Travel After Approved Permanent Green Card, before receiving new card

[isha2012 0]

My husband just received a letter for his removal of conditional basis of lawful permanent residence, basically our I-751 has been accepted! Great news! The letter says the green card will arrive within 60 days.

BUT, the letter also says: "You should not travel outside the U.S. before receiving your new card, as you may have difficulty reentering then U.S." My husband is scheduled to leave the country for business in just two days, and we're not sure what his risk is of not being able to get back in.

Since filing the request to remove conditions, he's been traveling with his expired green card and his 1 year extension letter with no problems. Does anyone know whether having received this approval letter would change his ability to continue to enter with these two documents? The extension is still valid until the end of June 2016, but we're not sure whether the fact that the permanent green card is now approved and no longer pending would void the extension letter.

We've read about getting a stamp in his passport from USCIS, but giving the timing of his trip it seems unlikely he could get an sppointment in time.

Any advice would be helpful. Does anyone have experience traveling outside the U.S. after you I-751 is approved but before receiving your new card? Thanks in advance for any responses!

[NikLR 13,220]

~~moved to ROC from Ir1/CR1 progress reports~~

No the approval letter does not change the ability for him to travel with the extension letter.

[voo 1]

Am in the same position about to travel. Roc approved but dont get the card as yet. But I have a stamp in the passport. Hope I dont have any problem when am returning. For those who have travell with only the stamp in your passport. Please enlighten me

[rysa 3]

We're still waiting for spouse's green card to arrive, but back in Dec/Jan we traveled back to his home country to visit his family. Leaving US and entering/leaving EU was not a problem (he brought all his docs). Coming back into US was annoying, as we had to sit in border control office for ~2h so that they could verify his status, despite letter (sure, letter can be forged... but why do we pay for USCIS's incompetence?). But we got back in, no problem. Bring a book and prepare for long, bleary-eyed, jetlagged wait in the soulless void known as the border control office at the airport...

We still don't have the green card.

[Cupcake23 90]

We're still waiting for spouse's green card to arrive, but back in Dec/Jan we traveled back to his home country to visit his family. Leaving US and entering/leaving EU was not a problem (he brought all his docs). Coming back into US was annoying, as we had to sit in border control office for ~2h so that they could verify his status, despite letter (sure, letter can be forged... but why do we pay for USCIS's incompetence?). But we got back in, no problem. Bring a book and prepare for long, bleary-eyed, jetlagged wait in the soulless void known as the border control office at the airport...

We still don't have the green card.

Thanks for this update. We are up for ROC in June and are planning a trip back to Germany at Christmas. Glad to know the worst will be a wait...hopefully.

[rysa 3]

Thanks for this update. We are up for ROC in June and are planning a trip back to Germany at Christmas. Glad to know the worst will be a wait...hopefully.

Yes, that *should* be enough time for the letter to arrive after you file and to not having to reschedule the biometric appointment--we filed in Sept and getting to that part was fairly painless.

Best of luck!

[Neil81 6]

@isha2012 and @voo - I made two international trips - first with extension letter and POE was in Dallas (Dec 2014) and second with stamp on my passport and POE was in NJ (March 2016). Both times had no issue except in NJ they took me to secondary inspection to verify stamp but it was like 10mins. No question asked. Hope this helps.

[Virgo240878 0]

I'm in the same position. I received an approval letter yesterday. I'm due to travel in 3 days and am unable to get an INFOPASS appointment. Can anyone else give feedback on what happened when they arrived back in the U.S. with an expired green card and a 1 year extension letter after receiving an approval advising them not to travel overseas?

[rs1204 0]

I'm in the same situation. Virgo, what happened in your case?

[Virgo240878 0]

I walked into the local field office and got a temp I-551 stamp. Don't leave without the stamp. When I was checking in for my flight overseas,the airline staff examined my passport thoroughly and had problems checking me in even though I had the stamp. Without the stamp they would probably have refused to check me in. When I then got to U.S. Immigration, the officer informed me that I would have been able to enter without the stamp but would have been charged a $500 fine. Do not leave without the stamp as the headache will not be worth it. Get an infopass appointment or walk in to a local field office to get the stamp.

[rs1204 0]

Thanks for the update. My local office has no appointments and I don't know if an office in another state (which I can drive to) will give it to me, I've heard people have issues

@virgo- you faced no issues going as a walk-in? I thought the USCIS offices didn't accept walk ins?

[Virgo240878 0]

The office wasn't showing appointments but I walked in anyway. When I arrived they asked why I was there so I said "infopass". Then when I got upstairs they asked if it was an emergency and I said yes. The lady at the window was extremely nasty and made me come back 5 hours later. When I returned she was rude but gave me the stamp.

[lucybelle 453]

 

I walked into the local field office and got a temp I-551 stamp. Don't leave without the stamp. When I was checking in for my flight overseas,the airline staff examined my passport thoroughly and had problems checking me in even though I had the stamp. Without the stamp they would probably have refused to check me in. When I then got to U.S. Immigration, the officer informed me that I would have been able to enter without the stamp but would have been charged a $500 fine. Do not leave without the stamp as the headache will not be worth it. Get an infopass appointment or walk in to a local field office to get the stamp.

 

Hi I just wanted to double check here.

 

We just received the ROC approval.  My husband is scheduled to travel in a week.  He has an infopass on Monday.  We were going to cancel it.  But you believe he should go in and get the stamp?  His GC + 1 year doesn't expire until July.   But he needs the stamp for the between approval & new GC?

[stackeria 280]

On 8/14/2016 at 1:49 PM, rs1204 said:

I'm in the same situation. Virgo, what happened in your case?

 

On 5/5/2017 at 4:33 PM, lucybelle said:

 

Hi I just wanted to double check here.

 

We just received the ROC approval.  My husband is scheduled to travel in a week.  He has an infopass on Monday.  We were going to cancel it.  But you believe he should go in and get the stamp?  His GC + 1 year doesn't expire until July.   But he needs the stamp for the between approval & new GC?

 

Hi rs1204 and lucybelle (& anyone else), can you share your experience? We received the I-751 approval while out of the country and are flying back next week. The extension letter is still valid and we were planning to reenter with that along with the expired 2y green card. By then the 10y green card will likely be printed and waiting in our mailbox. Thanks.

[lucybelle 453]

On 8/20/2017 at 2:30 PM, stackeria said:

 

 

Hi rs1204 and lucybelle (& anyone else), can you share your experience? We received the I-751 approval while out of the country and are flying back next week. The extension letter is still valid and we were planning to reenter with that along with the expired 2y green card. By then the 10y green card will likely be printed and waiting in our mailbox. Thanks.

Use letter as normal. You'll be fine! My husband had the same situation, was out of the country when his new GC arrived at home.