How much time must be spent in the U.S. to obtain a green card?

After receiving your green card, you should establish residence in the United States. Leaving the country for longer than six months within a calendar year could put your green card at risk. To avoid such an issue, you should consult an immigration attorney to determine if a re-entry permit is required.

Same restrictions apply as a regular greencard, you cannot be out of the country for more than 180 days at a time, I would suggest that you err on the side of caution and not be out for more than 90 days during the time you have a provisional greencard.

If you obtain a conditional green card, you need to reside in the United States. You cannot be out of the United States for more than 180 days.

You do not need to spend time in U.S. to obtain a green card, but after you obtain a green card, you need to establish your residence here and spend at least a year in United States.

There is no requirement that you spend any certain amount of time in the United States after getting a green card. However, if you are outside the United States for 1 year or longer, you will automatically lose the green card. We advise our clients not to stay outside the United States for more than 6 months at a time. Once you have a green card, you can apply for a reentry permit which allows you to remain outside the United Staets for up to 2 years. You must return to the United States before the 2 years are up, but you can then apply for another reentry permit. Usually they will not give you reentry permits for longer than 4 years total. Let me know if we can assist you.

Unfortunately, there is no exact amount of time you need to stay in the United States in order to maintain your permanent residency. The regulations require that you make the United States your primary place of residence which usually means that you have to spend the majority of the year in the United States.

There is no U.S. physical presence requirement to maintain a green card. A green card (U.S. lawful permanent resident status) is for an individual who intends to permanently reside in the United States. If a green card holder is absent from the U.S. for more than six months, that can raise a presumption by the USCIS that the person no longer has the intention to reside in the United States.

Even if the person is not absent from the U.S. for that long, other actions might raise the same presumption (i.e., job in foreign country, no residence or property in the U.S., no indications of living in the U.S., driver''s license, bank accounts, tax returns, etc.). The requirements to qualify for U.S. citizenship are different.

They do include a continuous residence requirement as well as a physical presence requirement. It is important to get good legal advice from an experienced immigration attorney before making any decisions about immigration or the planned amount of time spent in the U.S. and the types of activities here.

A legal permanent resident (conditional or not) cannot stay out more than 180 days on each trip without triggering a risk of losing status. A personal can ask for advanced parole for up to two years if need be.

There is not a minimum number of days but he or she must have the intent to make the U.S. their home so the government will look for ties here, property, investment, driver''s license, paying taxes, lease, etc. If you will be out of the U.S. for more than 180 days then you should consult with an attorney to determine the effect on your green card, whether a re-entry permit is required, effect on your eligibility for U.S. citizenship, etc.

The U.S. permanent residency requirements apply to the investor whether in the U.S. in conditional permanent residency status or unconditional permanent residency status. To maintain permanent residency in the U.S. it has to be the investors intent to reside and live in the United States for the majority of time as well as to have proof that they are residing in the United States.

For example, proof of filing tax returns as a U.S. resident, U.S. Bank account statements, drivers license and title to real estate my show the intent of the investor to reside in the United States permanently.

It is always better not to be away from the United States for more than 6 months otherwise upon return to the U.S., at the port of entry, U.S. immigration inspectors may make a presumption that because the investor has been away from the U.S. more than six months the investor has really abandoned residency in the United States. Therefore, if the inspector''s ask questions to the investor about their intent to be permanent in the United States the investor may show proof of residency with documents that we have referred to above to show that the investors have maintained their U.S. Residency.

In order to keep the green card active and not have it considered abandoned, it is recommended that the green card holder enter the U.S. at least once every 6 months, unless the person obtains the re-entry permit before going out of U.S. However, if the person wants to apply for the U.S. citizenship, he must spend at least 50% of the time actually in the U.S. as the physical presence requirement is necessary.

Once you become a permanent resident in the U.S., you are declaring your intent to make U.S. your residence. Which means, at any time, if you travel extensively outside the U.S. ( 6 months to 1 year), there is a presumption of abandonment. You may prevent this by filing for a travel permit prior to extended travels abroad, which preserves your resident intent in the U.S.

It may be better to think of the time in the U.S. requirement the other way: the longer you spend outside of the U.S., the more you risk having the green card revoked for abandonment. In addition, when you are ready to apply for citizenship, your time spent in the U.S. versus outside of the U.S. is considered again.