Traveling overseas with i751 pending (divorce waiver)

[Katherine93 30]

Hello,

 

I have the 2 year conditional green card that's expiring in Dec 2018. I filed ROC with divorce waiver in August 2017 and have the one year extension letter. In about a month I will be traveling back to my home country to visit family and I'm wondering if anyone has experience coming back to the US with pending i751 with divorce waiver recently. 

 

I will bring my extension letter with me. But since my GC has not expired yet, do I even need to show the extension letter at all? I've heard some horror stories on VJ where people are being sent directly to secondary to have the letter processed and since I'm entering at LAX and have a 3 hour layover, I want to avoid any delays. So I wonder if it is at all necessary to bring up the extension letter? I also have global entry so the automated kiosks should be able to process my green card. 

 

If I have to go through a CBP officer, should I bring up the divorce as well? I assume that I would be questioned about why my spouse is not with me and about the ROC, so I should just be honest and would that cause me any trouble at all for entering?

 

Thank you all very much in advance!

 

 

[Lemonslice 4,553]

Bring the letter, show it if requested. Answer honestly.

[mindthegap 2,521]

You should be able to use global entry.

If a human interaction is necessary, produce your card - it remains valid by itself until expiry. You should take the letter with you though (the original which is watermarked, not a copy).

Early/late I-751 is permissible with a divorce waiver so you haven’t done anything suspect, but many CBP officers simply don’t know the rules, so keep it as simple as possible, don’t voluntarily offer information that may lead to more confusion and questions, and always be truthful.

 

[RandyW 149]

17 hours ago, mindthegap said:

You should be able to use global entry.

If a human interaction is necessary, produce your card - it remains valid by itself until expiry. You should take the letter with you though (the original which is watermarked, not a copy).

Early/late I-751 is permissible with a divorce waiver so you haven’t done anything suspect, but many CBP officers simply don’t know the rules, so keep it as simple as possible, don’t voluntarily offer information that may lead to more confusion and questions, and always be truthful.

 

 

 

You NEED to have a copy at hand - SHOW the original, but KEEP it, and let them retain the copy (unless they have other ideas).

[mindthegap 2,521]

59 minutes ago, RandyW said:

 

 

You NEED to have a copy at hand - SHOW the original, but KEEP it, and let them retain the copy (unless they have other ideas).

They only need to see the original - as above, it is watermarked - everything else is done on the USCIS systems.

They do not retain a copy of it and there is no requirement to carry or provide one.

 

Anyway, in this instance it is a moo point, as the OPs card is still valid.

[Katherine93 30]

Thank you guys for the responses! I guess I will try to go through the global entry kiosks with my GC first and bring the extension letter (and copies just in case, wouldn't hurt I guess). Hopefully that will work and I won't have to interact with an officer but I can show the letter if they request for any reason