Hi,

My wife abandoned her Green Card by mailing I-407 in Oct 2019 to USCIS. It was delivered to USCIS in Oct 2019 as per USPS certified email.

She got an email from USCIS only in Jan 2020 about completion of processing of her I-407.

Question:

She was a Long Term Resident and has to file Form 8854. Should that be filed for year 2019 (the actual year of filing I-407) or the year 2020 (the year USCIS mentioned as Received date)? Can someone clarify?

I am assuming the year is 2019 since 8854 instructions says the following:

Date of termination of long-term residency.
If you were a U.S. long-term resident (LTR), you terminated your lawful permanent residency on the earliest of the following dates.

The date you voluntarily abandoned your lawful permanent resident status by filing Department of Homeland Security Form I-407 with a U.S. consular or immigration officer.

Thanks for your help.

Sri

If I were preparing the Form 8854, I would hold that the green card was abandoned for processing upon receipt by the USCIS. If have definite proof of this fact.

Thanks AtlantaTaxExpert.

We have the proof of delivery confirmation from USPS (Oct 21, 2019).

The email from USCIS says the following.

....
Received Date Wednesday, 8 January 2020
....

You are receiving this email message as a courtesy to confirm USCIS received your Form I-407, Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status, and recorded your voluntary abandonment of your U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident status on the "Received Date" listed above.

Should we consider Oct 21, 2019 or 8th Jan 2020 as abandonment date. The instructions for 8854 seems to be contradicting the email

Thanks
Sri

Use the 21 October 2019 date

Thanks AtlantaTaxExpert

Glad to help!