Expired Green Card / Expatriation Question

[troy711]

Have been a long term permanent resident married to my American wife since 2001. In late 2012 we moved to Asia for a job opportunity and have been going back and forth without problems. We even went back after staying outside the US for one straight year and had no issues with immigration. Now however my green card has expired and have been searching the internet and realizing the situation is much more complicated than it seems!

During the course of my internet searching I have come to the conclusion that I may have abandoned my green card despite me spending about 6 months in the US from late 2014 until Feb 2015. The consulate tells us that they can give us a letter for when we go back to the US for a quick summer break and then renew my green card but the fact is we do not live in the US and so I may not be eligible any longer. It appears I may have to formally abandon my green card and just use my European passport to travel back and forth to the US to visit friends and family although the consulate does not seem to agree for some reason. For us we know at some point we would like to go back to the US and re-settle there but just am not sure if it is anytime in the next few years.

I am assuming if you abandon your green card you can then re-apply for it at a later stage or at least a visa of some sort.

Thanks for your collective knowledge! Any suggestion is appreciated

Troy

[inadmissible]

If you abandon your green card, you can always reapply for one, on the basis of your marriage to a United States citizen.

You remember what a pain it was the first time 'round! the medical exam, financial support requirements, criminal background check, keeping the wife happy.

The easy solution is to naturalize before you abandon (or have abandoned) your US domicile.

Aliens get tripped up over the do-over for a variety of reasons:
Divorce
Spouse mortality
Insufficient income
Spouse lacking US domicile
Criminal inadmissibility (DV, DUI is common)

You will never again be able to prove nonimmigrant intent, so it is doubtful you can travel back using your EU country passport and the Visa Waiver Program.

[troy711]

If you abandon your green card, you can always reapply for one, on the basis of your marriage to a United States citizen.

You remember what a pain it was the first time 'round! the medical exam, financial support requirements, criminal background check, keeping the wife happy.

The easy solution is to naturalize before you abandon (or have abandoned) your US domicile.

Aliens get tripped up over the do-over for a variety of reasons:
Divorce
Spouse mortality
Insufficient income
Spouse lacking US domicile
Criminal inadmissibility (DV, DUI is common)

You will never again be able to prove nonimmigrant intent, so it is doubtful you can travel back using your EU country passport and the Visa Waiver Program.

We have abandoned our US domicile a few years ago so even going back to the US to re-new green card or naturalize would not be truthful of me as I am not residing there any longer. I certainly do not want to represent I am living somewhere I am not and therefore I can't re-new (or naturalize) the green card since I do not live in the US any longer. I guess that is if my understanding is correct that you can't naturalize or re-new a green card unless you are actually living in the US and intend on living there and at present at least I am not intending to live there.

I do not understand what you mean "You will never again be able to prove nonimmigrant intent, so it is doubtful you can travel back using your EU country passport and the Visa Waiver Program." I am not an American citizen and do not live in the US therefore I should be eligible for the visa waiver program. Unless you are saying that once you have a green card you can never use a visa waiver program I am not following your logic.