Covid-19 travel restrictions may result in green-card abandonment??

[Fathimakhan]

Hi ,
You still can come to usa if you can provide sufficient evidence for your one year overstay. I am telling this from my personal experience. My mom who is a gc holder suppose to return to usa before 13, May 2020. She underwent a surgery on December and booked her ticket for March.Due to airport shutdown in srilanka her ticket was cancelled twice. Finally was able to book a ticket in a special flights amid shutdown. Her flight was on July 9th from cmb to dfw via qatar Airways. She was questioned by the airlines for her 14 months stay. She showed them her medical records and cancelled tickets. Finally they let her to board after a long interrogation. Here in dfw she was asked for staying this long and understood the reason was covid 19 and let her go. Finally mom came home today. Hope this will be helpful.

[Parth Green card holder]

Hi ,
You still can come to usa if you can provide sufficient evidence for your one year overstay. I am telling this from my personal experience. My mom who is a gc holder suppose to return to usa before 13, May 2020. She underwent a surgery on December and booked her ticket for March.Due to airport shutdown in srilanka her ticket was cancelled twice. Finally was able to book a ticket in a special flights amid shutdown. Her flight was on July 9th from cmb to dfw via qatar Airways. She was questioned by the airlines for her 14 months stay. She showed them her medical records and cancelled tickets. Finally they let her to board after a long interrogation. Here in dfw she was asked for staying this long and understood the reason was covid 19 and let her go. Finally mom came home today. Hope this will be helpful.

Thanks a bunch for sharing your experience. Was she given anything in written citing that she has to apply for SB1 when she comes back to CMB? Were you given any extension or anything from embassy before travelling? Thanks again fatima. Your answers are and will be really helpful to me.

[Fathimakhan]

No, she didn't get anything done through embassy as till now embassy's were closed and even if we send email to schedule it might take months to schedule an interview for SB1. So we don't want to do that and waste more time on it. She actually took a risk and faced it. Here in DFW it wasn't a serious inquiry at all itsms. They really were understanding as this is a globally faced problem. Only at srilankan airport the Qatar airlines are the people who dragged her time asking many questions. Airline agents are always acting like they're part of USCIS. Still they didn't even mention anything about SB1 visa. Srilankan immigration didn't question anything about her overstay.All what we can see is, if you are able to justify the delay with enough documents( medical, cancelled ticket) you will be able to make ur way. I am glad that I made this decision asking her to come . Coz the more you delay , more question rises.

[Fathimakhan]

I also read this in an article. Hope it will help you. I made sure my mom was well prepared with all these documents. But still it wasn't needed for her at the port of entry. It totally depends on the officer you face. "Green card holders who are themselves in this situation may consider preserving evidence of their intentions to return to the United States by taking the following potentially helpful steps to “maintain ties to the U.S.”: Maintain a residence in the U.S. This can be through the ownership of a home or renting an apartment. Maintain bank accounts, credit cards and investments in the U.S. to show nancial ties. Maintain insurance in the U.S., including home, health, and life insurance. File U.S. tax returns. Have utilities, a driver’s license, and car ownership in the permanent resident’s name."

[Parth Green card holder]

I also read this in an article. Hope it will help you. I made sure my mom was well prepared with all these documents. But still it wasn't needed for her at the port of entry. It totally depends on the officer you face. "Green card holders who are themselves in this situation may consider preserving evidence of their intentions to return to the United States by taking the following potentially helpful steps to “maintain ties to the U.S.”: Maintain a residence in the U.S. This can be through the ownership of a home or renting an apartment. Maintain bank accounts, credit cards and investments in the U.S. to show nancial ties. Maintain insurance in the U.S., including home, health, and life insurance. File U.S. tax returns. Have utilities, a driver’s license, and car ownership in the permanent resident’s name."

Okay Fatima, This is really helpful! God bless you!