Replacing Green Card While Out of Country?

[dasha 0]

Hi, all...

Sorry if this isn't the best forum for this question, but wasn't sure where else to ask it!

My husband's been in his home country for almost a year (for various reasons, mostly family related). He left last September. He's a LPR with a 10-yr green card. Recently the green card was mutilated/destroyed.

I have some questions I couldn't find answers to in my general search on this site and the government's site. Any answers or help about where I can find the answers (without having to try calling immigration and getting through to anyone at all, let alone someone who knows the answers) will be appreciated.

1. I know about the I-90 form to replace the green card. Can he do that while out of the country?
2. What about his biometrics? Would he have to get them done at the US consulate/embassy in his country? (Is that even possible?)
3. Would they send the new card to him in his country or to our address here?
4. How long does getting a replacement card take?
5. If it takes longer than he has time left to return to the US before he's been out a year, what sort of problems might he have returning after being out over 1 year?
6. If he can't apply for/receive a replacement card while he's out of the country...or if it would just take too long (since his returning after Sept. would not only maybe cause him re-entry problems but also cause us financial problems because his return plane ticket will expire and we'd have to buy a new one rather than just pay a fee to change his return flight date)...could he apply for a re-entry permit and then apply to replace the green card after he's back here?
7. Will they even issue a re-entry permit if you're out of the country and/or you don't have the physical green card (since it was destroyed)?

If there weren't so little time before he's been out of the country 1 year (and before the plane ticket expires), I'd be panicking a lot less...but it is what it is. Sigh.

Thanks again for any help/answers...

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

Most of your questions are answered if you know that it's illegal to mail a Green Card out of the U.S.

What he needs to do is to go to the U.S. consulate in Ankara where they'll give him an I-551 stamp in his passport.

With that he'll return to the US and mails in his I-90 from there.

[dasha 0]

Most of your questions are answered if you know that it's illegal to mail a Green Card out of the U.S.

What he needs to do is to go to the U.S. consulate in Ankara where they'll give him an I-551 stamp in his passport.

With that he'll return to the US and mails in his I-90 from there.

Thanks for your reply. I didn't know about mailing a green card out of the US. Even the government can't do it?! If not, I thought maybe the consulate/embassy could issue the replacement card...but maybe not.

Is there any paperwork or fee associated with the I-551 stamp? (I assume so...there always is, where the government's concerned.) Or can he just walk into the consulate (with or without an appointment?) and request the stamp and get it immediately (and for little or no money)???

His Turkish passport has expired and will have to get a new one. If the new one has a different number on it than the old one he had registered with the US govt when he originally applied for the green card, will that be a problem to identify him as really being the person he claims to be, who is an LPR? I do have a photocopy of his original green card...should I send him that, to help identify him?

Thanks for your help.