I'm a legal resident of the US. Out of the US for three years. Could I use my green card to get in the US.

Question

My green card is valid until 2010. I'm planning to travel to Canada first.

Answer 1

No, sorry. A legal permanent resident is expected to actually live in the US. If you are out for any substantial length of time, such as several months, you can be considered to have surrendered your residency and have to prove that you still actually live in the US (pay slips, rent receipts, car registration, etc). If you are out of the US for 366 continuous days, you lose your residency automatically, unless you applied for and received a re-entry permit before you left. Even with a re-entry permit, you can stay out only for two years.

The only way you can be re-admitted after three years is to go to the nearest US embassy or consulate and prove that you could not return due to circumstances beyond your control. If you can do that, you can get a Returning Resident immigrant visa, which still requires a lot of documentation but at least does not require a new petition.

The fact that your card has not expired is irrelevant. Think of it as having a credit card that is still in your wallet and hasn't expired yet, but the account has been closed.

Answer 2

You should be ok with your green card being valid. You may run into an issue with you being gone for three years. You may get denied, because if you stay out for more than 6 months they consider you abandoning your residency. Go to www.uscis.gov and there's tons of information about citzenship, residency and naturalization. Also there is a toll free 800 number. You may have a problem.

Answer 3

It depends. I think there's rules that state if you're out of the country for a certain amount of time you can not re-enter. Call the immigration people.

Answer 4

Of course, what you're saying it doen't expire in 2010. Be sure you're in the US before it expires so that you can renew it or get naturalized.