Reentry permit  

Now that the world has come to live with COVID 19 cases becoming more part of our daily lives, albeit the increasing trend in some countries, people are now very eager to travel and see places either domestically or abroad. Relaxed quarantine rules, easily available test kits and standardized treatments and seemingly manageable symptoms have encouraged the public to take calculated risks in their effort to reclaim their way of living that was taken hostage by the paralyzing fear of the dreaded pandemic. I have known several friends who have traveled back to the Philippines to see their families and friends, tend to their unfinished business affairs and to some, to sadly pay their respects to the loved ones who passed away during the scourge. To others, now is the perfect window of opportunity to travel since you don’t know when the next surge might be. Who knows if countries would suddenly close their borders because of a new variant that unleashes its wrath, Hong Kong and Shanghai in China being the primary examples.

I have been asked by several of our kababayans who happen to be greencard holders what should they do when they go back home. How many months should they be away from the US before there are implications to their status. As you are a greencard holder, you must remember that in order for you to maintain your permanent residency status, you must not be outside the US for 180 days or more and that your reason having been outside the US is temporary in nature. Beyond 180 days, you run the risk of having abandoned your permanent residency. Upon presenting yourself at the port of entry, make sure that you are ready to explain to the Customs and Border Protection officer the reasons for your prolonged stay, have documents readily available, and that you still have ties to the US. Also, make sure that you do not skirt around the six-month leeway. You cannot come here to the US after having been away for, say five months, then goes out again and stay another five months abroad. That cannot be done as you have already stayed outside the US more than six months.

So, if you anticipate that you maybe be away from the US for awhile, what you can do is apply for a reentry permit before you leave the US. If approved, the reentry permit allows you to stay outside the US for two years. But you must still prove that your stay outside the US was temporary in nature and that you maintained close ties to the US. The reentry permit is a way of protecting your status in case there are emergency reasons that prevent you from coming back to the US sooner.

Make sure you file Form I-131 while still present in the US. You must also be able to appear when called for your biometrics appointment. Keep in mind to document your ties to the US. Maintain your US address, bank accounts, properties and other assets maintained and still under your name, pay your taxes here and always make sure that your reason of going outside the US is temporary. In the light of the new normal, make sure that you have your vaccination record ready and updated. Should you happen to go beyond the two-year limit on your reentry permit, you may want to applying for a returning resident visa which is a good topic for another column.

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I would like to greet each and everyone of you a blessed Easter Sunday. In one of the holiest days in Christendom, Easter brings about Christ’s eternal message of hope, love and peace. As we have now lived for more than two years into this pandemic, we have experienced the horrors of pain, suffering and death all around us. Not only that, the wide ranging effects of secondary pandemic illustrated in widespread unemployment, lingering economic stagnation, silent mental and emotional breakdowns and now, the ravaging war in Ukraine. It seems like the world’s problems never run out of source. I hope that the message of Easter and the reflections in the past Holy Week strengthened our resolve to advance our commitment to pursue the common good.