Immigration Site

Hi there,

Have a question regarding overstaying while on a greeencard. My mom has a green card and she has stayed abroad for over 11 months now. I undertand that if she overstays the one-year-period, he green card status will become ABANDONED since she doesnt have a re-entry permit and she would need a new greencard to re-enter US. I am a US citizen and I had sponsored her greencard earlier.

What I wonder is that if I will be able to re-process her green card later on if she stays beyond the one-year period abroad? Will the previous greencard ABANDONED status have an impact on the future re-processing of her new greencard? Is there a way one can re-activate the original greencard?

Appreciate your help!

Thank you!

If she can provide sufficient evidence to the US consulate to convince them that staying outside the US for over 1 year was due to circumstances beyond her control, she can obtain a Returning Resident Visa (SB-1) that will allow her to resume her status in the US as a permanent resident.

If that ultimately fails, she would have to redo the whole green card process. The previous abandonment wont be a negative factor. Of course, redoing the process from scratch will take much longer and cost more than the SB-1 visa.