To be clear, there's no restriction on being outside the US while in H-1B status for more than 6 months (that restriction only applies to green card holders - and even there really isn't a restriction). Consulates are processing visas but only on a limited basis where there is some type of emergency or urgent need or where the applicant is working in health care or some other type of critical field. So, it's still possible to get a visa now, it's just complicated.

I'm a US citizen who has been working in Chile for a US company for several years. My wife of 12 years is Russian and has had a green card since 2000. She grew up in New York. She came here with me for my work, and due to COVID was unable to return to the US to renew her green card before it expired in April.

The company I work for is being acquired, and we are preparing to move back to the US. The consulate here said that because she has been away for more than a year, and because "staying with my US husband who was working for a US company in Chile" doesn't count as extenuating circumstances, her LPR status no longer applies, and she has to refile the IR1 from zero.

We've started that process, but having to stay in Chile for another 12+ months while they sort it out is at odds with needing to return to the US and perform my job for the new company. The consulate here isn't very friendly towards her (literally telling her she could have just divorced me and moved back to the US if she wanted to remain an LPR). We didn't have a problem returning after we lived in Poland for 3 years from 2008-2011 (also for my work), and your statement of, "...and even there really isn't a restriction..." caught my attention.

Is there some magic incantation or specific words she can say to the consulate here to grant her permission to return with me to the US and get her green card reinstated from within the US? My employer is being super cool about this, but it's clear that my role (Director of Community and Evangelism) will be executed better from _within_ the US.

If this constitutes legal advice you can't give in this forum, I'm perfectly willing to retain you to discuss it further. We're literally sitting in our house in Chile, bags packed, movers on standby, waiting for them to say she can return to the country where she's lived since she was 9.

The Embassy in Chile is clearly acting badly. So far it appears that you have received an informal opinion from the Embassy but there is a formal process under these circumstances that would reaffirm her green card status and allow her to travel back to the US. The document is called a returning resident visa and it probably makes sense or her to apply for this and force the Embassy to review the evidence and make a real decision. She should consult with an immigration attorney, however, possibly the immigration attorney for your employer, to help her with this application.

We applied for a returning resident visa. She went in for the appointment, with all the documentation, and that's when the consular told her that unless she'd been in a coma for the last several years, it was within her power to return. She could have divorced me and returned to the US, therefore the criteria for the RRV did not apply. She was told to submit for the IR-1.

That's an outrageous statement and completely at odds with the law. I would get your Congressman or Senator involved (they do these kinds of things all the time) and in the meantime, submit an I-130 so you don't waste time if you can't get this decision reversed.

Ok. Thank you for the guidance.

Wow, as a native-born US citizen, after reading your story I just feel honestly sad and ashamed. Like I seriously want to tell your wife "I'm sorry for the dipshittery you are experiencing from US government bureaucrats."

I mean, here you have a situation where someone does everything right, can't fly back to the US due to Covid, and then is denied her current statues due to being out of the US too long. "Catch-22" wasn't supposed to be a literal instruction manual on how bureaucracies should function.

Why didn't she travel back before April ? Could have joined later and avoided this.

My wife is an H1B holder who is now in line for a green card. She is unable to leave the United States until she receives that green card within a year from now.

Her passport will likely expire before then. It's all just a giant game :) Our solution was to lawyer up and let them handle everything for us, there is no use in trying to understand a government system.

You don't need to leave the United States to renew your passport. Your country's embassy in the US can do it for you.

Not the Chinese one apparently

This is true. My wife has renewed her Russian passport from Poland and from Chile, as well as from within the United States.

Whether you can renew a passport from outside of the country differs between countries.