R2I delimma(pls read..Most of u will be in the same boat)

[r2imem]

We are in a huge delimma for r2i becoz of the following::

My Details:

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Our I-485 is in process(Eb3-aug 2004 priority date)

One son(2.5 yrs) US citizen

Husband - Mechanical engineer-15 yrs experience(past 10yrs in the same company-direct job)

Myself- S/w engineer-Currently hunting for jobs.
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Reasons for leaving to India::

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Parents are in early 60s. We want to be with them.MAIN REASON

Want to give our son a good foundation for school,becoz he wil turn 3.5yrs in 2011,apt age to start schooling.

We want to settle down somewhere..TIRED OF WAITING FOR GC

Currently my hubby is not finding any jobs with 15yrs exp.He feels the longer he waits the tougher it will be to find a job in India with a good salary(atleast 10lakhs)
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Our questions:

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what are the advantages of waiting n having GC before leaving? like say 401k.......

Can my son(US citizen) come back to US for his Undergraduate degree. Will he be considered out-of-state(yes i guess) or foreign student or US citizen but outofstate?

what fees should my son pay compared to say a student who is also a US citizen but lives in US?

What fees should my son pay in India(till UG degree) if we want to withhold his US citizenship?
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Please bear my ignorance and advice.I know its upto us to make a decision, but answers to my above questions will greatly help us in deciding what to do, becoz this is a gr8 step in our life n we don't want to take the wrong route .

I'm very sorry if my post overwhelms anyone.
Thanks in advance

[theMan]

Based on the priority date, GC is dead in the water. So it is best for you to embark on Plan B. There are threads for each of your questions. Please take time to browse through the forum and then your dilemma begins :-)

[KRT]

Waiting and leaving after GC is not really useful, since GC will become void once you leave US. (There are ways to maintain GC for couple of years through re-entry permit, I don't know much about it). If you really need the security of being able to return to US anytime, then getting the US Citizenship is the only way, that would add another 5 years to the process.

[rmanoj]

To the best of my knowledge:
1) What are the advantages of waiting n having GC before leaving? like say 401k.......
Ans: Almost nothing except that if you change your mind within 6 months of leaving, you can come back without having to wait for a visa. Also, if you file re-entry permit, you can extend this window to 2 years. For everything else, this is not very useful.

2) Can my son(US citizen) come back to US for his Undergraduate degree. Will he be considered out-of-state(yes i guess) or foreign student or US citizen but outofstate?
Ans: US citizen never goes out of state. He can walk into US without any problems for under-graduate degree. The only problem will be for you to afford the education cost. He will also have no work restrictions. He can work in any temp job to suppliment his income.

3) what fees should my son pay compared to say a student who is also a US citizen but lives in US?
Ans: Again, there is no difference. Many colleges have "in state" and "out of state" fee. The only thing is that he will be considered "out of state" for all 50 states. Whereas someone in the US will be "in state" for exactly 1 state. So if he is applying to UC system (University of CA), then he would be in the same boat as anyone living outside CA. In many states, the "out of state" fee applies to only the first year. Note that out of state fee is about 3 times (on an average) in state fee. There are colleges which do not have this differentiation (i.e. they have same fee for everyone). He will be at no disadvantage in those colleges.

4) What fees should my son pay in India(till UG degree) if we want to withhold his US citizenship?
I think you probably meant "if we want to hold onto his US citizenship". This one I am not sure. There are foreigner's quota in institutions like IIT. The advantage there is that the competition is lighter when compared to general category. But the fees are higher. But the fees are still considerably lower when compared to an UG degree in the US. If he is not using any of the special "foreigners" quota, then his fee should be same as any regular Indian's. He should have PIO card (that is a given as he will be living in India for a long time). Note that he doesn't qualify for OCI as he was born in the US and neither of his parents have US citizenship...

[r2imem]

Thanks every1 for shedding light to my queries.Special thanks to rmanoj.
I read any in many threads that a US citizen can become an Indian citizen after r2i, and when he is 18 years claim his US citizenship back ? Is it true? If yes, what are the rules ? I tried to google it , but couln't find any good info.

[our.r2i]

Currently my hubby is not finding any jobs with 15yrs exp.He feels the longer he waits the tougher it will be to find a job in India with a good salary(atleast 10lakhs)

Dear r2imem, first, 10lakhs is no longer a good salary to survive in any Indian metro specially after moving from a developed country like US. Because to some extent, you will want to maintain your living standard that you have in US. 10lakhs meand your take home p.a. is about 7 laks which converts to only 60k pm. our monthly expense without anything extra lavish is about 65k.
even with a double income in the same bracket.....you need to check your numbers and set the right expectation in terms of salaries first.

[Mumbai_2009]

Dear r2imem, first, 10lakhs is no longer a good salary to survive in any Indian metro specially after moving from a developed country like US. Because to some extent, you will want to maintain your living standard that you have in US. 10lakhs meand your take home p.a. is about 7 laks which converts to only 60k pm. our monthly expense without anything extra lavish is about 65k.
even with a double income in the same bracket.....you need to check your numbers and set the right expectation in terms of salaries first.

I don't agree to above highlighted. If you have an apartment fully paid/car fully paid, no EMIs or loans, one can easily manage btwn 25k-30k or even lesser. Ofcourse no luxury dining/luxury trips/expensive gadgets/branded shopping figure in those cost but for them any number in salaries will not be enough.
If you had a normal lifestyle in USA you can very well manage a normal lifestyle in India with your expected salary.

You husband in a Mechanical Engineer right? is he into building construction as there are lotsa advs in TOI accent for Mechanical engineers dealing with buildings

[mkngtrbl]

From my understanding

what are the advantages of waiting n having GC before leaving? like say 401k.......
- Depends on what you want to dow ith the 401K money. if you want to withdraw it on R2I, GC does have certain advantages. You can continue to file taxes as married filing jointly as a resident and get benfits of std deductions, persnoal exemptions and child credit (not sure about child credit). This will help shave off tax on 20K or so each year (check actual numbers) as compared to single NRA. Plus depending on your RNOR duration, there will be no taxes in India for the RNOR term on this withdrawal. there will be 10% penalty for early withdrawal

Can my son(US citizen) come back to US for his Undergraduate degree. Will he be considered out-of-state(yes i guess) or foreign student or US citizen but outofstate?
- he will be out of state for the first year. you can get residency in most states in a year.

what fees should my son pay compared to say a student who is also a US citizen but lives in US?
- out of state for first year and then in state. This is considering he is not going to a parivate univ.

What fees should my son pay in India(till UG degree) if we want to withhold his US citizenship?
- not sure.

[our.r2i]

I don't agree to above highlighted. If you have an apartment fully paid/car fully paid, no EMIs or loans, one can easily manage btwn 25k-30k or even lesser. Ofcourse no luxury dining/luxury trips/expensive gadgets/branded shopping figure in those cost but for them any number in salaries will not be enough.
If you had a normal lifestyle in USA you can very well manage a normal lifestyle in India with your expected salary.

You husband in a Mechanical Engineer right? is he into building construction as there are lotsa advs in TOI accent for Mechanical engineers dealing with buildings

Mumbai_2009, may be you are right to some extent. if there is no limit on lavishness, there is no limit to being miser also.

lets assume only 2 decent dine outs pm. not a 5 star or even 2 star dinings but basic restaurants like McDonalds or a dosa place. lets assume 1 good vacation- not a star hotel but a good one.
if me and my husband both are slogging out to run the family, I will not be so miserly not to go dining to save 300 rs. but that could be just me. ;)
even if we assume a no luxury living, fully paid apartment - 30k expense is what you are saying. lets add 10k pm to vacation, guests, sundry expenses, medical expenses, investments, family weddings, birthday parties, etc. etc. so at 10 lakhs, your monthly saving is may be 20k a month or 2.4 lakhs a year. is that enough keeping in mind the inflation, retirement fund, sending 1 child to US for higher studies, unforeseen expenses like parents health, etc.?? even a FT MBA in India costs about 12-15 lakhs currently. God knows after 15 years what it is going to be.

yesterday only, I was forced to buy a warranty for our dell laptop. Reason was they refused to fix it without warranty in anything less thn 3 months. By purchasing the warranty, it will be fixed in 2 business days of registering a request. The warranty cost was 7500 Rs. The total repair cost was less thn 5k. But the laptop could not have survived for 3 months without repair. just an example of surprise expenses.