Green Card holder - Exit United States by flight but enter by car

[usermex92]

Hello,

I'm a Green Card holder, I exit the United Stated by flight, and I am about to travel to the United States and I will enter by car with my family.
I heard that the officers sometimes not scanned the documents of all the car passengers, they just checked them.
My question is, how can I make sure my entrance gets registered if my green card is not scanned?

Thanks!

[newacct]

Why does your entrance as a permanent resident need to "get registered"?

[usermex92]

Green card holders cannot be outside of the United States for more than 6 months.
If I exit by car and try to enter by flight, it could appear that I was out for a long time.


According to USCIS, your green card will become invalid if you leave the U.S. for a year or longer. However, legal professionals and immigrant advocates generally discourage permanent residents from leaving the U.S. for more than six months. The U.S. government may nullify your status if it appears as though you took up residence in another country, even if you made sure to return to the U.S. within the year.

[newacct]

Green card holders cannot be outside of the United States for more than 6 months.

That is not true. A green card by itself is a valid document for entry for a immigrant after an absence of less than 1 year. If one has a Re-entry Permit, it is a valid document for re-entry duding the validity period of the permit (which can be 2 years long from the date if issuance). Even if a green card holder is absent for more than 1 year without a Re-entry Permit or returning resident visa, the immigration officer or immigration judge can waive the documentary requirement and let them in, if they determine that the green card holder did not abandon residence.

In any case, whether the green card holder can enter the US is obviously not what your question is about, because your question is only about the case when the person is allowed into the US, and you are worried about not having records of that entry. If they were denied entry, then your question obviously doesn't apply. Even if someone was outside the US for more than 1 year without a Re-entry Permit, if they were allowed in, then they were allowed in, meaning that the officer determined that they didn't abandon residence and they meet the requirements to enter. So my question again is, why does records of the entry matter?

Is this about naturalization purposes? For naturalization, there is the requirement of "continuous residence", where an absence of between 6 months and 1 year is presumed to break continuous residence, although it can be overcome with strong evidence, and an absence of more than 1 year definitely breaks continuous residence. On the naturalization application, you are asked to truthfully list your absences from the last 5 years, but you are not required to attach proof of it. I guess if they suspect that you are not telling the truth, they could ask for more evidence, but this is not something that is normally required. You can try to keep receipts, appointment records, that place you inside the US after the date of your entry. In the worst case, if you can't show that you meet continuous residence, you just might have to wait longer before you can naturalize.

[usermex92]

Yes, I'm worried about the entrance records for my naturalization process.
Thanks for your response.