My understanding is that if a permanent legal resident stays out of the country for over 1 year without a re-entry permit, they will lose their right to residency and would need to re-apply to enter the U.S again.

Also, any stay outside the country for over 6 months may affect the continuous residence requirement for Naturalization. If applying for Naturalization is a concern, I would look into this further before leaving.

Also, remember that any time you re-enter the country as a legal resident, you are still subject to immigration clearance at the POE and may be questioned about lengthy or frequent stays abroad to determine if you have technically abandoned your legal residency. Anything less than 6 months in a 1-year period should be no problem.

Ray

Before I met her, my wife had a permanent green card taken away since she'd been out of the country more than in, over a several year period. She still could get in with a tourist visa, but we had to re-apply for the green card after we were married.

However, this was all quite a few years ago. Things may have changed.

- Jeff