Resident alien - left US as a minor

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Alien345
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:50 pm

Resident alien - left US as a minor

Post by Alien345 »

Nightmare fuel:
I was born in Canada and moved to the US as a baby, then returned to Canada with my mother at age 14. She died 2 years later. At about age 4, I was assigned a "resident alien" card and SSN. I'm now almost 40 and have been told that I've unknowingly had tax filing obligations to the US. I didn't think that the card with my 4 year-old face and waived signature box could ever mean anything or still be valid in any way. I have never worked in the US and have rarely returned since age 14, and haven't crossed the border into the US since about 2012.

I've done a deep dive into the USCIS and IRS websites and am thinking an SFO filing is the way to proceed. If anyone knows whether the rules were different back in the late 80's when this card was issued or if there's any way my permanent residency status could have been revoked without my knowing (or any way to check?) please let me know. I tried calling the USCIS and was met with a completely automated system with no options to address my situation.

Thanks in advance for any info.
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