Keeping a US green card while living in Buenos Aires
- Thread starter AlexGreeneBA
- Start date
if you overstayed your green by 1 day …181 days you can say good bye to your green card. you broke the law in 2 countries. file for a visa and try to talk your way around it. trump and ice dont play around. if you try to enter expect to be put in a back room and put on the next flight out. don’t think detention is an option. sorry for your trouble. my gorlfriend at the time overstayed by 1 day on a visa and got put in the back room, missed her flight. they eventually let her through.. if there is something i missing please correct me
I was a US green card holder for over 30 years (moved to the US when I was 5) and got my citizenship 2 years ago, before the current administration took office.
My recommendation would be to go back to the US and STAY there, not leaving for more than 6 months, for the next 5 years. THEN once 5 years of maintaining residency in the US has passed (as in you have been there for 6+ months out of the year for 5 years), apply for citizenship. This is assuming you can still get in. If you can't get in, they'll merely send you back on the next plane (no detention center as far as I assume because you never entered the US).
After 5 years of maintaining residency and you apply for naturalization, they'll schedule your naturalization interview - where they will specifically ask during the interview "Have you traveled outside the US for more than 6 months out of the year in the last 5 years?". You'll be able to answer "No". If you answer "Yes", or lie and get caught, your application will be denied.
As long as you've paid your taxes and had no significant run-in's with the law and haven't left for more than 6 months out of the year, you should be processed to be naturalized. For me, it took about 2 months from when I applied to when I took the oath of citizenship. I am a proud American today.
Right now, my understanding is there's a backlog on applications for green card visas (last I heard it was 2 years) and I assume there's a backlog for naturalization applications, so it might take considerably longer than the 2 months it took me.
If you want to ever go back to the US as anything more than a tourist, I strongly urge you to decide on what you want to do. Please consult an immigration attorney!
Best of luck on your journey!
My recommendation would be to go back to the US and STAY there, not leaving for more than 6 months, for the next 5 years. THEN once 5 years of maintaining residency in the US has passed (as in you have been there for 6+ months out of the year for 5 years), apply for citizenship. This is assuming you can still get in. If you can't get in, they'll merely send you back on the next plane (no detention center as far as I assume because you never entered the US).
After 5 years of maintaining residency and you apply for naturalization, they'll schedule your naturalization interview - where they will specifically ask during the interview "Have you traveled outside the US for more than 6 months out of the year in the last 5 years?". You'll be able to answer "No". If you answer "Yes", or lie and get caught, your application will be denied.
As long as you've paid your taxes and had no significant run-in's with the law and haven't left for more than 6 months out of the year, you should be processed to be naturalized. For me, it took about 2 months from when I applied to when I took the oath of citizenship. I am a proud American today.
Right now, my understanding is there's a backlog on applications for green card visas (last I heard it was 2 years) and I assume there's a backlog for naturalization applications, so it might take considerably longer than the 2 months it took me.
If you want to ever go back to the US as anything more than a tourist, I strongly urge you to decide on what you want to do. Please consult an immigration attorney!
Best of luck on your journey!
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