You can lose your U.S. permanent resident status by violating the law (committing a crime) or violating the terms of your residency, such as by staying out of the United States and living abroad for too long, as explained above in Section B. If you are in the United States, a violation of the law could make you deportable, in which case USCIS might start Immigration Court proceedings against you and eventually send you away. If you attempt to return to the United States, you could be found inadmissible and kept out.

RESOURCE

For more on inadmissibility, see the discussion in Chapter 2 and I.N.A. § 101(a)(13)(C); 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(13)(c). The grounds of inadmissibility overlap with the grounds of removal or deportability, but they are set out separately in the immigration laws, and there are significant differences. See I.N.A. § 237(a), or 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a) for more on removal or deportability.

A full discussion of inadmissibility and deportability is beyond the scope of this book. In brief, you become removable or deportable if you:

• are involved in document fraud or alien smuggling

• go on welfare (become a public charge) within the first five years of entry, unless you need public support because of something beyond your control, such as a disabling accident (see I.N.A. § 237(a)(5); 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(5))

• fail to comply with a condition of your green card (such as failing to follow a course of treatment to cure an illness you had when you were approved for residency)

• commit crimes, or

• violate the immigration laws (for example, participate in a sham marriage).

You probably aren’t planning on a crime spree as soon as you get your green card. But the message to take from these criminal grounds is that you have to be extra careful. Your U.S. citizen friends might not worry too much about engaging in certain illegal activities, such as shooting a gun at the sky on the Fourth of July or sharing a marijuana cigarette among friends. But if you are caught participating in these same activities, you could lose your green card and be deported.