SB-1 Returning resident visa
SB-1 is for a permanent resident who has been stuck outside the United States longer than the law allows and needs a new immigrant visa to come back. A green card is valid for re-entry for one year; a re-entry permit for two. Stay away longer and the card no longer works, and the returning resident visa is the mechanism for showing the absence was caused by circumstances beyond your control rather than by abandonment.
- Срок
- permanent
- Продление
- Not applicable. If the application succeeds you resume permanent residence and the card renews on Form I-90 every ten years. There is no extension of the one-year or two-year re-entry window itself - a re-entry permit must be applied for on Form I-131 before departing.
- Работа
- Yes, without restriction, on resumption of permanent residence.
- Члены семьи
- None as such. Each family member who is a returning resident must file their own Form DS-117 and be assessed separately. The concession for military and U.S. government families operates on the individual, not through a derivative.
- Путь к грин-карте
- The SB-1 is the immigrant visa. Approval of returning resident status eliminates the requirement that an immigrant visa petition be filed with USCIS, but you still have to be found eligible for an immigrant visa, sit for an interview and pass a medical exam. If the application is refused on abandonment grounds, the fallback is a nonimmigrant visa if you can show compelling ties abroad, or applying for an immigrant visa again on the same basis and in the same category as you originally immigrated - which for a family category means starting the queue over.
- Срок рассмотрения
- The Department of State advises contacting the post at least three months before intended travel, because two interviews and a medical examination have to be scheduled. There is no published national figure and post practice varies widely; specific timings are unverified.
- Годовая квота и очереди
- None. SB-1 is a special immigrant classification and is not subject to a numerical limit, so no final action date appears for it in the September 2026 Visa Bulletin.
Кто подходит
- A lawful permanent resident who has remained outside the United States for longer than one year
- A conditional resident in the same position
- A permanent or conditional resident who has remained outside beyond the validity period of a re-entry permit, which runs two years
- Not needed by the spouse or child of a member of the U.S. armed forces, or of a civilian employee of the U.S. government stationed abroad on official orders, who may use Form I-551 to enter even if it has expired, provided they have not abandoned residence and are returning to resume residence or accompanying the service member or employee
Требования
- 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 for which you were not responsible
- You must also establish eligibility for an immigrant visa in all other respects, which means admissibility under INA 212(a) or a waiver
- A medical examination
Как подать
- 1
Contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate in advance of your intended travel, ideally at least three months ahead. Review the country-specific instructions on that post's website, because procedure varies.
- 2
Submit Form DS-117 with your green card or re-entry permit, and evidence that your departure was temporary and the extended stay was outside your control - medical records, employment orders, a death in the family, travel restrictions.
- 3
Attend the interview on returning resident status. A consular officer decides whether you meet the criteria.
- 4
If approved, pay the DS-260 processing fee, complete the immigrant visa application, and take the medical examination.
- 5
Attend the immigrant visa interview, which is usually a second appointment.
- 6
Enter the United States on the SB-1 visa. No USCIS Immigrant Fee is charged.
Сборы и формы
| Form DS-117, Application to Determine Returning Resident Status | $180 |
| DS-260 immigrant visa application processing, other immigrant visa applications including returning resident applicants | $205 |
| USCIS Immigrant Fee | $0 - SB-1 returning residents are exempt |
| Medical examination and vaccinations | set by the panel physician |
| Transportation letter for a lawful permanent resident, where applicable instead | $575 |
Что изменилось в 2025 и 2026 годах
- The SB-1 rules themselves did not change in 2025 or 2026. What changed is the environment around them.
- 20 July 2026 - the public charge final rule rescinding the 2022 regulations, effective 18 September 2026, applies to SB-1 applicants because they must establish eligibility for an immigrant visa in all other respects.
- Immigrant visa issuance was reduced for nationals of countries covered by Presidential Proclamations 10949 and 10998, and by the immigrant visa processing restrictions for nationalities at high risk of public benefits usage. That last measure paused immigrant visa issuance to nationals of 75 countries from 21 January 2026 until 21 August 2026, when it ended under the court's order in CLINIC et al. v. Rubio. An SB-1 applicant whose nationality was affected may have lost most of a year.
- 1 January 2026 - annual inflation adjustment to the H.R. 1 fees, none of which apply to SB-1.
- 21 May 2026 - USCIS policy memorandum PM-602-0199 treating adjustment of status as extraordinary discretionary relief. This cuts the other way for returning residents: the memorandum's premise is that consular processing is the ordinary route, which is what SB-1 is.
Где чаще всего ошибаются
- Believing a one-year absence is a grace period. It is the outer limit of the green card's validity as a travel document, not permission to be away for a year, and abandonment can be found on a much shorter absence if the facts show you moved abroad.
- Applying because you simply preferred to stay longer. Reasons beyond your control means genuinely beyond your control - illness, a court order, a border closure - not convenience or an ageing parent you chose to care for indefinitely.
- Not getting a re-entry permit before leaving. Form I-131 must be filed while you are physically in the United States, and it is far easier than an SB-1 afterwards.
- Letting a re-entry permit expire abroad. It runs two years and cannot be renewed from outside the country.
- Filing tax returns as a non-resident while abroad. It is close to conclusive evidence of abandonment.
- Assuming refusal is the end. It is not, but the fallback is a fresh immigrant visa in the original category, which for an F4 sibling case means going back to the end of a twenty-year line.
Также в категории Special immigrant
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