Green card travel rules, and what the detention headlines actually mean
Start with the statute, not the day count. A returning permanent resident is not an applicant for admission unless one of six conditions in INA 101(a)(13)(C) applies — and two of those six are an absence over 180 days and a criminal history with no time limit attached. Your card works as an entry document under a year. Your naturalisation clock is a separate regime with separate thresholds. And you do not have to sign Form I-407 at an airport.
Last verified October 13, 2026 against INA 101(a)(13)(C), 8 CFR 211 and 316.5, the USCIS travel page, Form G-1055, and ICE’s published detention statistics.
- Under 1 year: the card is your entry document (8 CFR 211.1(a)(2))
- 6–12 months: continuous residence disrupted unless you rebut it
- The 1-year line is measured at BOARDING, not landing (8 CFR 211.3)
- A reentry permit does nothing for naturalisation — N-470 does
- N-470 must be filed BEFORE the absence hits 12 months
- Form I-407 is voluntary. An immigration judge decides abandonment
Informational only, not legal advice. This page explains how a government process works and what the published rules say. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. For advice on your own facts, speak to a licensed immigration attorney — here is what one typically costs.
Check the trip you are planning
The output is not a score. It is which of the three regimes your trip touches — your entry document, your naturalisation clock, and whether the statute treats you as seeking admission — because they have different thresholds and people merge them. Nothing is stored or sent, and the criminal-history question is yes or no with nowhere to type detail.
Nothing stored, nothing sent
The trip you are planning
Seven questions. The useful output is not a score — it is which of the three regimes your trip touches, because they have different thresholds and the one everyone forgets is the naturalisation clock.
Waiting
Enter your dates
By default a returning permanent resident is not an applicant for admission at all. Whether that stays true for your trip is what this check works out.
The one subsection everything else follows from
Nearly every page about green card travel starts with how long you can be away. The statute starts somewhere else, and the difference matters, because the question it asks is not how long but what kind of inspection you face.
“An alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States shall not be regarded as seeking an admission into the United States for purposes of the immigration laws unless the alien —” INA 101(a)(13)(C) / 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(13)(C)
| # | The condition | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| (i) | has abandoned or relinquished that status, | The intent question. Not a day count — a conclusion drawn from the facts of your life. See the abandonment factors below. |
| (ii) | has been absent from the United States for a continuous period in excess of 180 days, | The only pure day count in the list, and the reason 180 days is a real line rather than folklore. Crossing it does not mean you lose anything; it means the inspection is a different kind of inspection. |
| (iii) | has engaged in illegal activity after having departed the United States, | Conduct abroad. |
| (iv) | has departed from the United States while under legal process seeking removal of the alien from the United States, including removal proceedings under this Act and extradition proceedings, | Leaving while removal or extradition proceedings are live. |
| (v) | has committed an offense identified in section 212(a)(2), unless since such offense the alien has been granted relief under section 212(h) or 240A(a), or | Certain criminal offences. This is the condition behind most of the reported cases involving long-settled permanent residents, and it has no time limit attached — an old conviction can still bring a returning resident inside 101(a)(13)(C). |
| (vi) | is attempting to enter at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers or has not been admitted to the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer. | Entering outside an official inspection. |
Why this is the frame
Read what the subsection does. By default a returning permanent resident is NOT applying for admission — you are a resident coming home, and the grounds of inadmissibility in INA 212(a) are not applied to you. Only if one of the six conditions is met does that change, and then the whole of 212(a) is available to the officer. Everything else on this page is downstream of which side of that line a trip puts you on.
Where the government asserts one of these conditions, the burden of establishing that a returning resident is not seeking admission is not simply the traveller's to carry informally at the counter. Abandonment is ultimately decided by an immigration judge, not by an officer at the port of entry.
Two regimes, three thresholds, one trip
The commonest error in this whole topic is treating these as one rule. They are two separate regimes with different thresholds, and a single trip can be fine under one and a problem under the other.
Under 6 months
0–180 days- Is the card still your entry document?
- Yes. The green card is a valid entry document for readmission after a temporary absence of less than one year (8 CFR 211.1(a)(2)).
- Continuous residence for naturalisation?
- Not disrupted by the length of the trip. 8 CFR 316.5(c)(1) starts at six months.
- Treated as seeking admission?
- No, on length. None of the 101(a)(13)(C) conditions is triggered by a trip this short on its own.
What to do
- Carry the card and your passport
- Download your I-94 after you return, as a record of the trip
- Nothing else, for most people
6 months to 1 year
181–364 days- Is the card still your entry document?
- Yes. Still under one year, so the card remains a valid entry document.
- Continuous residence for naturalisation?
- Disrupted UNLESS you establish otherwise to the satisfaction of USCIS. A rebuttable presumption, not an automatic loss — 8 CFR 316.5(c)(1)(i).
- Treated as seeking admission?
- Yes, on length. Past 180 continuous days you fall inside 101(a)(13)(C)(ii), so you are treated as seeking admission and the inspection is a real inspection.
What to do
- Carry evidence of the ties the regulation itself names: continuing US employment, family remaining in the US, a US home you kept access to, and no employment taken abroad
- Carry your last US tax return, filed as a resident
- Expect questions about why the trip was long, and have a short, true answer
- If another long trip is likely, deal with it before you go — a reentry permit or N-470, not afterwards
Over 1 year, no reentry permit
365+ days- Is the card still your entry document?
- No. 8 CFR 211.1(a)(2) covers an absence of less than one year. Past that the card is not, by itself, the document that gets you in.
- Continuous residence for naturalisation?
- Broken. 8 CFR 316.5(c)(1)(ii). After returning to resume permanent residence, a five-year applicant may file four years and one day later; a three-year applicant, two years and one day later.
- Treated as seeking admission?
- Yes, and abandonment is squarely in issue under 101(a)(13)(C)(i) as well as (ii).
What to do
- Do not board without advice. The decision is being made before you reach the counter
- An SB-1 returning resident visa, applied for at a consulate, is the designed route
- Alternatively a waiver of the document requirement at the port of entry under 8 CFR 211.1(b)(3), which is discretionary and depends on showing good cause
- Assemble the evidence that the absence was beyond your control and temporary in intent
Over 1 year, with a valid reentry permit
365 days to the permit's expiry- Is the card still your entry document?
- The permit, not the card, is your entry document — Form I-327, listed at 8 CFR 211.1(a)(3).
- Continuous residence for naturalisation?
- Still broken for naturalisation unless an approved Form N-470 covers the absence — and N-470 is limited to specific qualifying employment, so most people in this position cannot use it. A reentry permit protects re-entry; it does not protect the naturalisation clock. These are the two regimes, and this is where the difference bites hardest.
- Treated as seeking admission?
- Yes, on length. The permit answers the document question, not the intent question — abandonment can still be asserted on the facts.
What to do
- Carry the permit and the card
- Keep filing US tax returns as a resident for every year of the absence
- If naturalisation matters AND your employment abroad is in one of the four qualifying categories, Form N-470 had to be filed before the absence reached one year. Ordinary employment with a foreign company does not qualify
The one-year line is measured at boarding
“An immigrant visa, reentry permit, refugee travel document, or a permanent resident card shall be regarded as unexpired if the rightful holder embarked or enplaned before the expiration of his or her immigrant visa, reentry permit, or refugee travel document, or with respect to a permanent resident card, before the first anniversary of the date on which he or she departed from the United States, provided that the vessel or aircraft on which he or she so embarked or enplaned arrives in the United States or foreign contiguous territory on a continuous voyage.”
8 CFR 211.3
The deadline is the moment you board, not the moment you land. Boarding in Delhi on day 364 of your absence and landing on day 365 is inside the rule. A layover does not break the continuous voyage, and neither does a scheduled or emergency stop.
Abandonment is about intent, and the regulation lists the evidence
The regulation names the kinds of documentation that may establish you did not disrupt your residence during an extended absence. It is not an exhaustive list, but it is the one USCIS wrote down:
- The applicant did not terminate his or her employment in the United States
- The applicant's immediate family remained in the United States
- The applicant retained full access to his or her United States abode
- The applicant did not obtain employment while abroad
8 CFR 316.5(c)(1)(i)
Those four are a checklist you can prepare before you travel rather than remember under pressure at a counter. Keep the employment letter, the lease or mortgage statement, the school enrolment for children who stayed, and the tax return.
And one thing the regulation goes out of its way to say. The regulation adds something people find surprising: this finding remains valid even if you did not apply for or request nonresident classification for tax purposes, did not document an abandonment of permanent resident status, and are still considered a lawful permanent resident under the immigration laws. In other words, continuing to hold the card and file as a resident does not by itself preserve continuous residence for naturalisation.
The tax decision that is actually an immigration decision
“An applicant who is a lawfully admitted permanent resident of the United States, but who voluntarily claims nonresident alien status to qualify for special exemptions from income tax liability, or fails to file either federal or state income tax returns because he or she considers himself or herself to be a nonresident alien, raises a rebuttable presumption that the applicant has relinquished the privileges of permanent resident status in the United States.”
8 CFR 316.5(c)(2)
Filing as a nonresident, or not filing at all because you thought of yourself as a nonresident, raises a rebuttable presumption that you gave up the status. For an NRI family spending years in India this is the single most consequential tax decision there is, and it is an immigration decision disguised as a tax one.
If you are weighing that decision as part of a move back, the return-to-India guide covers keeping the card versus ending it deliberately, the long-term-resident expatriation test, and what happens to a 401(k), an IRA and Social Security. It is the page for the permanent-move version of this question; this page is for the trip.
Three instruments, and only one protects your citizenship clock
| Instrument | Protects | Does not protect | Deadline | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reentry permitForm I-131, Part 1 item 1 | Your ability to be readmitted after an absence of a year or more, and the argument that the absence was intended to be temporary. | Continuous residence for naturalisation. It is not a shield against an abandonment finding either — it is evidence of temporary intent, which is strong but not conclusive. | Before you leave, in practice. USCIS advises applying before any absence of a year or more; because of the physical-presence and biometrics requirements, the application has to be started while you are still here. | $630, paper filing only |
| Preservation of residence for naturalisationForm N-470 | The naturalisation clock through a long absence, where you qualify — the thing a reentry permit does not touch. | Your entry document, so you still need a reentry permit. And, unless you are employed by or under contract with the US Government, it does not waive the physical-presence requirement for naturalisation either. | Before you have been absent from the United States for a continuous period of one year. That is the cliff — 8 CFR 316.5(d)(1)(i) and the Form N-470 instructions. Once the absence reaches twelve months, this route has closed. | $420 |
| Returning resident visaForm DS-117 | Your ability to return at all, when the card has stopped working as an entry document and no reentry permit covers you. | Nothing is preserved by it automatically. It is an application, and it is the hardest of the three. | Generally at least three months before you intend to travel | Set by the Department of State; verify on the consulate's own fee page |
Reentry permit — Form I-131, Part 1 item 1
A travel document (Form I-327) that serves as your entry document in place of the green card for an extended absence.
- Where you file
- Inside the United States. You must be physically present in the US when you file, and biometrics are taken in the US.
- Validity
- Generally up to 2 years
- Authority
- 8 CFR 211.1(a)(3); Form G-1055 ed. 10/07/26
Preservation of residence for naturalisation — Form N-470
An application under INA 316(b) to have an absence of a year or more treated as not disrupting continuous residence. It is NOT open to every permanent resident going abroad — it is limited to a specific list of qualifying employers, and an ordinary corporate transfer does not qualify just because it is long. See the eligibility gate below before planning around it.
- Where you file
- Either before or after the qualifying employment begins, and you do not have to be in the United States to file — but you must have already completed a year of unbroken US presence, and you must file before the absence reaches one continuous year.
- Validity
- Covers the period of the qualifying employment, as approved on Form N-472
- Authority
- INA 316(b) / 8 U.S.C. 1427(b); 8 CFR 316.5(d)(1); Form N-470 instructions ed. 04/01/24; Form G-1055 ed. 10/07/26
Returning resident visa — Form DS-117
An immigrant visa in the SB-1 category, applied for at a US consulate, for a permanent resident who has been outside the US beyond the reach of their documents.
- Where you file
- A US consulate abroad — in India, the post with jurisdiction over where you are
- Validity
- One entry, as an immigrant visa
- Authority
- 22 CFR 42.22; Department of State, Returning Resident Visas
Form I-131 explained owns the form itself, including its other uses — advance parole for a pending I-485 is the same form with a different box ticked, and the two get confused.
Who Form N-470 is actually for
This is the part most summaries of N-470 leave out, including an earlier version of this page. It is not a form every permanent resident facing a long absence can file. All four of these have to hold. The third is the one that rules most people out.
- 1A year of unbroken US presence first. You must have been physically present and residing in the United States for an uninterrupted period, without any absences, for at least one year after your admission as a permanent resident. Religious workers are excepted from this.
- 2The absence will be a year or more. N-470 is for an absence of one year or more. A shorter absence does not need it, and cannot use it.
- 3Qualifying employment — the real gate. You must be going abroad for employment with one of a specific list of employers. Ordinary employment with a foreign company is not on that list.
- 4Filed before the absence reaches a year. 8 CFR 316.5(d)(1)(i). You do not have to be inside the United States to file, but once the absence reaches twelve continuous months the route has closed.
The qualifying employers, which is where most cases are decided
| Employer | What the category actually requires |
|---|---|
| The US Government | Employed by, or under contract with, the Government of the United States. This is also the only category for which an approved N-470 additionally preserves PHYSICAL PRESENCE, not just continuous residence. |
| An American institution of research | Recognised as such by the Attorney General. |
| An American firm or corporation engaged in the development of US foreign trade and commerce | Engaged in whole or in part in developing the foreign trade and commerce of the United States — or a subsidiary of such a firm more than 50 percent of whose stock it owns. This is the category people assume covers an ordinary overseas posting, and the qualifier is doing real work: the employer has to be an American firm developing US foreign trade, not simply a multinational with a US office. |
| A public international organisation of which the US is a member | By treaty or statute — and only where you took the employment after becoming a permanent resident. |
| Certain religious work | Performing ministerial or priestly functions for a religious denomination with a bona fide organisation in the United States, or serving as a missionary, brother, nun or sister. Religious workers may file before departing, after departing, or after returning, and are not required to have completed a prior period of US residence. |
What does NOT qualify
A transfer to your employer's Indian entity, a job with an Indian company, a spouse's posting, running your own business abroad, study, family care, or retirement. None of these is qualifying employment under INA 316(b), however long the absence and however genuine the reason. If your situation is not clearly inside one of the categories above, assume N-470 is not available and plan on the reentry permit plus the four-years-and-one-day reset instead.
- It does not replace a reentry permit
- An approved N-470 does not get you back into the country. The Form N-470 instructions say in terms that you must still apply for a reentry permit in advance of a trip you expect to last a year or more. The two forms do different jobs and you may need both.
- It does not waive physical presence
- An approved N-470 preserves CONTINUOUS RESIDENCE. It does not exempt you from the separate PHYSICAL PRESENCE requirement for naturalisation — half the statutory period spent in the United States — unless you are employed by, or under contract with, the US Government. For everyone else in a qualifying category, a long absence can leave continuous residence intact and physical presence still short.
- Your family
- If USCIS approves your N-470, your spouse and dependent unmarried sons and daughters get the same benefit for the same period, provided they are members of your household and residing with you while you are outside the United States.
- If you are the spouse of a US citizen
- A spouse of a US citizen who qualifies under INA 319(b) does not need N-470 at all — such spouses are exempt from establishing the naturalisation residence and physical-presence requirements in the first place.
INA 316(b) / 8 U.S.C. 1427(b); Form N-470 instructions, edition 04/01/24
The SB-1, and the condition that decides it
An SB-1 applicant generally has to establish all of the following, and the second and third are where applications fail:
- You were a lawful permanent resident when you departed the United States
- You departed with the intention of returning and have not abandoned that intention
- You are returning from a temporary visit abroad, and if the stay was protracted, it was caused by reasons beyond your control and for which you were not responsible
"Reasons beyond your control" is doing the work. A medical emergency, a family member's terminal illness, a travel ban or a government closure are the kinds of facts that fit. A job that went well, a business that took longer than planned, or children settling into school in India generally do not, however reasonable they were as decisions.
An SB-1 applicant is also treated as an immigrant visa applicant, which means a medical examination and the ordinary admissibility requirements.
What to carry, by situation
| Situation | Carry | Authority / note |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary trip, card valid, under 6 months |
| 8 CFR 211.1(a)(2) |
| Green card expired, I-90 filed |
| See /green-card-renewal, which owns the expired-card rules |
| Conditional 2-year card expired, I-751 or I-829 pending |
| 8 CFR 211.1(a)(5): an expired I-551 plus a filing receipt issued within the previous 6 months works as an entry document for an absence of less than one year. A receipt older than six months does not fit this provision, which is why people with long-pending I-751s travel on an extension letter or an ADIT stamp instead. |
| Absence of a year or more, permit obtained |
| 8 CFR 211.1(a)(3) |
| Card lost or stolen abroad, absence under a year |
| 8 CFR 211.1(b)(3): where the card was lost or stolen and the absence is under a year, you apply for a replacement card rather than a separate waiver, and that filing serves as both the replacement application and the waiver of the passport and visa requirement. |
| I-485 pending — not yet a permanent resident |
| This page does not own that situation. See /uscis/travel-to-india-while-i485-pending |
| US government employee or military, abroad on official orders |
| 8 CFR 211.1(a)(6), which also covers a spouse or child who resided abroad during the posting and is returning with or within four months of the employee. |
On the expired-card rows: green card renewal owns the work, travel, DMV and proof-of-status questions that come with an expired card, including the ADIT stamp appointment, and replacing a green card covers the lost, stolen and damaged cases. The one mechanic worth repeating here is 8 CFR 211.1(a)(5), because it has a date limit people miss: an expired card plus an I-751 or I-829 filing receipt issued within the previous six months works as an entry document for an absence of less than one year. A receipt older than that does not fit the provision, which is why long-pending I-751 holders travel on an extension letter or a stamp instead.
At the airport
| Moment | Do | Do not |
|---|---|---|
| At primary inspection | Present the green card and passport. Answer the questions asked, briefly and truthfully. Say where you live in the United States. | Do not volunteer a narrative about having moved to India, or that you are 'thinking about staying there'. Intent is the test, and you are describing it. |
| Referred to secondary | Expect a wait. A referral to secondary is common and is not a refusal. Keep your documents together and stay civil. | Do not assume it is about you specifically, and do not argue the law at the counter. The site's denied-entry guide covers what secondary inspection is and what officers may do. |
| Asked about a long absence | Give the reason, with the evidence you brought: employment that continued, family who stayed, the home you kept, the tax returns you filed as a resident. | Do not guess at dates. If you do not remember exactly, say so rather than estimating into the record. |
| Asked to sign Form I-407 | You may decline. Say clearly that you do not wish to abandon your permanent resident status and that you would like an immigration judge to decide the question. | Do not sign to end the conversation, and do not sign because you were told it is routine. This is the single most consequential document anyone will put in front of you at a border. |
| Asked about arrests or charges | Answer truthfully. If there is any criminal history at all, you should have spoken to a lawyer before booking — INA 101(a)(13)(C)(v) has no time limit. | Do not say 'no' about something old you believe was expunged or dismissed. A misrepresentation is a separate and permanent problem under INA 212(a)(6)(C)(i). |
| Your devices | Know that device searches at the border happen. Carry an attorney's number on paper. | Do not rely on being able to make a call from your phone. The denied-entry guide owns this topic in full. |
| Given a paper and told to appear later | Read it. Deferred inspection on Form I-546 means your inspection was not completed; it is not the same thing as a refusal. Appear when and where it says, with what it asks for. | Do not ignore it, and do not leave the country before the appointment. |
Secondary inspection itself — what it is, what officers may do, the sworn statement, device searches, and the difference between withdrawing an application for admission and an expedited removal — is documented with citations on denied entry at the airport. It was written for H-1B travellers and the inspection mechanics are the same.
Form I-407: the most consequential document anyone will hand you
Is it voluntary?
Yes. It is the form by which a permanent resident records their own decision to give up the status. Its whole legal character is that it is a voluntary act.
Do I have to sign it at the airport if an officer asks?
No. There is no obligation to sign Form I-407 at a port of entry, and declining to sign it is not itself a ground for anything. You may say that you do not wish to abandon your status and that you would like the question decided by an immigration judge.
What happens if I decline?
Abandonment is not an officer's finding to make conclusively. If CBP believes you have abandoned the status, the route is a referral to immigration court, where an immigration judge decides — and where you can be represented. Signing the form gives up that process.
Can I undo it?
Not in any practical sense. There is no revocation procedure. Getting the status back means qualifying for it again from the beginning, which for an India-born applicant can mean re-entering a queue measured in years.
Does signing it solve a tax problem?
It can create one. Ending permanent residence is an expatriation event for someone who has been a lawful permanent resident in at least 8 of the last 15 tax years. That is a reason to take advice before signing, not a reason to sign quickly. The site's return-to-India guide covers the tax side.
When is filing it the right thing to do?
When you have genuinely decided to live in India permanently and want the status ended cleanly, deliberately and with the tax position planned. Filed on purpose, from a settled decision, it is a sensible instrument. Signed at a counter at the end of a long flight, it is not.
The permanent-move decision — keep the card or end it, and the exit-tax consequences — belongs to /return-to-india. This page covers only the airport scenario.
Know your rights — every line from a statute or a regulation
Nothing in this section is sourced to advocacy material. These are rules, which is the point: they are not positions anyone takes, they are what the law says.
| The point | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| You are not, by default, applying for admission | A returning lawful permanent resident is not regarded as seeking admission unless one of the six conditions in INA 101(a)(13)(C) applies. That is the starting position, in the statute. | INA 101(a)(13)(C) / 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(13)(C) |
| Abandonment is decided by an immigration judge, not at a counter | If the government asserts that you have abandoned permanent residence and you do not agree, the route is removal proceedings before an immigration judge — where you may be represented and where the government has to prove its case. Signing Form I-407 removes that process. | INA 240; 8 CFR 1240 |
| You do not have to sign Form I-407 | It records a voluntary abandonment. There is no obligation to sign it at a port of entry. | Form I-407 and its instructions, uscis.gov/i-407 |
| There is no guaranteed right to counsel during inspection | This is the uncomfortable one, and knowing it in advance is the point. Inspection is not a proceeding at which counsel appears, and a Form G-28 does not create a seat in the room. Where an officer permits it, you may contact counsel — which is why the number goes on paper, not only in a phone. | The site's denied-entry guide documents this in full, with citations |
| A correction to your record has a designated route | CBP operates more than 70 deferred inspection sites, which review and correct certain errors on admission documents after admission. | cbp.gov, deferred inspection sites |
| You can prepare the evidence before you travel | The documentation 8 CFR 316.5(c)(1)(i) names — continuing employment, family in the US, retained access to a US home, no employment abroad — is evidence you can assemble calmly at home rather than remember under pressure at a counter. | 8 CFR 316.5(c)(1)(i) |
Finding a lawyer, and when
The useful moment to call is before you book, not at the airport. Any criminal history at all, any prior removal proceedings, any absence approaching or past a year, and any pending application are all reasons to get advice while you still have options. From a secondary inspection room, almost every option has already closed.
- EOIR list of pro bono legal service providers
The Department of Justice's own list, by state. Free or low-cost providers recognised for immigration court work.
- Department of Justice — recognised organisations and accredited representatives
Non-attorney representatives who are authorised to represent people in immigration matters.
- AILA lawyer search
The American Immigration Lawyers Association's referral directory. Paid representation.
- State bar referral services
Each state bar runs a referral service, and most screen for practice area.
For what representation typically costs and when it is worth paying for, the attorney cost guide has the numbers.
What each instrument costs
| Form | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Form I-131, reentry permit | $630 | Paper filing only. Not eligible for a fee waiver request. |
| Form N-470, preservation of residence | $420 | Certain applicants may be eligible for a fee waiver. |
| Form I-90, replace green card | $465 paper / $415 online | $0 where USCIS issued a card you never received and it was returned undeliverable, or where the card carried wrong information because of a DHS error. |
| Form N-400, naturalisation | $760 paper / $710 online | $380 paper where documented household income is not more than 400% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. |
| Form I-407, abandonment of status | $0 | There is no filing fee. That is not a reason to file it. |
| Form DS-117, returning resident (SB-1) | Set by the Department of State | Verify on the consulate's own fee page. An SB-1 applicant also pays for a medical examination. |
Form G-1055, USCIS fee schedule, edition 10/07/26
What ICE’s own numbers show
Three of the largest search terms that bring people to this page are about detention rather than about travel rules, so here is the primary source rather than a characterisation of it. These figures come from ICE’s own published detention statistics workbooks, which it releases per fiscal year.
How to read it, and how not to
The detention population has roughly tripled from its FY2021 low and is at the highest level in the published series. That is a fact about enforcement capacity and activity overall. What it is not is a per-person risk figure for a returning permanent resident, because ICE does not publish the population by immigration status and because the legal test for a returning resident has not changed: INA 101(a)(13)(C) still decides whether a trip is an ordinary re-entry or something else. The practical response is the same as it has always been — know which side of that line your trip falls on, carry the evidence, and get advice before you travel if any of the six conditions could be in play.
Source: ICE Detention Statistics, FY2019–FY2026 workbooks. FY2026 workbook dated 20 July 2026. Verified October 13, 2026.
Detention and policy tracker
Last updated October 13, 2026A dated log of policy changes and reported case patterns affecting permanent residents and green card applicants at ports of entry and in ICE custody. Three rules govern what goes in it, and the labels on each entry are the point:
- Official sourceTraceable to a statute, a regulation, a Federal Register document or an agency page.
- Published statisticPublished agency data, cited to the agency's own release.
- Reported patternA pattern described by news outlets or by practitioners. No official source states it as policy, and no figure for how often it happens is published.
No private individual is named anywhere in the log, and nothing in it is speculation or prediction.
USCIS public charge guidance takes effect
New USCIS guidance on the public charge ground of inadmissibility took effect on 18 September 2026. It is an admissibility question, which means it reaches a returning permanent resident only where INA 101(a)(13)(C) has already put them in the position of seeking admission — not on an ordinary re-entry.
Who it affects: Green card applicants directly. Returning permanent residents only where one of the six conditions in INA 101(a)(13)(C) applies.
9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit fee extended to extension petitions
DHS's final rule, published 10 August 2026 and effective 9 September 2026, extends the Public Law 114-113 fee to extension petitions for employers with 50 or more US employees of whom more than 50 percent are in H-1B, L-1A or L-1B status. The fee is $4,000 for H-1B and $4,500 for L-1. It has no direct bearing on permanent residents and is logged here because it changes the cost of the nonimmigrant statuses many green card applicants hold while they wait.
Who it affects: H-1B and L-1 petitioners that meet the 50/50 test, and their employees indirectly.
Injunction limits a September 2026 registration rule for a certified class
DHS has stated that, given the injunction in Casa Inc. v. Trump, No. 8:25-cv-00201 (D. Md., 2 September 2026), it will not implement its 4 September 2026 interim final rule on registration of certain United States-born children of foreign government employees for any member of the certified class, unless it obtains relief from the injunction. The affected group is narrow and the general registration requirement is unchanged.
Who it affects: A narrow class. Included because readers encounter headlines about it and assume a broader change.
Reported pattern: permanent residents asked to sign Form I-407 at a port of entry
Practitioners have reported permanent residents being asked to sign Form I-407, Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status, during inspection after a long absence. The form records a voluntary abandonment; there is no obligation to sign it at a port of entry, and abandonment of permanent residence is determined in removal proceedings before an immigration judge rather than conclusively by an officer at the border. No official source describes asking for the form as a change of practice.
Who it affects: Permanent residents returning after a long absence, particularly absences approaching or past one year.
What to do: You may decline to sign, say that you do not wish to abandon your status, and ask for the question to be decided by an immigration judge. There is no practical way to undo a signed Form I-407.
Reported pattern: returning residents held over decades-old convictions
Immigration practitioners and national news outlets have reported cases of long-settled lawful permanent residents being held on return from abroad because of criminal convictions many years old, including convictions the traveller believed were resolved. The legal mechanism is not new: INA 101(a)(13)(C)(v) brings a returning resident who has committed an offence identified in INA 212(a)(2) inside the definition of seeking admission, and that subsection carries no time limit. In at least one case reported by a national broadcaster, a permanent resident was held for close to three months before an immigration judge allowed them to remain. No official source describes this as a change of policy, and the figure of cases is not published.
Who it affects: Permanent residents with any criminal history, however old, and however it was disposed of.
What to do: Get advice from an immigration lawyer before booking international travel if there is any arrest or charge in your history — including anything dismissed, expunged or resolved without a custodial sentence. The analysis turns on how the offence maps onto INA 212(a)(2), which is not the same as how it was treated in state court.
ICE average daily detention population reaches the highest level in the published series
ICE's own detention statistics workbook, dated 20 July 2026, records an average daily population of 64,508 across October 2025 to July 2026, against 48,404 for FY2025 and 19,254 for FY2021. The same workbook records 65,765 people in ICE custody at the data date. The published data is not broken down by immigration status, so it says nothing directly about how many of those in custody are lawful permanent residents.
Who it affects: Everyone in ICE custody. Not a per-person risk figure for any status.
DHS adopts the alien registration interim rule as final
DHS adopted its March 2025 interim final rule on alien registration as a final rule, with procedural and technical changes, and updated the list of forms that satisfy the requirement. Permanent residents hold evidence of registration already — the Form I-551 is listed at 8 CFR 264.1(b) — so the rule creates no new filing for them, but the duty to carry that evidence under INA 264(e) is part of the same scheme.
Who it affects: Chiefly people with no existing registration record. Permanent residents are already registered.
Reported pattern: more referrals to secondary inspection
Law firms and travel-industry reporting describe an increase in referrals of permanent residents to secondary inspection, and longer waits in secondary. CBP does not publish referral counts by immigration status, so the scale is not verifiable. No official source describes a change in referral practice, and a referral to secondary is an inspection step rather than a refusal of admission.
Who it affects: Travellers generally. Permanent residents returning after long absences are among those described.
What to do: Carry your evidence of continuing US ties in your hand luggage rather than checked baggage, allow time for a connection, and carry an attorney's number on paper.
The long India trip
Almost every version of this question that reaches us is the same shape, and it is not a holiday. A parent needs care. A wedding takes three months of family obligation on top of the event. A death in the family turns a two-week trip into four months of probate, property and paperwork. A spouse’s posting runs two years. None of these is a plan to abandon permanent residence, and all of them can cross a threshold.
| Scenario | Where it lands | What to do before you go |
|---|---|---|
| Parent's surgery and recovery — four months | Under 180 days. Both regimes intact, no condition triggered. | Travel on the card and passport. Keep a dated note of the reason and the medical documentation, in case the next trip extends it. |
| Parent's care that extends to eight months | Card still valid. Continuous residence disrupted unless rebutted, and you are now seeking admission on length. | Assemble the four 8 CFR 316.5(c)(1)(i) facts before you leave: employment continuing, family here, home access kept, no employment taken abroad. Keep filing US taxes as a resident. |
| A spouse posted to India for two years, family goes too | Past a year. Card is not the entry document, and continuous residence breaks. | File Form I-131 for a reentry permit while still in the US — that is the part that gets you back. On the naturalisation clock, check the N-470 gate above before counting on it: a posting to your employer's Indian entity, or to an Indian company, is not qualifying employment under INA 316(b), so for most families in this scenario N-470 is simply not available and the realistic plan is the four-years-and-one-day reset after you return. |
| Already in India, eleven months gone, no permit | Days from the one-year line. | 8 CFR 211.3 measures to the boarding. Getting on a plane before the first anniversary of your departure keeps you inside the rule. Take legal advice the same week, not after. |
Three related pages. Retirement and return to India is for the version where the move is permanent and the question is whether to keep the card at all. H-1B travel to India covers family members who are not permanent residents, whose rules are completely different. And the I-94 guide explains why, as a permanent resident, you cannot pull your own travel history from the CBP site and have to file a FOIA request instead — which is worth starting long before an N-400.
If you are not a permanent resident yet
Nothing on this page applies to someone with a pending I-485, and the difference is not a detail. INA 101(a)(13)(C) protects a lawful permanent resident; an adjustment applicant is not one. The general rule at 8 CFR 245.2(a)(4)(ii)(A) is that departing without advance parole is deemed to abandon the application, and the consequence is losing your place in the queue rather than a difficult inspection.
There is a narrow exception for applicants in lawful H-1 or L-1 status under 8 CFR 245.2(a)(4)(ii)(C), and it depends on every listed condition holding at the moment you return. The denied-entry guide sets those conditions out verbatim, and travel to India while I-485 is pending is the practical guide. For where you are in the process overall, the green card tracker estimates the queue and the green card guide covers the five stages.
Frequently asked questions
Can you travel with a green card?
Yes. For a temporary absence of less than one year your green card is itself a valid entry document under 8 CFR 211.1(a)(2), and you need your passport alongside it. The useful framing is the statute rather than the day count: INA 101(a)(13)(C) says a returning lawful permanent resident is not regarded as seeking admission unless one of six conditions applies. For an ordinary trip, none does — you are a resident coming home, and the grounds of inadmissibility in INA 212(a) are not applied to you.
How long can a green card holder stay outside the US?
Three different answers, because three different rules apply. Your card works as an entry document for an absence of less than one year. Continuous residence for naturalisation is disrupted by a single absence of more than six months unless you rebut the presumption, and broken by one of a year or more. And past 180 continuous days you are treated as seeking admission under INA 101(a)(13)(C)(ii), which changes the character of the inspection. A trip of seven months therefore leaves your card perfectly valid while putting your naturalisation clock in question.
What happens if a green card holder stays out of the US for more than a year?
The card stops being the document that gets you back in. 8 CFR 211.1(a)(2) covers an absence of less than one year; past that you need a reentry permit (Form I-327), which has to be applied for while you are still inside the United States, or an SB-1 returning resident visa at a consulate, or a discretionary waiver of the document requirement at the port of entry. 8 CFR 211.3 measures the year to the moment you board, not the moment you land, so boarding on day 364 is inside the rule.
Do I have to sign Form I-407 at the airport?
No. Form I-407 records a voluntary abandonment of permanent resident status, and there is no obligation to sign it at a port of entry. If CBP believes you have abandoned the status and you do not agree, the route is removal proceedings before an immigration judge, where you can be represented and where the government has to prove its case. Signing the form gives up that process, and there is no practical way to undo it. You may say that you do not wish to abandon your status and that you would like an immigration judge to decide.
What is a reentry permit and when do I need one?
A reentry permit, applied for on Form I-131, produces Form I-327 and serves as your entry document in place of the green card for an extended absence. The fee is $630, paper filing only. The sequencing is what catches people: you must be physically present in the United States to file it, and biometrics are taken here, so it cannot be arranged from India once you have already left. It is also generally valid for up to two years, and — the part most guides omit — it does nothing at all for your naturalisation clock.
What is Form N-470 and why does nobody mention it?
Form N-470 preserves continuous residence for naturalisation through an absence of a year or more, under INA 316(b). The fee is $420, and it is the only instrument that protects the naturalisation clock — a reentry permit does not. But it is narrower than most summaries suggest, and that is the main thing to know: it requires a year of unbroken US presence first, and it requires qualifying employment with one of four specific kinds of employer — the US Government, an American institution of research, an American firm engaged in developing US foreign trade and commerce (or a majority-owned subsidiary), or a public international organisation the US belongs to — plus certain religious work. A transfer to your employer's Indian entity, a job with an Indian company, a spouse's posting or family care are not qualifying employment, however long the absence. Two further limits: it does not replace a reentry permit, and it does not waive the separate physical-presence requirement unless the employment is by or under contract with the US Government.
Are green card holders being detained at the airport?
Practitioners and national news outlets have reported cases of long-settled permanent residents being held on return, most often where there is a criminal conviction in their history, including convictions many years old. The legal mechanism is not new: INA 101(a)(13)(C)(v) brings a returning resident who has committed an offence identified in INA 212(a)(2) inside the definition of seeking admission, and that subsection carries no time limit. Separately, ICE's own published statistics show the average daily detention population rising from 19,254 in FY2021 to 64,508 across the first ten months of FY2026. ICE does not publish that population by immigration status, so it cannot be read as a risk figure for a returning green card holder. The practical response is unchanged: know which side of 101(a)(13)(C) your trip falls on, carry the evidence, and get advice before travelling if any of the six conditions could be in play.
Can ICE detain a green card applicant with a pending I-485?
Someone with a pending I-485 is not yet a permanent resident, so INA 101(a)(13)(C) does not protect them at all — they are an applicant for admission, or a parolee returning on advance parole. The travel rules are completely different and the downside is different too: departing without an approved advance parole in hand is generally treated as abandoning the application. Our guide to travelling to India with a pending I-485 covers it, and this page is not built for that situation.
What documents should a green card holder carry when travelling?
For an ordinary trip, the card and a valid passport. For an absence over six months, add the evidence 8 CFR 316.5(c)(1)(i) itself names: that you did not end your US employment, that your immediate family stayed, that you kept full access to your US home, and that you did not take employment abroad — plus your most recent US tax return filed as a resident. For an absence over a year, the reentry permit. Keep all of it in hand luggage, and carry an immigration attorney's number on paper rather than only in your phone.
Does filing taxes as a nonresident affect my green card?
Yes, and more than people expect. 8 CFR 316.5(c)(2) says that a permanent resident who voluntarily claims nonresident alien status to qualify for special tax exemptions, or who fails to file federal or state returns because they consider themselves a nonresident alien, raises a rebuttable presumption that they have relinquished the privileges of permanent resident status. For an NRI family spending years in India it is the single most consequential tax decision there is — an immigration decision disguised as a tax one.
What is an SB-1 returning resident visa?
An immigrant visa for a permanent resident who has been outside the United States beyond the reach of their documents, applied for on Form DS-117 at a consulate. You generally have to establish that you were a permanent resident when you left, that you departed intending to return and have not abandoned that intention, and that you are returning from a temporary visit abroad — and if the stay was protracted, that it was caused by reasons beyond your control and for which you were not responsible. That last condition does the work, and it is why the SB-1 is the hardest of the three routes.
Does a reentry permit protect my citizenship application?
No, and conflating the two is the costliest mistake in this area. A reentry permit answers the document question: it gets you back in. Continuous residence for naturalisation is a separate regime under 8 CFR 316.5(c), with its own six-month and one-year thresholds, and an absence of a year or more breaks it whether or not you held a permit. The only instrument that protects the naturalisation clock is Form N-470 — and because N-470 is limited to specific qualifying employment, many people in this position have no instrument at all and are looking at filing four years and one day after they return.
Sources and last verified
Statute and regulations read on October 13, 2026. Fees from Form G-1055, edition 10/07/26. Detention figures from ICE's own fiscal-year workbooks, the FY2026 file dated 20 July 2026. The tracker was last updated October 13, 2026.
- INA 101(a)(13)(C) — 8 U.S.C. 1101 ↗
- 8 CFR part 211 — documentary requirements for immigrants ↗
- 8 CFR 316.5 — residence in the United States ↗
- USCIS — international travel as a permanent resident ↗
- USCIS — Form I-131, travel documents ↗
- USCIS — Form N-470, preservation of residence ↗
- USCIS — Form I-407, record of abandonment ↗
- USCIS — Form N-400, naturalisation ↗
- Department of State — returning resident visas (SB-1) ↗
- ICE — detention management statistics ↗
- CBP — deferred inspection sites ↗
- Form G-1055 — USCIS fee schedule ↗
- EOIR — list of pro bono legal service providers ↗
Informational only, not legal advice. This page explains how a government process works and what the published rules say. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. For advice on your own facts, speak to a licensed immigration attorney — here is what one typically costs.
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Deepak Middha, CA, Series 65Founder & Author
Deepak has experience in cross-border finance, tax-aware planning, and immigrant money decisions. View full profile →
Educational content, not personalized tax, legal, immigration, or financial advice. Rules, fees, and processing times change — always verify with the official source before acting. See our full disclaimer.