International travel for permanent American resident with valid green card but expired foreign passport.

[AOSFairfax 111]

6 hours ago, zamardii12 said:

Going to keep this brief.

• My wife came here (USA) on a fiancé Visa 4 years ago.
• We've had our first interview, but b/c of COVID 2nd interview has been delayed twice and we just keep getting sent Green Card validity extension papers. Hers are good until end of January as of this moment.
• We want to travel back to Europe in January, but her passport from her origin country expires this November and since our 2nd interview keeps getting delayed it's unlikely she'll get her American Passport before January.

So my main question is can we exit and enter the US using her expired European passport, but a valid green card? If so what do we need to bring with us to travel? 

You cannot travel internationally without a current, valid passport, which has nothing to do with US immigration. Contact your local Hungarian embassy to determine what the process to renew it is. They may require your wife to go in person for the renewal in which case yes, you'd have to travel there to do so. That is what every expat of most any country has to do in order to do official business with their origin country (eg. passports, registering marriages, births, deaths etc). This is not a novelty or anything out of the ordinary. I would start the process sooner rather than later as depending on how bureaucratic some countries are, it can take a couple of months to get the passport renewed.

[Dave Knapp 47]

15 hours ago, zamardii12 said:

That's what I don't know how to do. Specifically how to renew her European passport from the United States. There are embassies where this is possible, but it's hard to believe that I would physically have to fly to one of these four locations to renew a passport. I am really tired of having our second interview delayed all the time b/c of COVID, but we I guess need to renew her foreign passport somehow. 

I think she has no choice.  I don't think it matters whether she has an extended 2 year GC or a 10 year GC, she needs a valid passport to travel outside the US.  For openers, I doubt if any airline will allow her to board an international flight going to anywhere from anywhere without a valid passport, and it will need to be valid for 6 months.  The only other solution is U S citizenship, and I think they will require her to have a valid passport to apply. Suck it up and have her get a new passport.  You don't have options here. 

[EM_Vandaveer 2,370]

29 minutes ago, Dave Knapp said:

I think she has no choice.  I don't think it matters whether she has an extended 2 year GC or a 10 year GC, she needs a valid passport to travel outside the US.  For openers, I doubt if any airline will allow her to board an international flight going to anywhere from anywhere without a valid passport, and it will need to be valid for 6 months.  The only other solution is U S citizenship, and I think they will require her to have a valid passport to apply. Suck it up and have her get a new passport.  You don't have options here. 

you don't need a valid passport to apply for naturalization FYI, otherwise you're spot on

[EM_Vandaveer 2,370]

16 hours ago, zamardii12 said:

Going to keep this brief.

• My wife came here (USA) on a fiancé Visa 4 years ago.
• We've had our first interview, but b/c of COVID 2nd interview has been delayed twice and we just keep getting sent Green Card validity extension papers. Hers are good until end of January as of this moment.
• We want to travel back to Europe in January, but her passport from her origin country expires this November and since our 2nd interview keeps getting delayed it's unlikely she'll get her American Passport before January.

So my main question is can we exit and enter the US using her expired European passport, but a valid green card? If so what do we need to bring with us to travel? 

Travel before November, have her get a new passport in Hungary.

[Bob in Boston 627]

Here give these guys a try, Not that far from you.

 

VICE CONSULATE OF HUNGARY IN MIAMI 

Dr. Viktória Sass, Consul

Address: 2121 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Suite 732, Coral Gables, FL 33134

Email: consulate.mia@mfa.gov.hu

Consular cases: passport, registration of birth, death, marriage, etc., authentication, citizenship cases, electronic ID, address registration, change of name, certificate of good conduct

We DO NOT ACCEPT Visa Applications! Visa applications must be submitted to the Consulate General of Hungary in New York.

States covered: Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

[Lemonslice 4,570]

While I recommend renewing her passport ASAP, she might be able to fly with her expired Hungarian passport, and/or her national ID card.  In some situations, it's totally feasible.

 

Check with the airline (s).

 

.....

Visa Requirements 

Visa requirements for Hungary Nationals living in United States Travelling to France

 

Travelling to France 

Passport  Passport required. 

Passport Exemptions:  Nationals of Hungary with a national ID card.  Nationals of Hungary with an emergency or a temporary passport. Document Validity:  Nationals of Hungary are allowed to enter with an expired normal passport or an expired national ID card. These documents are accepted when expired for a maximum of 1 year.  Emergency and temporary passports issued to nationals of Hungary must be valid on arrival.

 

Minors:  All minors who are nationals of Hungary are expected to hold their own travel documents.

 

Visa Additional Information: 

Valid visas in full, invalidated travel documents are accepted if accompanied by a new travel document.

 

[Rlewis 73]

Some of us can't even travel to a consulate and have to mail in to get their passport renewed. So unless this trip is an emergency and you have to leave IMMEDIATELY, I would recommend to just help your wife renew her passport and follow others recommendations here.

[Letspaintcookies 2,224]

You can also check if there's a honorary consulate closer by. Don't know if every country has that but Germany does and so I was able to go there to renew my passport instead of doing the longer travel to the consulate.