Stuck abroad as a green card holder
QMy wife is a green card-holder but is stuck with me in Peru due to the coronavirus. If she is outside the United States for more than six months, will she have a hard time reentering?
My wife got her green card about a year ago and came in January to visit. Due to the pandemic, she couldn’t get a return ticket within six months of leaving the United States.
Alfredo Gonzales, Lima, Peru A. Your wife should not have a problem reentering the
United States. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has signaled a liberal policy in admitting permanent residents stuck abroad because of the coronavirus. The same is true for permanent residents who got two-year reentry permits but cannot return before their permits expire.
I wrote in detail about the rules that impact permanent residents stuck abroad last month. You can read it online, but in summary CBP must admit permanent residents (no matter how long they were abroad) if the absence was beyond their control. That includes unexpected business or personal reasons and certainly applies to individuals who could not return to the United States because there were no flights.
QMy wife and children are U.S. citizens. I’d like to become a U.S. citizen. What is the process?
Edgardo Mendoza, Tlaxcala, Mexico
A. First you must become a permanent resident — a green card holder. You qualify to naturalize after three years (instead of the usual five) if you stay married and live with your citizen wife.
Your wife starts the process by filing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative for you. She can get the forms and filing instructions at uscis.gov or by calling (800) 870-3676. She can also file online at uscis.gov. She’ll get a filing receipt and an approval notice.
The U.S. Department of State, which is the federal agency that manages immigration for individuals abroad, will guide her through the rest of the process.
Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New York Citizenship Now! project. Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, New York Daily News, 7th Fl., 4 New York Plaza, New York, N.Y., 10004 or email to questions@allanwernick.com. Follow him on Twitter @awernick.