Originally Posted by bbelovic
Also important to note, as a permanent resident you are not "visiting" but "coming home", which also changes the meaning of the question "what was the purpose of your trip" - a question one will be asked in both lines, but they expect a different answer... In visitor line, it's what will you be doing in US, in citizen/resident line it's what have you been doing outside of US.
As an American citizen living outside of the country, I was thrown by that question the first time I was asked it.
I replied that my trip was business and then asked what kind of business I would be doing in the States. I answered that I work outside of the country and thus the trip (US-Israel-US) was a business trip, even though my current itinerary was Israel-US-Israel.
I learned after that just to say "pleasure" and get through with less hassle.