<p>Hey Guys</p>
<p>I am a green card holder, and my card is still valid. However, I have never lived in the US (I have only been to Las Vegas for a weekly holiday in US long time ago), and both my parents cannot speak English.</p>
<p>Can I still be counted, officially, as a domestic US student so to have considerably better chance than internationals do?</p>
<p>please help</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Permanent residents don't count as international applicants. (I think green card = permanent residency, so...looks like you're fine :))</p>
<p>Your green card is not valid, because you have not lived in USA continuously for 6 months. After 9/11 new rule is: greencard holder cannot stay outside of USA longer than six months ( before 9/11 it was two years), or the green card will expire. So now you will be considered as international student.
Sorry</p>
<p>Oops, I totally skipped over the part where you said you never lived in the US.</p>
<p>hmm..</p>
<p>But my dad's friend, who happens to be a lawyer in US, tells me that for certain reasonable circumstances, I'm allowed to just simply update my green card, since obviously I'll be living in US for more than 6 months if I'm going to an university. He also says that only in the case that I officially renounce my permanent residence status under oath, my green card will not be "gone", but just need to be updated or "reactivated".</p>
<p>Any way, I still have the green card numbers and US social security numbers at my disposal. I may as well apply without revealing my special condition, leaving it till I get accepted or rejected or something. :)</p>
<p>sorry to step in here... but does caltech require we send in a copy of our green card with the application???? (A lot of other colleges do)</p>
<p>Then I'll do it if Caltech asks me so. I don't need to afraid for that as I DO have the card myself, except that the picture on my card may look quite different than my appearance now. :)</p>
<p>How did you become a permanent resident if you have never lived here? (Did you live here at the time that you got it?) How long has it been since you left? Are you in the US now? If not, do you know if you can re-enter the US now? (You may need a re-entry permit or returning resident visa, depending on how long you have been away.)</p>
<p>If you know that you can re-enter the US as a permanent resident, then I don't think there is a problem with applying as a domestic student. You may be eligible for more types of financial aid if you are a domestic student.</p>
<p>@spoon!: family relationship? strangely enough, my dad's sisters and brothers are all US citizens and most of my cousins from my father's side are US citizens too.</p>
<p>Any way, one question. On the common application website, can I put myself as a person who has lived in US for <1 year instead of 0 since strictly speaking, I have lived over in my aunt's house there in US for about 2 months during a summer holiday years ago?</p>
<p>i am not so sure you can count that valid green card since living in us for only total of 2 month isn't exactly a reasonable excuse for you to not be here for a long time. (maybe a deadly disease or soemthing that kept you from traveling... thats a more valid excuse)
like if your green card expires because you haven't been in the US for a long time, they might not even let you into the country(it happened to many people actually). then you'll have to go through the whole visa thing. Unless you currently have a valid/active green card, then you might want to check with caltech.</p>
<p>having a physical card is not enough since only the stuff in the government database counts.</p>
<p>and if you were dishonest on your app, caltech can rescind you at anytime.</p>
<p>It's not really being dishonest or something. I'm just asking whether or not I can be counted as a person who has lived in US for less than a year rather than just one hasn't lived in US AT ALL.</p>
<p>ANY WAY, I think the best way is to conform with my dad's friend, a lawyer in US. All I ask here is whether or not a green card holder can be counted as a domestic US student in admission.</p>
<p>I think I have enough help from you guys.</p>
<p>Thanks any way :)</p>
<p>Well, the most <em>surefire</em> way would probably be to just call up Caltech admissions and ask...anyway, good luck!</p>
<p>Caltech just cares whether or not you have a valid greencard. </p>
<p>As far as whether or not the greencard is valid, that's not up to them to decide and I doubt the adcoms could help you on immigration laws. </p>
<p>Just check w' the US gov. Easier said than done, I know. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>