Do you always bring your Green Card with you?

[TheFantastics09 19]

Federal law requires an alien to keep their green card on their person at all times.

Because of ^this^, I keep mine in my wallet.

[Marilyn. 340]

I don't have it in my main wallet but I do have it in my purse at all times..

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

We pretty much try to follow all laws so my husband carried his at all times. He no longer has a greencard.

[mamaSue 38]

I had mine for 6 years and never carried it unless I was going abroad.

One time, I went for an infopass appointment and I forgot to take it. ...The officer asked me for it, and I just gave her my alien #, and it was fine.

I was also scared of losing it. BTW, I never carry my SS card, don't even know where it is, but the number always suffices when needed.

[apple21 953]

Yes, my husband carries it with him at all times because of what is stated in the law. He won't take chances because we're afraid that if he's charged with misdemeanor it would have a bad effect on my ongoing F2A visa application.

[indiana_sweetie 120]

I made my wife a laminated two sided color copy of her green card. She carries that with her all the time, as well as her driver's license. We keep the original safe at home where we don't need to risk it getting lost.

Just curious....there are no problems with showing a copy? I like this idea and am thinking of doing that for hubby when he gets his.

[Eve&Josh 5]

My wallet was stolen some months ago, and in it was my Green Card as I naturally had it on me at all times since that's what the law says you have to do. It's a pain to apply for a replacement card - it costs $450, you have to get biometrics redone and you have to send in all the papers from your AOS again. I filed the replacement application about two months ago and it's still in initial review. I was told at biometrics that it can take as little as two weeks to get it after the Biometrics appointment, or it can take months.

If you lose you GC, go to your Service Center with the receipt from your I-90 application (replacement GC) and they will put a stamp on your passport which should serve as a temporary proof of status while you wait. However, if you are looking for a job it would be up to the person hiring whether they would want to accept that stamp as evidence of your status to be legally authorized to work. Same with traveling abroad: you SHOULD be fine coming back to the US, but it's best to prepare with a ton of additional evidence.

When I get my replacement GC back, I will not carry it with me but will make a copy and keep that in my wallet instead.

[Hypnos 6,576]

Service centres are not open to the public. Your local office will likely give you the stamp from the I-90 receipt, though.

One of the reasons the law says to carry your original green card is because of the embedded security features. This makes them extremely difficult (impossible?) to forge, with the holograms and microcode portraits of the state flags and presidents on the back. The person you are showing it to knows (or should know, if they asked in the first place) that it is an original document. This is not the case with a copy, which will just be a flat depiction without any of the security features being viewable.

I received my welcome letter in the mail a couple of weeks ago, and it explicitly states, "When you receive your card you must carry it with you at all times if you are 18 or older. It is the law".

I carry mine in my wallet because it's the law, and since I am a guest in the United States I do not wish to give them any excuse to rescind that invitation.

[scotinmass 588]

I only take my green card when I go abroad. If I take a domestic flight I use my DL. When I was applying for removal of conditions and I went for my biometrics appointment I was told to bring photo ID. It never said I needed my green card so I never took it. When I got there they asked for my green card. I said I didn't bring it but I had my DL for ID. The officer checked with someone else and she said that was ok. They didn't care that I wasn't carrying it and was technically breaking the law.

Nobody is ever likely to ask to see it when I am going about my everyday life and the cops aren't allowed to ask for it so I am not taking the chance of losing it or having it stolen and having to jump through hoops and pay a fortune to get another one. So it stays in the safe at home.

[Eve&Josh 5]

Service centres are not open to the public. Your local office will likely give you the stamp from the I-90 receipt, though.

Yes, you are right. I meant the Local USCIS Office, not service center obviously. Sorry for the confusion.

[apple21 953]

Service centres are not open to the public. Your local office will likely give you the stamp from the I-90 receipt, though.

One of the reasons the law says to carry your original green card is because of the embedded security features. This makes them extremely difficult (impossible?) to forge, with the holograms and microcode portraits of the state flags and presidents on the back. The person you are showing it to knows (or should know, if they asked in the first place) that it is an original document. This is not the case with a copy, which will just be a flat depiction without any of the security features being viewable.

I received my welcome letter in the mail a couple of weeks ago, and it explicitly states, "When you receive your card you must carry it with you at all times if you are 18 or older. It is the law".

I carry mine in my wallet because it's the law, and since I am a guest in the United States I do not wish to give them any excuse to rescind that invitation.

[Caryh 5,206]

Just curious....there are no problems with showing a copy? I like this idea and am thinking of doing that for hubby when he gets his.

My wife has never been asked for her green card, except by her employer when she started. Then she brought it in just on that day. If there is a need where the original is needed, we bring it with. Otherwise it stays home and the copy is carried. If something should ever happen where they needed to see the original, I would go get it at home and bring it. At $450 and lord knows how many months to replace, its going to stay where its safe.

[Harsh_77 716]

If you're involved, let's say, in a minor fender bender and a police officer came in, won't he ask for your DL and eventually your GC? I'm just curious because I don't know the instances when people are supposed to present their GCs.

I had never had an instance where police officer would ask me for my GC.

In case of accident all they care was DL and Insurance.

Technically you are required to carry GC or in case of Visa your passport on you all the time, I just carry a copy but never the actual one.

[sorchaine 10]

My husband doesn't carry his. It stays locked away in our safe in our home. He has his driver's license and we don't really go too far from the surrounding cities to ever worry about needing it for anything.

[TBoneTX 43,422]

Federal law requires an alien to keep their green card on their person at all times.

This is the only valid consideration. According to an immigration attorney whom I consulted "back when," there can also be penalties for falsifying a Federal document by copying it.