Legal Question in Immigration Law in Virginia

Can Diversity Lottery winner TRAVEL outside the country?

My friend won the diversity lottery, and has been in the US since Dec. 1. She received her green card. Today, her father back home DIED from a heart attack. Her mother is back there. She wants to attend her father's funeral. Moreover, she will have to work on estate and inheritance issues while there, as she owns an apartment 50-50 with her now-deceased father under post-communist privitization. So she will need to stay for several months.

Can she safely travel to her home and return back again to the U.S., based on a green card alone?

How long can she stay in her home country before returning to the U.S. without jeopardizing her status in the U.S.? She received her green card, but of course nothing further on her path to citizenship or anything else.


Asked on 3/23/05, 4:59 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Can Diversity Lottery winner TRAVEL outside the country?

As a lawful permanent residennt of the U.S. who wants to travel outside the country, your friend must file USCIS form I-131 which is an application for a Travel Document. She must also attach a copy of her alien registration card to this application in order to receive a re-entry permit. If she has not yet received her alien registration card, she may xerox a copy of the bio-page of her passport and attach that to her

application in lieu of a copy of the alien registration card.

Form I-131 may be downloaded from the USCIS's

website.

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Answered on 3/24/05, 7:08 am


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