Will a person on a green card who left the U.S. 3 months ago be allowed back into the U.S.

What do you mean by "his green card expiring"? Do you mean that there is an expiration date on his green card and that the date is coming up soon? Or do you mean that he wants to know how long he can stay outside the US without losing his legal permanent residency?

Theoretically, the government can allege that an alien abandons his residency from the moment the alien leaves the US. However, in that scenario, the burden of proof would be on the government and unless the alien does something explicit such as handling his green card over to a government official, the government may not be able to prove that the alien intended to abandon his residency.

In general, after an absence of 6 or more months from the US, the alien has the burden of proving that he does not intend to abandon residency. However, the instructions for Form I-131 states that aliens outside of the US for shorter than a year do not need to file the Form I-131. Unless the government has clear evidence otherwise, the government is likely not going to allege abandonment of residency for absence of less than a year.

If your boyfriend wanted to be outside the US for a long time, he should have looked into filling the Form I-131 before leaving the US. That form can be filed only by aliens while inside the US. The forms and instructions are available for free at www.uscis.gov .

The passing of the expiration date on the green card does not terminate the residency of the alien. The alien's legal permanent residency can terminate only by the alien's voluntary act or the government getting an appropriate order terminating the alien's residency. The border inspector may give the alien with an expired green card a hard time. However, if the alien is otherwise admissible, the alien should be admitted into the US (if only to attend hearings whether his residency has been terminated).

Your boyfriend should review his facts and options with his attorney. His particular facts determine the outcome of his situation.

If a green card holder leaves the United States, and wants to retain his green card status, he must continue to demonstrate his US permanent residence through ties to the United States. This is done in a variety of ways, including having property here, a bank account here, paying taxes here as a resident, etc. The USCIS website discusses it this way:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=fe17e6b0eb13d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=4f719c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Maintaining Permanent Residence

Maintaining Permanent Residence You may lose your permanent residence status if you commit an act that makes you removable from the United States under the law in section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If you commit such an act, you may be brought before the immigration courts to determine your right to remain a Permanent Resident.

You may be found to have abandoned your permanent resident status if you:

**Move to another country intending to live there permanently.

**Remain outside of the US for more than one year without obtaining a reentry permit or returning resident visa. However in determining whether your status has been abandoned any length of absence from the US may be considered, even if it is less than one year.

**Remain outside of the US for more than two years after issuance of a reentry permit without obtaining a returning resident visa. However in determining whether your status has been abandoned any length of absence from the US may be considered, even if it is less than one year.

**Fail to file income tax returns while living outside of the US for any period.

**Declare yourself a “nonimmigrant” on your tax returns.

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Please note that while a green card holder is permitted to be outside the US for 11 consecutive months and still re-enter using a valid green card, if a green card holder wants to qualify for naturalization, then he should generally not spend more than 5 consecutive months out of the US or risk losing his resident status for purposes of naturalization. There are 2 standards - residence for NATURALIZATION and residence for retaining GREEN CARD STATUS.

If a person does not care about naturalization, then a green card holder could potentially be out of the US for 11 consecutive months.

If a green card holder does not care about naturalization and wants to stay out of the US for longer than 11 months, then a re-entry permit is potentially available, but that application must be filed when he is back physically in the US.

Situations like these can be complicated, so consulting a qualified immigration lawyer can help isolate the options. Obtaining green card status can be a major undertaking - years of effort; so your boyfriend will probably want to be very thorough and thoughtful in his actions to avoiding losing the status.

If your bf's only concern is his absence from the US for 3 months and the green card on its face is still valid (unexpired), he should be fine. You stated that he left to visit his parents, so he had no intention to abandon his US residence. He should be fine. If you have further clarifications, please write back...in case I missed a detail.

Good luck.