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Did 6 months or more passed since he exited the USA? if not, you/he would need to apply for something called White passport, that allows a green card holder to leave the country for 1 or 2 years.
if 6 months passed, he would probably need to go to court and explain why he overstayed abroad- heath reasons.
Then the green card may be returned.
Good Luck!

mewnyc wrote:

My partner a US Green Card Holder departed from the United States for Brazil to assist his mother due to health reasons.  We did not know about the reentry permit process and according the the USCIS website:

A lawful permanent resident (LPR) normally may travel outside the United States and return; however, there are some limitations. A reentry permit can help prevent two types of problems:

Your Permanent Resident Card becomes technically invalid for reentry into the United States if you are absent from the United States for 1 year or more.
Your U.S. permanent residence may be considered as abandoned for absences shorter than 1 year if you take up residence in another country.

We have a primary residence in the United States as well as bank/credit cards so I am unsure if we will have a problem on our return to the USA in January. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on the best course of action? 

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/file … s/B5en.pdf

If he/she is out of the country for more than a year he/she will lose LPR status. You are not taking residence in Brazil so that is not applicable since you are only there due to a family illness. However the LPR will be considered abandoned if he/she stays outside the US for longer than a year.

You can contact the US Embassy in Brasilia for information on extenuating circumstances or the easiest way to circumvent the situation is simply return before the one year is up and spend a couple days in the US and return to Brazil - that said don't abuse that. If you keep going back and forth for extended periods it will look like you are taking up residence in another country.

Good luck.