How long one can stay out of US with Green card

[mkreddi]

My parents got family based green card. It has been nearly 3 years since they got GC. In this 3 year period they went to India couple of times not exceeding 3 months. Now they are in India and due to family reasons they have to stay there for 9 months. Do we need to do any paper work since they are staying for more than 6 months. If so what paperwork we need to do.

Also do they lose the qualifying period of stay to apply for citizenship. They are here for 3 years but since this time they will be out of US for more than 6 months does it come to square one where they need to stay here of certain period to qualify for citizenship. Please help.

[BigJoe5]

A green-card will be void if they stay outside the U.S. for a full year UNLESS they had already applied for REP (re-entry permit, form I-131) while still present inside the U.S. If not, it is too late to apply as one cannot apply from abroad. If one is outside the U.S. without a REP, then they could apply for the SB-1 Visa abroad as "Returning Residents" it is not easy and simple.

As for naturalization, remaining abroad over 6 months raises a rebuttable presumption of a break in continuous residence and it requires solid evidence to overcome. See 8 CFR 316.5(c )(1)(i)(A-D)

An unrebutted break or any break over 1 year may be overcome with the passage of time (presuming they can get back in with either a REP or SB-1) by waiting 4 years and 1 day to file an N-400 without breaking residence again. See 8 CFR 316.5(c )(1)(ii). The same remedy will also work for the 6+ month break if they cannot rebutt the presumption (as long as the total time with LPR status is long enough in the aggregate), and if otherwise qualified.