Wife needs to go to China for business for a few weeks

[MarcRosie]

Wife needs to go to China for a few weeks for some business she needs to attend to concerning her art and the museum she is part of starting up. She just got back into the states August 3rd. Needs to go back pretty quickly as a meeting was scheduled and the only time it can happen is soon and is critical to making this project all come together. Sooo...what's going to happen if she goes back and then comes back in a few weeks. Or can she even do this. Has her 10 green card. Been back to China a few of times since getting her 2 year green card to care for her parents. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[dnoblett]

Should not cause any problems.

 

What causes issues at the POE are:

• Long periods away from the USA (6 months or longer)
• Long periods away with short stays in the USA (Living overseas and only "visiting" the USA using green card in order to maintain LPR status)

[MarcRosie]

So would she be required to give any proof that she was going for business? And she actually was away from the USA for 6 months, came back to stay until next year when she'd go back to care for her parents again, and then come back. But now this meeting has come up. Still OK? I'm thinking it would actually be considered a business meeting as it is to conduct the business of working to get this new art museum going, which will promote the culture of artists from all over the world.

[dnoblett]

So would she be required to give any proof that she was going for business? And she actually was away from the USA for 6 months, came back to stay until next year when she'd go back to care for her parents again, and then come back. But now this meeting has come up. Still OK? I'm thinking it would actually be considered a business meeting as it is to conduct the business of working to get this new art museum going, which will promote the culture of artists from all over the world.

Two options:

• Have some documentation handy to show officer at POE if questioned upon returning (Emails, letters etc.)
• Apply for a travel document (Reentry permit) I-131 http://www.uscis.gov/i-131 and provide this upon reentry. ($445) (Needs to be filed and biometrics done before leaving the USA, and the document can be picked up at a specified US Consulate.)

[MarcRosie]

Re-entry permit is not going to work as it takes months to get it from what I read. Emails would be the only thing we'd have plus all the messages she sends back and forth via her smart phone. She for sure could get a letter stating what she was in China for from the company starting the museum. Think this would suffice? Need to be sure. Don't want her to have issues coming through the POE as she's flying from La Crosse to Chicago and then back to Chicago and then to La Crosse. So will be going through the POE in Chicago and I wouldn't be there in case some problem occurred. If me being there would even make a difference.

[Randy W]

Re-entry permit is not going to work as it takes months to get it from what I read. Emails would be the only thing we'd have plus all the messages she sends back and forth via her smart phone. She for sure could get a letter stating what she was in China for from the company starting the museum. Think this would suffice? Need to be sure. Don't want her to have issues coming through the POE as she's flying from La Crosse to Chicago and then back to Chicago and then to La Crosse. So will be going through the POE in Chicago and I wouldn't be there in case some problem occurred. If me being there would even make a difference.

 

 

Showing the purpose of the trip may help, but she needs to be able to prove that she RESIDES in the US. Documents, bills, accounts with both names (or HER name and address) on them, etc., would help toward that end.

 

Others have gotten emergency travel permits through InfoPass appointments

[newacct]

Re-entry permit is not going to work as it takes months to get it from what I read. Emails would be the only thing we'd have plus all the messages she sends back and forth via her smart phone. She for sure could get a letter stating what she was in China for from the company starting the museum. Think this would suffice? Need to be sure. Don't want her to have issues coming through the POE as she's flying from La Crosse to Chicago and then back to Chicago and then to La Crosse. So will be going through the POE in Chicago and I wouldn't be there in case some problem occurred. If me being there would even make a difference.

 

Yes but she doesn't need to be in the U.S. while waiting for the re-entry permit. She would just apply, and then do fingerprints (or come back to do fingerprints), and then go to China. In the unlikely case it is denied, she can come back and wouldn't have been gone that long.

 

[Randy W]

. . . and, if it's approved, she would then have it for the NEXT trip, not THIS one.

[newacct]

. . . and, if it's approved, she would then have it for the NEXT trip, not THIS one.

No, she can write the address as China so she picks it up in China, or you can mail it to her and she would have it for this one.

Edited September 14, 2014 by newacct (see edit history)