After You Become a Legal Permanent Resident Click for a Printable Version of this Article After you become a Legal Permanent Resident Adjusting to "Legal Permanent Resident Status" is the process by which many nonimmigrant aliens obtain legal immigrant status in the United States. It is through this process that a "green card," or immigrant visa, is obtained.      Once the INS has approved your application to adjust to permanent resident status, you must go to your local INS office to complete I-89 processing to obtain a "green card." At the same time, you may obtain an "I-551" stamp in your passport documenting your new status, which confers universal work authorization and permits international travel.      As a legal permanent resident, you have most of the rights and obligations of U.S. citizens, except that you cannot vote and are not entitled to some public benefits. You are subject to the same tax filing requirements and entitled to the same tax rates and deductions as U.S. citizens.      Your "green card" is your most important travel and identification document. If you do not receive your green card before the I-551 stamp in your passport expires, please call us. The INS processing facility sometimes fails to process green card applications quickly.      When your green card arrives, please look at it carefully. You may need to extend it in 10 years. If you need to replace it before then because it is lost, stolen or dilapidated, you may file a form with the INS.      "Abandonment of residency" rules are an important restriction to which legal permanent residents are subject. Abandonment can occur when you are outside of the United States for more than six months without informing the INS of your plans in advance. The law provides that you are free to travel abroad, provided that your trip is "temporary." Generally, the INS views any absence from the United States for longer than six months as not temporary. Thus, it is advisable to obtain a "re-entry permit" before your departure.      To qualify for re-entry permission, you will need to prove that you will maintain ties to an "unrelinquished lawful permanent residence" in the United States. To determine whether these ties exist, the INS looks at various factors, including: location of family, property holdings, and jobs; intention to return to the United States as a place of employment, business, or as an actual home; your purpose in departing from the U.S.; whether the visit abroad could be expected to terminate within a relatively short period of time; and whether your return date can be fixed by some early event.      Whether or not you have a reentry permit, if you return to the United States following an absence of more than 180 days, you may be subject to increased scrutiny regarding whether you have committed an act before or after departing the United States, which may subject you to "removal." Unlike U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents are subject to removal from the United States for commission of certain acts, including some crimes, receipt of some public benefits and misrepresentation regarding immigration status, among others. Therefore, in the unlikely event you are accused of any crime, and/or you plan to be outside of the United States for more than 180 days, you should consult an immigration attorney to determine possible effects on your permanent resident status.      One of the most important rights legal permanent residents possess is the right to obtain U.S. citizenship after five years, or three years for spouses of U.S. citizens. If you are planning to become a U.S. citizen as quickly as possible, you should carefully honor the residence requirement. In most cases, leaving the United States for a year or more will break the continuity of residence. In other words, you may return to the United States without losing your green card status if you have a re-entry permit, but you will have to begin a five-year or three-year period again, thus delaying your eligibility for naturalization.      Naturalization laws also require that you be physically present in the United States for at least 30 months during the five-year period or 18 months during the three-year period, and that you be a resident of a particular INS jurisdiction for at least three consecutive months immediately before filing for naturalization.      As a legal permanent resident, you may also petition the INS for immigrant visas for your family members or employees. There are long backlogs in some of the family visa categories, so you may want to file a visa petition soon.      Permanent residents who are males between the ages of 18 and 25 may be required to register for U.S. military service. Failure to register for "selective service," as it is called, can result in criminal penalties, even though currently there is no military draft. For more details, contact your local selective service office or register online at (http://www.sss.gov). For further information on these or any other immigration issues, please contact Miller Mayer. The contents of these web pages are provided for general informational purposes and do not constitute legal advice for specific cases, which should only be obtained from an attorney. Copyright © 2002 True, Walsh & Miller, LLP. Attorneys at Law The Commons, 202 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850 phone: 607-273-4200, fax: 607-272-6694, E-mail: twm@twmlaw.com