Lost passport

[funlovingkayak 0]

I am preparing for N400 interview. I applied under the 5 yr rule, received GC in 1998, divorce in 2002.

Since leaving my home country I have had 3 passports (one after the other after they expired). The problem is that when the first one expired I returned that to their passport office and got a new one there since I was visiting home and it was just easy to go and apply. I believe they wanted the expired passport.

As such I do not have that passport. I do have my current passport and the one that expired before this one.

Will I need all 3 passports for the n400 interview? A little worried since it would be very difficult if not impossible to get that old one which expired and was returned to my home country's office. .

[F & J 21]

I am preparing for N400 interview. I applied under the 5 yr rule, received GC in 1998, divorce in 2002.

Since leaving my home country I have had 3 passports (one after the other after they expired). The problem is that when the first one expired I returned that to their passport office and got a new one there since I was visiting home and it was just easy to go and apply. I believe they wanted the expired passport.

As such I do not have that passport. I do have my current passport and the one that expired before this one.

Will I need all 3 passports for the n400 interview? A little worried since it would be very difficult if not impossible to get that old one which expired and was returned to my home country's office. .

I brought all of the passports I have ever been issued to my N-400 interview. I handed the IO my current passport but she asked to see the passport that had my K-1 visa (the visa I originally entered the U.S. on) - she didn't look at any of my other passports.

[Dave&Roza 748]

I am preparing for N400 interview. I applied under the 5 yr rule, received GC in 1998, divorce in 2002.

Since leaving my home country I have had 3 passports (one after the other after they expired). The problem is that when the first one expired I returned that to their passport office and got a new one there since I was visiting home and it was just easy to go and apply. I believe they wanted the expired passport.

As such I do not have that passport. I do have my current passport and the one that expired before this one.

Will I need all 3 passports for the n400 interview? A little worried since it would be very difficult if not impossible to get that old one which expired and was returned to my home country's office. .

To my mind why would they care about any of your foreign passports? A passport is a form of government issued ID and is used for travelling internationally. So once you become a USC you apply for a US passport and travel using that. The only reason to request your foreign passport is to see the visa you entered the US on. If you do not have that passport, you just tell them the same thing you did here and why that passport is unavailable. You cannot give them something you do not have. Especially since it was approximately 18 years ago.

Dave

[funlovingkayak 0]

Thanks.

I got my conditional GC in my home country (we got married there) and then that was made permanent in the required 2 years (as per the law). So my thought is, i did not come here on a visa as such, i got the conditional gc in my home country and that got me here eventually. So hopefully they don't care since i have my GC for over 18 yrs. .

[newacct 688]

To my mind why would they care about any of your foreign passports? A passport is a form of government issued ID and is used for travelling internationally. So once you become a USC you apply for a US passport and travel using that. The only reason to request your foreign passport is to see the visa you entered the US on. If you do not have that passport, you just tell them the same thing you did here and why that passport is unavailable. You cannot give them something you do not have. Especially since it was approximately 18 years ago.

Dave

I think it is also for checking the dates of travel outside the US, though for naturalization purposes only travel within the last 5 years (or 3 years if under the 3-year rule) matters, so in the OP's case, the passport from more than 5 years ago shouldn't matter.

Thanks.

I got my conditional GC in my home country (we got married there) and then that was made permanent in the required 2 years (as per the law). So my thought is, i did not come here on a visa as such, i got the conditional gc in my home country and that got me here eventually. So hopefully they don't care since i have my GC for over 18 yrs. .

It's not possible to get permanent residency outside the US. You probably got an immigrant visa, and entered the US on that immigrant visa, becoming a permanent resident.

[JimmyHou 610]

I am preparing for N400 interview. I applied under the 5 yr rule, received GC in 1998, divorce in 2002.

Since leaving my home country I have had 3 passports (one after the other after they expired). The problem is that when the first one expired I returned that to their passport office and got a new one there since I was visiting home and it was just easy to go and apply. I believe they wanted the expired passport.

As such I do not have that passport. I do have my current passport and the one that expired before this one.

Will I need all 3 passports for the n400 interview? A little worried since it would be very difficult if not impossible to get that old one which expired and was returned to my home country's office. .

It's ok that you've lost your passport. You'll have to explain that to the interviewer. They need your passport to check your travel while you were a permanent resident... sometimes they have access to this at the interview and sometimes they don't, so not having your passport may cause a delay before approval while they check your travel history.

They really only need the passports you've had since you became a PR, but they may want to see more if you've been in the US.

If you had lost the passport, I would advise you to get a police report documenting the loss (this has been asked of several applicants before), but since you returned the passport to your country's passport services, there's not much you can do. Just explain it to the officer.

[F & J 21]

You can also bring evidence of previous travel (flight itineraries) if you have that since that's what they check for when they look through your passport. They verify that you have fulfilled the continuous residency requirement so they need to check how long you've been outside of the U.S.