Green Card Extending Over 6 Months; Usa

[Gonsalviz]

I search but cannot find anything on this.

My wife has a (US) green card She would like to come back to Thailand but it will be an extended stay. Probably 7-9 months. I am sure there is a form that has to be submitted to stay out of the country for more than 6 months. Does anyone know the name or number of the form?

Thanks for your help.

[7by7]

Topic title edited to include country; PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE POSTING.

[VisasPlus]

With respect, you can't have looked very hard. If you Google "green card validity outside US" you will get 866,000,000 hits. Here is an extract from one page which might assist :

Lawful Permanent Residents who stay outside of the U.S. for 6 months or more at a time are risking losing their I-551 Green Card (Lawful Permanent Residence) to airport immigration officials when they try to re-enter America, especially when they do it repeatedly. The airport officers are allowed to put green card holders in (locked) secondary inspection at the airport upon their re-entry and ask many questions about why they left the USA so much. Many of the airport immigration officers don’t like it when green card holders even get close to the 180 day mark and/or when they take repeated long trips. They feel that the green card is for people who want to live in the USA full time.

In addition, Lawful Permanent Residents who have been outside the U.S. more than 1 year cannot use their unexpired green card to re-enter unless they first go to the U.S. Consulate and get an SB-1 Returning Resident Visa and convince them that their stay abroad was beyond their control

That said, if your wife has a reason for being outside the US for such a long period then that reason will be taken into consideration.

[ubonjoe]

You can find info here: http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Resources/B4en.pdf

Form download info: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=b11747a55773d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

[bangkokburning]

Ive resd that it is possible to obtain allowance for this but is really not thought of very well by immigration, esp multiple times. Notion is you come to settle in US if you want to live elsewhere do so, there are loads of people that want your card.

I would think imo an expiring parent is the only true reason that no one would question. Perhaps closing financial activiyies (selling land) might also be valid.

Tablet sorry for typos