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 Nandini
P Nair lists the clauses that a green card holder has to comply
with
My family and I have just got our immigrant visas
from the US consulate. We will be reaching New York in the next
few weeks, I am just closing our house and finishing some business.
Are there any particular things I need to know as I will be a green
card holder from now on?
—Srinivas Reddy
There a few things you need know when you become
a green card holder:
1. While it is possible to travel quite freely
using the green card, there are some restrictions. The key issue
is that it is necessary to continue to permanently reside in the
US. Otherwise, one may run the risk of no longer being considered
a permanent resident. Individuals who travel for extended periods
may be regarded as having abandoned their permanent resident status.
The legal requi-rement is that the absence must be for less than
a year and the person must be returning to an unrelinquished, lawful
permanent residence after a temporary absence. For individuals who
need or want to leave the US for an extended period of up to two
years, it is necessary to obtain a re-entry permit.
2. Permanent resident status may also be lost
by committing certain crimes. Perm-anent residents remain subject
to removal from the US. There are a number of possible crime-related
grounds for removal. These include: commission of a crime of moral
turpitude within five years of admission, if the possible sentence
is one year or more; commission of two or more crimes of moral turpitude
not arising from the same scheme of misconduct; aggravated felonies;
controlled substance violations; firearms violations; and domestic
violence crimes.
3. Permanent residents must continue to advise
the Immigration Service of any address change within ten days using
Form AR-11. Failure to file the form within ten days of moving is
technically a removable offense. Each family member must file his
or her own form.
4. Male permanent residents, ages 18 to 25, must
register for Selective Service. Intentional failure to comply with
this requirement can prevent an individual from becoming a US citizen.
All males, ages of 18 through 25, who are either permanent residents
or otherwise in the US (except those in lawful non-immigrant status),
must register for the Selective Service. The Selective Service is
not an automatic military draft. Rather, it is a registry of those
who may be drafted should there ever again be a change in the law
requiring a “draft” for mandatory military service.
If the draft were re-instated, a lottery based on birthdays would
be implemented to require military duty for persons registered for
Selective Service. The first men called would be those who are or
will become twenty years of age within that year. After that, if
additional men are needed, the lottery would seek those aged 21
years, followed sequentially by those men ages 22 through 25. Men
who are 18 and 19 years of age would be called only if a shortage
existed after all the older men had been called into service. The
US has not had a draft for mandatory military service since 1973.
5. Finally, citizenship. The general rule is
that individuals must be permanent residents for five years prior
to filing. The cases may be filed 90 days in advance of the five-year
point. Individuals who are married to US citizens may be eligible
to file after three years, if they have not divorced. They may also
enjoy the benefit of the 90-day rule.
Nandini P Nair is a US Immigration Attorney
based in New York, US. E-mail: dininair@aol.com
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