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Comment by seanmcdirmid | Hacker News Reader

Green card != citizenship. In fact, you can lose your green card just by not living in the USA for 6 months out of the year.

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True, but there is a difference between residence for tax purposes and residence for immigration purposes. You may live a certain number of years (7-8?) in the US, give up your greencard, and still be considered a resident for tax purposes for life or until you relinquish with the IRS and pay your exit tax.

Does the same apply if you lived 7-8 years in the US in a non-immigrant status?

You can't really do that, they make you get a green card after 6 years if you want it or not.

That's not true. There are many scenarios how one can live legally in the US for more than 6 years as a non-immigrant. E.g F-1 student visa for 4+2+4 years (Bachelors through PhD), followed by 3 years on OPT, followed by 6 years on H-1B. That's 19 years.

In addition, nobody "makes" you get a green card.

Ya. You can only be in a H1B for 6 years, but combined with an F1 and OPT, could be longer. I was just thinking about working visas.

You have to get a green card after your second work visa or go back home, that's the choice. Unlike other countries where you can work on a working visa indefinitely and never even qualify for permanent residency.

There are working visas without H1-B's 6 year limit too. Like L1, O1, treaty visas like TN and E-3, exotic visas like T1,R1 etc.

I believe it's only if you had a US citizenship or if you were a legal permanent resident (i.e you had a greencard) for 8 or more years. You can search online for 'IRS expatriation tax' or form 8854, or better talk to a lawyer...

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