Can you re-apply for a 'revoked' Green card?

Question

I recently acquired US permanent residency through my US citizen dad. I lived in the states for a year, but have returned home to England to do a degree. I planned on going back to the states every time I had a holiday, but now I plan on travelling in the summer months and going back to the US every six months seems like an enormous pain in the backside. My question is, if I were to lose my green card (for any reason) could I re-apply again at a later date? I have other family members aswell as my dad in the states, could they re-apply on my behalf? Also, would getting the GC revoked have any consequences on me re-entering the US in the future, even as a tourist? (My bf is a US citizen living in the US so not being able to even visit would make things difficult). Thanks for any help

Answer 1

Well, essentially you need to decide on what you want to be. That's up to you, of course, but green cards are intended to be used to live primarily in the US. If you don't want to live in the US , then having one and being "forced" to come back on a regular basis would be a bit of a problem. If you did lose your permanent resident status, you could requalify through your father, but that doesn't mean it would be quick and easy. If you're over 21 at the time he filed for you that would fall under the F1 family preference category, and those petitions currently take about 6 years before they are valid for use. So, if you lose your green card you will be waiting some time to get a new one. Or alternatively, if you marry your American beau, you could qualify through him, that would certainly be faster, but not especially fast, as it usually takes USCIS and the US embassy from 8-12 months to process everything and issue an immigrant visa.

Even if you came back to the US every six months or so for a short trip to keep your clock ticking, you would at some point, lose your status. If you establish a pattern of living outside of the US and only coming back for short visits, then you aren't living primarily in the US and you will have your card revoked at some point. It's not possible to say exactly when that would happen as it's a judgement call on the part of the airport immigration inspector, but it would happen at some point.

On the other hand, if you want to just be a Brit, you can surrender your green card to the immigration office at the US embassy in London, and you can either travel back and forth on VWP or on a tourist visa. But, you would need to officially turn the card in to clarify your intention, as to whether you are a US resident or not.

So, it's up to you to decide if the burden of being a legal permanent resident is worth the hassle or not. On the other hand, if you became a US citizen, then you could live wherever you want for as long as you want, as far as US law is conerned. Give it some thought and then do what you want.

Answer 2

If you apply for a green card, you are saying I want to be a permanent resident of the USA.

When you then leave and stay away for 6 months, the message then becomes "I changed my mind".

So you will lose your green card and if you were to reapply they would consider that you already let one revoke.

I think what you need to do is make up your mind where you want to live.

Answer 3

Getting a green card revoked would definitely have consequenses.  As far as re application for a new one after the revocation, it would depend on the circumstances.