Hi all! Brainstorming a few things and wanted to ask here for opinions and ideas. Here’s some basic details:
\- I’m a US Citizen, my current job is fully remote
\- My wife is a permanent resident (Japanese), also works fully remote but self employed. Her current green card was renewed this year and is good for the next 10 years
\- We own a home in the US, and will continue to own the US property while we are in Japan
\- My wife’s self employment will continue her payout in our US bank, and we will continue to file taxes as necessary
\- We want to take our kids to Japan for 3 years to go to elementary school there (we have family who will support us getting set up over there)
We’re getting some conflicting information about her re-entry after traveling abroad to Japan for 3 years. The USCIS website says we can apply for a I-131, but it’s only good for 2 years, which doesn’t work for our situation. There is another SB-1 for folks who are outside the US for more than 2 years that can be applied for while abroad. But we also have close friends/family that claim we can re-enter without either form, because of my wife’s green card, which is still valid for the next 10 years.
What can/should we do to ensure a smooth return to the US? Is owning property enough? Do we need one or both of the I-131 and SB-1?
Some of the travel info from USCIS can be found here:
https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-we-grant-your-green-card/international-travel-as-a-permanent-resident
We’ve had a hell of a time trying to contact the USCIS folks for more details, so in the meantime we decided to post here. Any tips/ideas welcome, thanks in advance!
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2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**I-131 vs SB-1 vs nothing at all**
Hi all! Brainstorming a few things and wanted to ask here for opinions and ideas. Here’s some basic details:
– I’m a US Citizen, my current job is fully remote
– My wife is a permanent resident (Japanese), also works fully remote but self employed. Her current green card was renewed this year and is good for the next 10 years
– We own a home in the US, and will continue to own the US property while we are in Japan
– My wife’s self employment will continue her payout in our US bank, and we will continue to file taxes as necessary
– We want to take our kids to Japan for 3 years to go to elementary school there (we have family who will support us getting set up over there)
We’re getting some conflicting information about her re-entry after traveling abroad to Japan for 3 years. The USCIS website says we can apply for a I-131, but it’s only good for 2 years, which doesn’t work for our situation. There is another SB-1 for folks who are outside the US for more than 2 years that can be applied for while abroad. But we also have close friends/family that claim we can re-enter without either form, because of my wife’s green card, which is still valid for the next 10 years.
What can/should we do to ensure a smooth return to the US? Is owning property enough? Do we need one or both of the I-131 and SB-1?
Some of the travel info from USCIS can be found here:
https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-we-grant-your-green-card/international-travel-as-a-permanent-resident
We’ve had a hell of a time trying to contact the USCIS folks for more details, so in the meantime we decided to post here. Any tips/ideas welcome, thanks in advance!
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The I-131 (reentry permit) is only good for 2 years. You could visit at the end of the 2 years to buy yourself another year, but you’re probably going to face trouble – 6 months would be safer.
SB-1 is only for very special circumstances which this doesn’t sound like it qualifies for. Think pregnancy/birth, dying family member, etc. The embassy is very strict on issuing SB-1s.
Owning a house, etc really doesn’t make a difference here unfortunately.