Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Immigrant Spouse Visas, specifically the IR-1 and CR-1 categories. Generally speaking, we assist folks here in our office who are American citizens although Lawful Permanent Residents as well, who have a Thai spouse or fiancé for that matter. But the purpose of this video and as the title suggests, we are talking about the CR-1 and IR-1 Visa. These are Immigrant Spouse Visas not to be confused with the K-3 Non-immigrant Spouse Visa and we are talking about these in the context of Re-Entry Permits as well as the presumption of abandonment of residence.

So what are we talking about here? Well if you have Permanent Residence in the United States, so let's say you have travelled to the United States, you have utilized either a CR-1 or an IR-1 Visa, you have been stamped in, granted an I-551 stamp, now you have a so-called Green Card in the United States, your lawful permanent residence has attached in the US. What happens if you want to travel abroad, especially if you want to travel abroad for a prolonged period of time? Well there is an issue that can arise if you are gone for a prolonged period of time from the United States and although there are many platforms out there on the internet that may state that "oh there's a fixed period of time; you need to come back once a year, you need to come back every 6 months", that's not really true. There is no hard and fast rule regarding presumption of abandonment of residence but the way to overcome even having that presumption arise, is through use of what is called a Re-Entry Permit. So you can go ahead and get a Re-Entry Permit issued before you leave the United States so as to preserve your lawful permanent residence when you come back. These have a duration of two years, so generally speaking you are going to be allowed to leave the United States for up to 2 years without raising the presumption of abandonment of residence. Getting caught up in a back and forth, especially at an Immigration checkpoint with the US Customs and Border Protection Officer regarding questions and answers on the issue of ‘have you been abroad so long that perhaps you have abandoned your residence?', that is not something you really want to get into, and the way to forestall having to deal with that is to go ahead and look at applying for a Re-Entry Permit for your Lawful Permanent Resident spouse. 

So again, there is a remedy or sort of a way to forestall having to deal with this and in my opinion the best way to remedy that is to go ahead and deal with getting a Re-Entry Permit for the United States.