Timeline for Can my mom travel to the US with a green card if it’s been over a year since her last entry due to COVID?
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11 events
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| Nov 9, 2021 at 20:36 | history | migrated | from travel.stackexchange.com (revisions) | ||
| Nov 9, 2021 at 8:26 | comment | added | phoog | @JonathanReez suppose they ask Tanya's mother how long she's been in Canada and she says "one day" or even "two weeks," but the computer system shows that she last left the US in 2020 and she has several large suitcases with her, or there are other indications that she's been out of the US for longer than that. The best possible outcome then is "where else have you been?"; she'll be lucky if they don't become aggravated because she is being evasive. | |
| Nov 9, 2021 at 8:20 | comment | added | phoog | @jwenting in this case, there is no superior of an immigration officer (IO) who can make it official. An immigration judge (IJ) is not a superior of an IO. It's a different department of the government. The hearing does not occur immediately. Rather, the permanent resident is "paroled" into the US (physically allowed to enter but not "admitted" in the legal sense) until the hearing in the immigration court. See help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-3671?language=en_US. Also, the PR can be represented by a lawyer at the hearing. The IJ's decision is subject to appeal. | |
| Nov 9, 2021 at 8:07 | comment | added | phoog | @JonathanReez it's waved through, and no, they would at least look at your documents, which is not being waved through. I don't think anyone has to volunteer anything, and I've never crossed the border with a permanent resident, but I would be very surprised if asking about the duration of their absence isn't standard practice, since that affects not only the documents they require to enter but also the degree to which the officer is allowed to scrutinize them. | |
| Nov 9, 2021 at 7:49 | comment | added | jwenting | @phoog technicality. Authorities in charge tend to follow the "advise" and decisions of their employees over the statements of "outsiders". So officer wants to deny, calls superior who can make that official, superior rubberstamps the paperwork is a very common thing in all kind of bureaucratic systems so why not this one? | |
| Nov 8, 2021 at 15:22 | comment | added | phoog | @Hilmar a CBP officer, however, does not have authority to make a formal administrative determination of abandonment. If the officer believes that the applicant for admission has abandoned residence, the officer can either talk the applicant into admitting abandonment or refer the applicant to an immigration judge, as noted in user102008's answer. If the permanent resident can get to the border and does not sign the I-407, then the permanent resident cannot be turned back immediately (barring improper conduct on the officer's part). | |
| Nov 8, 2021 at 12:17 | comment | added | Trains and Planes | Unfortunately there is no way of knowing before you get there. It's up the discretion of the local CBP officer, they can decide to just let her in or determine that she as "abandoned" her green card, whatever they feel like on any given day. | |
| Nov 8, 2021 at 7:02 | comment | added | jcaron | Note that the COVID travel bans did not apply to permanent residents, so, by themselves, they are probably not a valid reason for not having returned, though other aspects of the pandemic may be valid reasons. | |
| Nov 8, 2021 at 6:48 | answer | added | user102008 | timeline score: 26 | |
| Nov 8, 2021 at 0:00 | comment | added | Traveller | See uk.usembassy.gov/visas/returning-resident-visas | |
| Nov 7, 2021 at 22:12 | history | asked | Tanya Trumbower | CC BY-SA 4.0 |