Visas and the queue

SB-1 returning resident visa

Also called SB-1, SB1, returning resident visa, returning resident.

An SB-1 is the returning resident special immigrant visa a consulate issues under 22 CFR 42.22 to a permanent resident who has stayed outside the United States too long to be readmitted on a green card or a reentry permit but who never abandoned the intention to return.

What it decides

8 CFR 211.1(a) sets out what readmits a resident: a green card after a temporary absence of less than one year, a reentry permit on Form I-327, or, for a conditional resident, an expired card with a Form I-829 receipt notice issued within the previous six months. Once none of those is available the SB-1 is what remains. 22 CFR 42.22(a) requires the consular officer to find that the applicant held permanent residence on departure, left intending to return and never abandoned that intention, and is returning from a temporary visit whose length, if protracted, was caused by reasons beyond the applicant's control and for which the applicant was not responsible. That third finding defeats most applications, so it should not be treated as routine. The application is Form DS-117 and 22 CFR 22.1 charges $180 to decide returning resident status, with the immigrant visa application fee and medical examination to follow if it is granted. As a special immigrant the applicant is outside the numerical limits, so there is no priority date and no queue.

Governed by 22 CFR 42.22(a); 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(A); 8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(1)(A) for the absence of a numerical limit; 8 CFR 211.1(a)(2), (a)(3) and (a)(5); 22 CFR 22.1 item 35(a) for the $180 returning resident determination and item 32 for the immigrant visa application processing fee; Form DS-117, edition 10-2019, OMB control number 1405-0091, read at eforms.state.gov. The travel.state.gov returning resident pages could not be used: that host serves the same block page for every path, so nothing on it was relied on.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into sb-1 returning resident visa rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Reentry permitA reentry permit is the travel document, applied for on Form I-131 and issued as Form I-327, that lets a permanent or conditional permanent resident spend up to two years outside the United States and apply for admission on return without a returning resident visa.
Abandonment of residenceAbandonment of residence is the loss of lawful permanent resident status that follows from conduct showing the holder no longer intends to make the United States a permanent home, most often moving abroad for good, staying out on what is no longer a temporary visit, or claiming nonresident status on a US tax return.
Lawful permanent residentA lawful permanent resident is a person lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20), and it is the status an EB-5 case delivers: conditional for the first two years, then unconditional once Form I-829 is approved.
Form I-407Form I-407, Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status, is the voluntary filing by which a permanent resident records that they have given up that status, and signing it waives the right to have an immigration judge decide whether the status was in fact abandoned.

Checked against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Back to the glossary