Q: Unable to return to US and my re-entry permit (I-131) is expiring. Is there a way to extend its validity period?
I'm a green card holder and I am currently outside of the US with a travel document (I-131) issued by USCIS that provides me a re-rentry permit. This document expires after September 30th. Ordinarily, I had been admitted for graduate education and assistantship to a university for Fall 2020 and I would enter to US in July 2020. However, exit from the country I'm in is currently banned and the flights are stopped because of COVID-19 and my education and job at the university is deferred to Spring 2021. I don't know if entering US will be possible before September 30th. Even if it will, I'll have a financial problem if I come to US before January 2021 since my employment is postponed to spring. Is there anything I can do to extend the validity period of my travel document for a few months? I'd like to add that if I fail to do that validity of my green card will be at risk since I'm out of the country for more than one year.
A:
Just use your green card to enter the US. Allowing you to return after 1 year with a green card is discretionary, and under the current situation, the CBP officer should understand that you couldn't come back sooner. You can also file for a returning resident visa (SB-1) at the US consulate or embassy since you were stuck outside the US under circumstances outside of your control.
See https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/returning-resident.html
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