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Parsoram

going back without getting plastic green card

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Filed: Other Timeline

Hello friends,

I received my immigrant visa on my passport and so did my wife and baby boy. What I want to ask is, we are going to travel U.S. in June for a week however due to our current jobs back in Turkey we will get back to our homeland before recieveing our greencard ssn etc. Will it be a problem? can I get out of the country with the visa that we have? can the friends that will recieve our cards send gc cards to us via airmail? or we must wait to get them in US?

Best Regards

Edited by Parsoram
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Filed: Timeline

It's not a problem. Upon entering the US, your immigrant visa immediately turns into an I-551 (green card) valid for one year from the date of your entry. You can use that to enter the US during that year, or you can use the plastic green card if you manage to receive it. Note that as a US permanent resident, you shouldn't stay too long outside the US.

Edited by newacct
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Filed: Other Timeline

thanks for reply newacct. Good news for us. Actually I am not planning to stay out too much, just trying to land a decent job (most likely the one that I have now) in U.S. As soon as I get offer I will move. If I cannot find what I am looking for I just lower my expectations and find any level in my sector and move in a year hopefully.

How about the second part of my question? can our friends at the stated address for GC collection send us the packet that they will receive over airmail? let's say they sent to us and received it , can we use it for travelling to U.S. or do we have to use the visa on the passport again?

Edited by Parsoram
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Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Norway
Timeline

It's not recommended to send GC's by mail (risk of it getting lost). There is no issue in using the GC in your passport.

However, remember that you cannot stay out for longer than a year and that if you stay out for more than approx 6 months, you will likely be questioned harder at POE.

It's not recommended to send GC's by mail (risk of it getting lost). There is no issue in using the GC in your passport.

However, remember that you cannot stay out for longer than a year and that if you stay out for more than approx 6 months, you will likely be questioned harder at POE.

If it isn't difficult, it isn't worth it.

 

K1 process

9/24/15: I129f sent

9/30/15: NOA1

11/2/15: NOA2

Delayed processing due to work

3/15/16: Medical

4/28/16: Interview (approved)

Delayed entry due to work

8/12/16: POE Detroit

 

9/4/16: Wedding!

 

AOS process:

9/9/16: I485/I131/I765 sent

9/14/16: Received 3xNOAs by text/e-mail (day 2)

9/14-18/16: Received 3xpaper NOAs 

9/23/16: Received biometrics appointment letter (day 11)

10/3/16: Biometrics appointment (day 19)

11/4/16: EAD+AP approved (day 53)

11/16/16: EAD status changed to card shipped (day 65)

11/17/16: EAD/AP combo card received (day 66)

12/30/16: Notice of interview scheduled (day 109)

2/1/17: AOS interview (day 142) - APPROVED

2/8/17: GC received (day 150)

 

ROC process:

11/3/2018: ROC window opens

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thanks for reply newacct. Good news for us. Actually I am not planning to stay out too much, just trying to land a decent job (most likely the one that I have now) in U.S. As soon as I get offer I will move. If I cannot find what I am looking for I just lower my expectations and find any level in my sector and move in a year hopefully.

How about the second part of my question? can our friends at the stated address for GC collection send us the packet that they will receive over airmail? let's say they sent to us and received it , can we use it for travelling to U.S. or do we have to use the visa on the passport again?

Very risky to send them via normal mail. Use a courier, small price to pay vs the $450 per card replacement fee (and hassle) if they go missing.

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Filed: IR-4 Country: Gibraltar
Timeline

Hi,

Please what happen to those who enter with Green card in us. And get divorce unfortunately before to apply for citizenship. All man and woman and children come the same day through Green card Lottery.

Thanks for your help.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

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Filed: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Country: Ghana
Timeline

Hi,

Please what happen to those who enter with Green card in us. And get divorce unfortunately before to apply for citizenship. All man and woman and children come the same day through Green card Lottery.

Thanks for your help.

Start your own post. This person is asking something different from your issue.

(L)(L)(L)(L)(L)(L)(L)

CR- 1

Interview :  11/15/2016

Result: AP  (form 221 (g))

Correspondence with Embassy: Tons of emails, Facebook posts, tweets, Congressman inquiry

Complaint letter with OIG : 12/29/2016

Case dispatched to diplomatic pouch : 01/11/2017

Case dispatched from diplomatic mail service to NVC : 01/23/2017

Case arrived at NVC: 01/26/2017

NVC sent case to USCIS : 02/09/2017 (system update)

Case receive by USCIS (text & email notification): 03/07/2017

 

Reaffirm Petition Timeline for folks in GHANA.. Please update your information..Thank you!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k0NXnbJdyEIRR1_Dr4t3yXmsM0tBbq-tZsj0-o3cMV0/edit?usp=sharing

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Nigeria
Timeline

There is no issue with travelling with your temporary greencard on your passport. In my case, we left the US before our plastic green cards arrived. When we returned about 5 months after, we presented our temporary green cards and there was no issue with that. The officer asked whether we had received our plastic green cards and we informed him that it arrived in the mail while we were away.

The only problem we had was with the airline staff in our home country while we were checking in. At first, they didn't understand that the immigrant visa was now a temporary green card but they eventually let us go.

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The only problem we had was with the airline staff in our home country while we were checking in. At first, they didn't understand that the immigrant visa was now a temporary green card but they eventually let us go.

A few people have reported problems with this and sometimes they are not allowed to board because of it! This is why I would prefer to have the actual card couriered, but if not I'd suggest people take a printout of the USCIS page that describes acceptable documentation for entry, and if checkin staff are unhelpful to insist on seeing someone more senior, until you get to someone who gets it.

I was fairly lucky, in that the checkin person didn't know this but when I showed her the line saying "evidencing permanent residence" at the bottom she accepted it for boarding.

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Page 40 of this document clearly shows the temporary green card (that the visa has converted into) - I'd suggest anyone using it print this page as well as note the url of the document :

http://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/carrier_info_guide.pdf

Note: this is the carrier information guide, so any airline flying into the US should have a copy of this somewhere to verify.

Edited by SusieQQQ
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  • 2 weeks later...
Filed: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Country: Iran
Timeline

The only problem we had was with the airline staff in our home country while we were checking in. At first, they didn't understand that the immigrant visa was now a temporary green card but they eventually let us go.

That was basically our experience. We were the last to board despite being elites on an Air Canada puddle hopper out of LGA because the agent was reluctant to take our I-130 sticker as a green card for the purposes of transiting Canada, despite having spent over half an hour sorting it out with a supervisor at check in (and *really* pissing off everyone behind us in the priority lane!). Our CBSA officer at Toronto Pearson also seemed unfamiliar with the fact that the sticker can be used for travel, but was very reasonable when we pointed to the language on the sticker about it serving as a I-130. One warning to the OP if returning via Ataturk with or without the sticker: Turkish Ground Services is particularly awful at US visa-checking, and Gozen is not much better. We literally got into an argument with Turkish Ground over whether LHR is in the Schengen zone and whether green card holders can transit Canada, which seem like things that you really need to know if you're going to work in a role like that. Having Timatic Web printouts ready helps a little in those situations, but we still had our green card FedEx'ed straight to Istanbul as soon as it arrived at my parents' house because we decided that it would be worth $80 to save ourselves from another argument with the gate dragons...

I did add the phone number for the CBP Regional Carrier Liaison Group to my phone contacts just in case we ever got to that point, but so far haven't had to use it - not that I'd expect them to be all that responsive to the pleas of an "ordinary" traveler...

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