Green Card holder with valid I-131 looking for advice

[blafusel]

Hello,

A bit of background:

2 children, 14 and 16, both US Citizens

My wife and I received our Green Card in 2002, and we lived continuously in the US from 1997 to Jan 2015

Had to leave the US for a "short-time" work assignment in Feb 2015. What was suppose to be a single year turned into an open ended assignment as the company is unwilling to keep the US branch up and running. Subsidies are tough to beat.

I obtained a I-131 which will expire Jan 2018.

I think I have a couple of options, but wanted to hear your comments:

1. I move back to the US and apply for US citizenship
- do I have to be in the US continuously for 3 months before I can apply, or 3 years?

2. Stay another year, applying for another re-entry permit
- is that possible to get second re-entry permit I-131?

3. Does my spouse and I have to be in the US to apply for citizenship?
- Somebody told me my spouse could move to the US, while I remain abroad. She would apply for US citizenship, and if approved, I would have the option to obtain the citizenship as well.

4. Stay here, let the green card expire. If my kids decide to move back to the US, get used to the idea of only being able to visit them 30 days at a time 8(

5. Another option??

Thanks for reading this! Any comments appreciated!

[rayb]

You've lost your best opportunity to apply for Naturalization when you had 5 years of GC status starting about 2007.

By staying out of the U.S. for more than a year, you're had a break in the required "continuous residency," for an entire year and more.

I won't speculate on how you can get any credit for time already spent in the U.S., but the worst case scenario is that you might have to start all over to get 5 years of continuous residency.
But I'm willing to be corrected on this estimate.

Better get back into the U.S. and apply for another Reentry Permit.

--Ray B

Hello,

A bit of background:

2 children, 14 and 16, both US Citizens

My wife and I received our Green Card in 2002, and we lived continuously in the US from 1997 to Jan 2015

Had to leave the US for a "short-time" work assignment in Feb 2015. What was suppose to be a single year turned into an open ended assignment as the company is unwilling to keep the US branch up and running. Subsidies are tough to beat.

I obtained a I-131 which will expire Jan 2018.

I think I have a couple of options, but wanted to hear your comments:

1. I move back to the US and apply for US citizenship
- do I have to be in the US continuously for 3 months before I can apply, or 3 years?

2. Stay another year, applying for another re-entry permit
- is that possible to get second re-entry permit I-131?

3. Does my spouse and I have to be in the US to apply for citizenship?
- Somebody told me my spouse could move to the US, while I remain abroad. She would apply for US citizenship, and if approved, I would have the option to obtain the citizenship as well.

4. Stay here, let the green card expire. If my kids decide to move back to the US, get used to the idea of only being able to visit them 30 days at a time 8(

5. Another option??

Thanks for reading this! Any comments appreciated!