US Citizen spouse per resident - go back to India

[kpmanicka]

I acquired thro naturalization about a month back.

My wife is a permanent resident and is eligible to apply in Feb 2011. we have a kid who was born here and is a citizen.

due to some medical condition we are thinking of moving back to india immediately.

If we move back, what options do we have for applying for my wife's citizenship?

I am not sure even if the current perm residency is considered abandoned and can we even start afresh as spouse of a US Citizen?

tks

[BigJoe5]

Doesn't look good

The situation you describe is undesireable and distasteful. If you and your spouse would rather abandon the United States, then give up on the pursuit of citizenship for her and go. Don't conceal or misrepresent material facts in filing for naturalization, it can be taken away for doing so.

She should file a form I-407 to document her abandonment/relinquishment of lawful pernmanent residence with CBP upon departure at the airport on the way out of the U.S. If she were to abandon residence in the U.S. and not fess up on the way out, that would cause more trouble. They'd probably catch her and do that form upon any subsequent return before sticking her back on a return flight, avoid the headache.

As for you, you appear to have lied in your application for naturalization. You vaguely mention a medical condition but don't give any details. Whose condition? Is it terminal? Does it necessitate moving to another continent?

But it is within the realm of possibility that you suddenly lost your job or business immediately after naturalization and can't afford medical bills or can't work due to illness. So you might or might not have willfully concealed material facts in your naturalization proceedings.

If you did, it would make you amenable to Denaturalization or "Revocation of Naturalization" under 340(a) INA [8 USC 1451(a)]. If she tried to apply now, she definately would be amenable to the statute, don't risk it. Ask your lawyer about it with much greater detail.

You should read section 349 INA to learn what to avoid doing back in India that would risk your loss of nationality.

Anyway, if she has to relinquish LPR status for the time being, and if you retain U.S. Citizenship, there's nothing to prevent a new petition and it will be much faster next time as an immediate relative of a U.S. Citizen, either from you as a spouse or through her child when (s)he' 21 years old or God-forbid as your widow, but she'd only have 2 years to self-petition as a widow.

It is still shameful that you would immediately decide that the only course of action is to abandon the United States at this time.

As for your wife who is not be eligible to apply until Next February, she couldn't possibly show any real intention to reside permanently within the United States at this time. The timing is not right.

Something you should know is that immigration officers get lied to so much that after a relatively short period of time they get pretty darn good at spotting those liars. It is true that many liars get away with it but when relatively honest people try, they suck at it and get the worst of it.

The real bad dudes, do get caught with all the hi-tech stuff they use nowadays: instantaneous fingerprint database queries, name checks are now easier with machine-readable passports, and don't forget face recognition software, voice pattern analysis and who knows what's next.

Have a nice trip and to whoever is ill, get well soon.

Bye