How can we reinstate my mother's green card?

[trinity1739]

Hi,

My mother got green card in March 2017. It expires in 2027. We didn't apply for green card for my father.

My mother went to India in December 2019 because my father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and other health issues.

Before going to India, she applied for a two-year reentry permit, which expired in December 2021. But she could not return to the US as my father was bedridden for a while and then passed away in November 2022.

Now she wants to come to the USA. How can we reinstate her green card? What procedure should we follow?

Thank you.

[newacct]

I think there are basically 3 options:

1. She can just fly back to the US and try to enter, bringing along evidence that she maintained residence in the US and could not return earlier. The immigration officer could let her in with a warning, if he determines that she did not abandon residence, or not let her in. If the immigration officer does not want to let her in, he could pressure her into signing I-407 to voluntarily give up her green card. If this happens, she should refuse and request a hearing in immigration court. They will temporary let her in, and give her a notice to appear in removal proceedings in immigration court, where she gets to argue to the immigration judge why she didn't abandon residence. This is basically an appeal of the immigration officer's decision, and if the immigration judge agrees, he can let her in.
2. She can try to apply for an SB-1 returning resident visa at a US consulate, where she will need to prove that she could not return any earlier due to circumstances outside her control. I believe that this is harder to achieve than showing that she didn't abandon residence with the immigration officer and/or immigration judge, and there is no appeal for a denial.
3. You could petition her to immigrate again from scratch by filing I-130, and after approval she will do Consular Processing for an immigrant visa. The process will take at least 1-2 years.

[trinity1739]

newacct Thank you for the response. Very useful information. How can we prove that she didn't abandon her residence? Can we show my father's health records? Also, we are two sisters and both of us are U.S. citizens.

[newacct]

newacct Thank you for the response. Very useful information. How can we prove that she didn't abandon her residence? Can we show my father's health records? Also, we are two sisters and both of us are U.S. citizens.

It's subjective. But for example, her US tax return filings every year, her maintaining access to a home in the US, her relatives being in the US, etc.