# Can i still travel to the US on my green card after 6 years of absence from the US



## memyselfandi (Jan 20, 2009)

I have a green card was suppose to last visit in july 2006 couldn't go due to some family emergency. Though my green card is still valid till 2011 but i have over stayed my one year limit. Is there any way i could go back on my current green card?? Please please help!!


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

memyselfandi said:


> I have a green card was suppose to last visit in july 2006 couldn't go due to some family emergency. Though my green card is still valid till 2011 but i have over stayed my one year limit. Is there any way i could go back on my current green card?? Please please help!!


Yes! But I'd consult a suitably experienced US immigration lawyer if I were you before you embark on this difficult though far from impossible task. If you want a recommend, try Stuart I. Folinsky, Attorney At Law.

The expiry date of your card is irrelevant since the card is merely a proof of your status. From the little you have written, it would seem that you have a good case.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

I am French married to an American, worked 30 years in the USA and retired to Mexico with my husband.
My green card does not have an expiration date. Two years after moving to Mexico I had to go back to France on an emergency and flew from Guadalajara to Dallas to Paris without trying to enter the States except for the transit area. 
I was told by the imigration officer that my green card was not valid anymore as I had left the US without authorization, they let me go through since I only was transiting.
Coming back from France I used a tourist visa to reenter. My green card is in my married name but my passport name is under my maiden name. I travel under my official name (maiden name) when I want to go back to the States and do not mention anything about greencard. 
I was told by a lawyer I could apply for a change of status or reapply for a greencard. It would take me 3 to 5 years to get a new greencard because of the back up and could not leave the States during that time.
It is what I went through, it may be different for you but good luck.
By the way I get Social Security and pay taxes , am married to a US citizen and still would have to go through that.
In short , yes I can get another greencard but since I do not want to live there anymore I will forget it and travel as a tourist.
I also was told I shoud give my green ard back to the US consulate...over my dead body rather fly under the radar until some laws change.


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

Hound Dog said:


> I am French married to an American, worked 30 years in the USA and retired to Mexico with my husband.
> My green card does not have an expiration date. Two years after moving to Mexico I had to go back to France on an emergency and flew from Guadalajara to Dallas to Paris without trying to enter the States except for the transit area.
> I was told by the imigration officer that my green card was not valid anymore as I had left the US without authorization, they let me go through since I only was transiting.
> Coming back from France I used a tourist visa to reenter. My green card is in my married name but my passport name is under my maiden name. I travel under my official name (maiden name) when I want to go back to the States and do not mention anything about greencard.
> ...


Realize it's moot in your case since you don't intend to live here, but just a note for anyone else in this situation. As a permanent resident, you have a right to a judicial review of your status, regardless of what any "immigration officer" would try to make you believe. If you are entering the US and have been a permanent resident at any time and wish to preserve that status, your only mantra should be: "I want to see the judge." If they try to persuade you to sign this right away, just keep repeating the mantra. After they get fed up with you, they will parole you in with a future court date to argue your case.


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## memyselfandi (Jan 20, 2009)

Thank you for the replies every one


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## aimee_lee2008 (Dec 11, 2008)

visit the uscis.gov website.. you may need reentry permit cause of your absence.... go on the instructions and read them carefully.... 

being a greencard holder you need to be in the US in some years you can go to somewhere and have vacation but it wouldnt be a year or more.... there are some cases that they have been on judicial trial and some where deported for not having a reentry permit on the Immigration facility at the US ports of entry


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

aimee_lee2008 said:


> visit the uscis.gov website.. you may need reentry permit cause of your absence.... go on the instructions and read them carefully....
> 
> being a greencard holder you need to be in the US in some years you can go to somewhere and have vacation but it wouldnt be a year or more.... there are some cases that they have been on judicial trial and some where deported for not having a reentry permit on the Immigration facility at the US ports of entry


There are two basic paths to take: the re-entry permit OR gatecrash the border and demand your hearing in front of an immigration judge. I wouldn't make the choice myself -- at this stage if the OP wants to preserve their status, they need a US immigration attorney with experience in abandonment issues to have any real chance of success .


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