Crime

• If you commit an aggravated crime involving drugs, murder, assault or robbery, your green card may not be renewed. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, immigration officials have taken a closer look at those who seek green cards. If you are in any way considered a security risk you may be denied.
  
  

Illegal Entry

• There are only two ways for someone who has illegally entered the country to gain legal status. He must marry an American citizen and prove to immigration officials that it is a legitimate marriage, or the government must grant amnesty. If you have somehow managed to obtain a green card, but the government later learns that you initially entered the country illegally, it has grounds to deny your green card renewal.
  
  

Hostile Sentiments

• There is a good chance your green card will be denied when it comes up for renewal if you are openly sympathetic toward terrorist groups. Even jokes about bombings and harming legal citizens are taken seriously.
  
  

Living Somewhere Else

• If a green card holder does not reside in the country for at least six months out of the year, it gives immigration officials pause and is sometimes the reason a green card is not renewed.
  
  

Taxes

• Failure to pay state or federal income tax is grounds for the federal government to deny your green card renewal.
  
  

Lying

• If at any point immigration learns that you have made misleading or fraudulent statements on your green card application, it can revoke your green card or refuse its renewal. It is best to tell the truth up front, rather than worry about a denial later.