Wife and Child in US, now thinking about work in China

[HaoRan]

In the future I may have work in China. Now that my wife is in the US and is awaiting her 10 year Green card, I'm thinking of how this would affect her in the future.

 

From what I understand the US government wants the visa recipients to remain in the US.

 

Can this be worked out or does she need to remain in the US to keep her green card status?

 

Thanks in advance.

[chengdu4me]

If your work takes you overseas, your wife and children can go with you. It will most likely extent the time frame needed in the US to get the 10yr GC and/or citizenship time in country requirements. Certain forms are required to be filed before they leave US soil. Not sure what they are, but I know someone here knows and will chime in.

[Kyle]

http://www.antaoandchuang.com/i-keeping.html

 

If you plan to be out of the United States for

more than 12 months, you must first apply for

a re-entry permit before leaving. You can obtain

Form I-131 from http://www.uscis.gov. Also, you

should not move permanently to another country.

 

http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-617.pdf

 

My understanding is this. If your trip is shorter than six months then the burden to show that your spouse has given up residency in the States is on the the agents when she re-enters her POE. If her trip is longer than six months, the burden falls on your spouse to provide the necessary evidence to prove that she hasn't given up her intent to immigrate.

 

It will most likely extent the time frame needed in the US to get the 10yr GC and/or citizenship time in country requirements

 

Only if her time out of the United States is longer than six months per year.

 

Certain forms are required to be filed before they leave US soil. Not sure what they are, but I know someone here knows and will chime in.

 

Again, only if it is longer than six months. EDITED: Actually, I'm not certain you need to file anything unless it is over one year - which you will need to file for a re-entry permit Form I-131 (make sure take the necessary the steps to maintain your residency in the States during your trip (I'm talking about the LPR) . It is correct that a trip or trips totaling more than 6 months per year will not be counted as a year of residency in the United States. This would affect her eligibility for naturalization. Follow up with dnoblett's post.

 

http://legalassistance.law.af.mil/content/...es_as_a_lpr.pdf

Edited October 26, 2009 by KJJ (see edit history)

[Kyle]

Found an interesting thread over at VJ

 

 

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=218085

[dnoblett]

There are certain cases where you can file to preserve residency for citizenship, working for the US government is one.

 

Both I-131 and N-470 need to be filed, N-470 preserves residency time, but only in certain cases.