Return to America - Greencard Question?

Stinicker

My Aunt and her Husband returned to Ireland in 2000 for good (or so they thought). Both had Emigrated in the early 80's and both were legal, my Aunt becoming a US Citizen her husband only held a green card and never became a citizen. Their daughter was born in Ireland after their return but holds dual Irish/American Citizenship as my aunt sorted that at the embassy.

However now that most things have moved online they are lost in this line.

What I want to find out for them is what is the situation with their return? My aunt and her daughter can return no problem as they are citizens. My uncle however only held a green card and this is surely out of date by now as it is over 10 years since he left and has never been back since the day he left. As the spouse of an American citizen (they were married in America years before they came home).

Would he able to renew his green card or would have to apply all over again or else get a Spouse visa? He needs to be able to work over there obviously.

silja

His greencard is considered abandoned, and he'll have to apply for a spousal visa (IR-1), which will lead to a new greencard once he moves back to the USA.

Good news is, as the USC aunt lives with him in Ireland, they can apply directly via the embassy, and it should only take 6 weeks or so to get the visa; he then has 6 months to use it.

lonestargirl

I hope your aunt is aware of her responsibilities as a citizen reagrding tax returns. These are something she will have to present at the embassy when applying for the visa, otherwise it's a fairly straightforward process as Silja says.

Stinicker

lonestargirl wrote: »

I hope your aunt is aware of her responsibilities as a citizen reagrding tax returns. These are something she will have to present at the embassy when applying for the visa, otherwise it's a fairly straightforward process as Silja says.

I presume she is What are these responsibilities anyway to begin with?

busman

Stinicker wrote: »

I presume she is What are these responsibilities anyway to begin with?

She is suppose to file a tax return every year if she had an income here.

More info here :
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/index.html

The good thing is that if she did not earn over approx 80,000 dollars per year she will not have to pay tax as Ireland has a tax treaty with the US.

The biggest problem she could have is the sponsorship part of the IR-1 visa.
As she was not living in the US she can't act as sponsor for her husband.
They can get around this if they have somebody else in the US that will joint sponsor them or if they have enough assets of their own.

Best place to start is to send of the I-130 package to the embassy in Dublin .
http://dublin.usembassy.gov/filing_the_i130.html

Myself and the wife are doing the same :-)
I had a green card that expired!
We sent off the application last month and the wife got a call last week that
the fee had gone up from $355 to $420 and to please send on the balance!

thecelt

I abandoned my greencard 2 years ago, was kind of stupid but at the time Ireland seemed to be the place to be.

When I moved over initially on a fiance visa I was unable to work for 6 -7 months after I got there as the visa paperwork to get the greencard after getting married took that long.

Does anyone know if you move back on a spousal visa, would i again be unable to work or would i be able to start work as soon as i got there?

silja

Spousal visa leads to a "greencard stamp" in your passport upon entry, so you can work the same day. Most employers will require a Social Security Number, if you don't have one yet... takes 2-3 weeks to get in the mail.

thecelt

Thanks for that info silja,

yes I have a social security number,
Just trying to think about what the next few years will bring.

The economy here is dead and with the prospect of being unemployed for long more makes me think about the possibility of moving back!