Husband possibly out of the country when GC arrives. What to do?

[grinchus 11]

Dear VJers,

We just found out today that my husband was approved for the 10 year GC. Yay!! The letter that came today said the card is printing and we will get it within 2 months.

We optimistically thought he would have it by now, so we booked a flight for him on May 14th to go home to Italy for 3 months to visit his family. Unless the GC comes really fast, he will be in Italy when it actually arrives. He's taking his 2 year GC with him, plus the letter from USCIS extending him for one year (until October 2013).

Will that be sufficient for him to reenter the country in August? Or should I FedEx (or some other certified courier) the 10 year GC to him in Italy? On the one hand, I don't want him to have any problems coming back (if there are people at immigration who don't understand the 1 year extension letter, etc.). On the other hand, I don't want to risk his GC getting lost in the mail.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

[grinchus 11]

oops, this posted twice. Moderators should feel free to delete the other one....

[klm9971 5]

With your 2 year GC and letter of extension, it is fine. Unless and until the 2 yr GC card is getting expired to 3 yrs when he is Italy.

[Dave&Roza 748]

Dear VJers,

We just found out today that my husband was approved for the 10 year GC. Yay!! The letter that came today said the card is printing and we will get it within 2 months.

We optimistically thought he would have it by now, so we booked a flight for him on May 14th to go home to Italy for 3 months to visit his family. Unless the GC comes really fast, he will be in Italy when it actually arrives. He's taking his 2 year GC with him, plus the letter from USCIS extending him for one year (until October 2013).

Will that be sufficient for him to reenter the country in August? Or should I FedEx (or some other certified courier) the 10 year GC to him in Italy? On the one hand, I don't want him to have any problems coming back (if there are people at immigration who don't understand the 1 year extension letter, etc.). On the other hand, I don't want to risk his GC getting lost in the mail.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Do you really want to risk it getting lost by shipping it? If the curent GC with the extension letter is valid then you can use that to get on the airline. That seems to be the real problem for travellers with expired GCs. Once he gets to the US they will pull up his file using the expired GC and it will say he has a 10 year GC and they may ask him why he does not have it with him. That is when he tells them that the trip was planned and the GC had yet to arrive when he left. There should be no problems.

Good luck,

Dave

[grinchus 11]

Thanks! I agree, I do not want to risk losing it in the mail. What a pain that would be!

I'm becoming more convinced that the best idea is to have him travel w/ his expired GC and his official letter of extension. His GC expired in October 2012 and his letter of extension expires in October 2013. He's coming back August 2013, well before it expires. When I pick him up at the airport in August I'll bring his 10 year GC with me, so not only will he have the letter, he can tell them that his wife is waiting right outside the gate w/ his GC!