Who Needs an I-191?

If you have a U.S. green card, you are a lawful permanent resident (LPR) of the United States. Once you become an LPR, you can work for any employer (or even yourself), you can study at U.S. universities, and you can sponsor certain relatives to come to the U.S. to join you.

Additionally, as an LPR you are able to travel abroad and return to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. However, there are certain limitations on traveling that even you are subject to. Your LPR status may be terminated if immigration officials feel that you have abandoned your residence. To abandon your residence means to do something that indicates you no longer want to be hold LPR status in the U.S.

If you abandon your status, you have no eligibility basis for entering the U.S., and you are basically considered inadmissible. In order to maintain your LPR status in the U.S. (and therefore continue to be admissible), you have to refrain from actions that indicate you have abandoned your LPR status.

One of the most frequent ways LPRs abandon their status is by leaving the U.S. for a long period of time. If you leave the U.S. for long periods of time, when you attempt to reenter the U.S., immigration officials may view your long absence as an abandonment of your LPR status and deny you entry.

To better ensure that you will be admitted into the U.S. after a long absence, you can file a Form I-191, for Advance Permission to Return to Unrelinquished Domicile. You must file this form with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). If USCIS approves your I-191, you can present the approval notice to immigration officials when you arrive in the U.S., to show them that you are eligible to reenter as an LPR.

Do I Need an I-191?

If you have made only short trips outside of the U.S., it is likely you do not need to file an I-191. For example, if you vacationed in Europe for two weeks, immigration officers will almost certainly not question you about abandoning your LPR status upon your return.

Conversely, if your trip outside the U.S. is lengthy, it is possible that immigration officials may feel that you abandoned your status. Immigration regulations establish a rebuttable presumption that LPRs abandon their status when they leave the U.S. for six months or longer (rebuttable presumptions means that you could convince the immigration officers that you did NOT abandon your status – thereby rebutting their presumption that you did).

However, if you have specific plans to leave the U.S. for six months or longer, instead of filing the I-191, you should file USCIS Form I-131, in order to obtain a reentry permit. The reentry permit allows LPRs to enter the U.S. if they have been outside the U.S. for up to one year.

You may be wondering why anyone would need to file an I-191 at all if the reentry permit is an option. Typically, the reason why LPRs file the I-191 is because they did not initially plan to be outside of the U.S. for more than one year. Circumstances may arise while you are traveling that delay your plans to return. The Form I-191 is usually the best option in these situations.

For example, let’s say you are an LPR and you are from Bolivia. You decide to visit your family in Bolivia from January 1, 2012 to March 1, 2012. Unfortunately, shortly after you arrive in Bolivia your mother and father become very, very sick and you are the only relative who can take of them. Caring for your parents requires that you stay in Bolivia until March 1, 2015.

In this scenario, you should file the Form I-191, because you were outside of the U.S. for such a long period of time.

Please note that your green card is valid for ten (10) years. However, if you are absent from the U.S. for many years, immigration officials can still find that you abandoned your LPR status even if your green card is still valid. Do not rely on your green card’s expiration date when making your travel plans.

I May Be Inadmissible for Reasons Other Than Long Absences – What Can I Do?

You may think that you are inadmissible to the U.S. for reasons other than long absences. For instance, you may have committed a crime while in the U.S. or while you were traveling abroad. Certain crimes may make you inadmissible to the United States. Therefore, if you think you may be inadmissible to the U.S. due to your criminal record, you should also file the Form I-191 and explain your criminal record on the form -- but get a lawyer's help with this.

Helpful Hints for Filing the I-191

When completing your Form I-191:

1. Explain every reason why you think you may not be allowed in the United States. If there are multiple reasons (long absence, criminal convictions, etc.) be sure to explain each reason separately and completely. It may help to draft your explanations before attaching them to the form, to make sure that you are providing complete and accurate information.
2. Include the correct filing fee. As of 2012, the filing fee for the I-191 is $585, but this fee is subject to change at any time. To get the latest fee amount visit the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
3. Try to include exact dates when listing your previous departures and arrivals to the United States. If you don’t think you remember the exact dates, consult other records such as your passport stamps, airplane tickets, or hotel confirmations. Proving exact dates will help USCIS calculate the amount of time you have been outside of the U.S. with the highest degree of accuracy.

It is important to consult an immigration attorney if you plan to travel outside of the U.S. or if you have already been outside the U.S. for longer than six months. Additionally, if you have a criminal record, it is of the utmost importance that you find out  what the immigration consequences are of your record. An immigration attorney can also help you with that, to ensure that you are able to reenter the U.S. as an LPR.