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Preserving Your Green Card

Once you have a green card, you are required to make the United States your permanent home. If you don't, you risk losing your card. This does not mean that your ability to travel in and out of the United States is limited. Freedom to travel as you choose is an important benefit of a green card. However, no matter how much you travel, you must maintain your permanent residence in the United States. It's safest not to stay away for more than six months, especially if you are thinking about becoming a United States citizen. Also, all green cards issued since 1989 carry expiration dates of ten years from the date of issuance. This does not mean that the residency itself expires in ten years, just that the card must be replaced.

Being a legal permanent resident (LPR) requires intent to maintain such status. As a result, you could jeopardize your green card status by committing a deportable offense. However, due process must be respected and many waivers also are available to preserve and protect the immigrant’s rights. If an LPR faces deportation, the counsel and assistance of legal counsel is of utmost importance.

If a green card was granted based upon mistake, fraud or other similar matters, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) could issue a Notice of Intent to Rescind (NOIR) or in other words the USCIS could take back an approved green card. This action is rarely taken due to the serious adverse legal consequences and due to the requirement that the USCIS follow certain due process procedures. Presently, egregious fraud tends to be the usual cause of receiving a NOIR. This usually involves discovery of misrepresentation of either yourself or your documents before or after being granted your green card. To avoid such a result, it is important for LPRs to never misrepresent themselves as U.S. citizens or to attempt to deceive the USCIS.

Furthermore, as an LPR, an immigrant is still required to promptly report any change of their home address via the AR-11 Form (Change of Address) with the Department of Homeland Security. It is also wise to safeguard your green card by making a front and back copy of it and keeping that copy in a safe place. Also, in the event your green card is lost or stolen, you could secure a new one by completing Form I-90 (Application to Replace Alien Registration Card) and paying the current form fee.

Typically, abandonment is the major issue that LPRs must concern themselves with when it comes to preserving their green card. This is because absences from the U.S. for more than six months will raise a presumption that an individual intends to abandon their permanent resident status and green card. Absences of more than one year actually invalidate the green card as an entry document unless a valid re-entry document is obtained. A re-entry permit will be granted if intent to remain in the U.S. is sufficiently demonstrated. A re-entry permit is usually granted for two years and serves as recognition of residence despite prolonged absence from the U.S.

In determining whether or not abandonment has occurred, officials will look to the length and reason for the absence as well as the number and type of connections a LPR has in the U.S. Failure to file a tax return is usually considered as a sign that LPR status, and the green card along with it, have been abandoned. Therefore, an important factor to preserve LPR status is the proper filing of tax returns while abroad and copies of the return to prove it upon reentry. Another effort that can be utilized to prevent abandonment is to maintain an active bank account and credit cards in the U.S., and to have documentation that proves this as well. Also, continue to renew your driver’s license and have a copy of any U.S. deeds to show your property interest in the U.S.

In the event an LPR’s absence is the result of employment, obtaining a letter from the employer describing the terms and length of employment is helpful. If the absence is due to personal or family reasons, those reasons must also be well documented. All these efforts and supporting documentation are very important because they all serve to rebut the presumption that an individual intends to abandon their residency. Instead, they indicate an intent to remain in the U.S. and will likely enable you to preserve your green card.

It is imperative to remember that a visit every year to the U.S. will not preserve LPR status. While a green card is sufficient to reenter for absences of less than a year, it is not enough to indicate the intent to remain as a resident of the U.S. The above mentioned additional evidence and actions are very important to utilize in order to preserve your green card.

If you are concerned about preserving your green card due to your travel plans or prior actions and the implications they may have on your LPR status, please do not hesitate to contact the skilled and experienced attorneys at Shihab & Associates Co., LPA. as we are ready to assist you in ensuring that your hard earned green card is preserved.