How long can a green card holder stay outside the US?
I received a Green card (GC) last year (Dec 2021). I travelled to India in January 2022 for vacation and have been staying here in India for last 4 months. While on vacation, I have been working for a US employer from India. This is the same employer who sponsored my GC. I am planning to go back to USA in June 2022. This will be the first time I will be travelling back to USA using my GC. Kindly see my questions below.
1) If I mention that I was in India for four months on vacation, would this answer cause any issue with the CBP officer at POE?
2)Is four months of vacation in my home country acceptable for a GC holder?
3) What typical questions could we face at the Port of Entry for someone who spent four months of vacation in their home country?
4) Is working for a US employer from India allowed for a GC holder?
5) Do I need to expect a secondary inspection for additional scrutiny by CBP officers due to my four-month vacation?
1. No, first of all, always be truthful.
2. If the period is less than six months, there should be no problem.
3. Typically, a green card holder who returns in less than six months is not subject to lengthy questions.
4. You can work from anywhere.
5. If it is less than six months, there is generally no secondary inspection.
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Note: Unless the context shows otherwise, all answers here were provided by Rajiv and were compiled and reported by our editorial team from comments, blog and community calls on immigration.com. Where transcribed from audio/video, a verbatim transcript is provided. Therefore, it may not conform to the written grammatical or syntactical form.