absence.

During the absence, you must be employed abroad by the US government, a US research institute, a US corporation or subsidiary that is engaged in the development of foreign trade or commerce, or an international organization of which the US is a member (provided that you were not employed by the international organization before becoming a permanent resident).

You must request the extended benefits before you have been absent for one year, and you must also show that your absence is in furtherance of your overseas employment.

Certain permanent resident spouses of US citizens may qualify for an exception to the naturalization physical presence and continuous residence requirements

The permanent resident spouse of a US citizen may be entitled to a complete exemption from the continuous residence and physical presence requirements associated with naturalization (citizenship) eligibility.

Specifically, the spouse of a US citizen who is assigned abroad by their US employer, for a period of not less than one year, may qualify under a special provision allowing for naturalization while accompanying your spouse abroad on the overseas assignment.

The US citizen spouse must be employed abroad by the government, a research institute, a corporation or subsidiary that is engaged in the development of foreign trade or commerce, or an international organization of which the US is a member (provided that you were not employed by the international organization before becoming a permanent resident).

The requirements are that you must be a lawful permanent resident of the US; be physically present in the country at the time of examination on the application for naturalization (the interview), as well as on the scheduled date of naturalization; establish that you will depart to join your citizen spouse abroad within 30 to 45 days from the date of naturalization, and; affirm your intention to reside in the US upon completion of your citizen spouse’s overseas assignment.

Need to know more?

For further information or if you have additional questions about maintaining permanent resident (green card) status, please reach out to Associate Sarah Melnick at [email protected].

This blog was published on September 26, 2023, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Instagram.