Where is my Online Access Code?

[Meredith48 5]

Hello everyone,

As i stated before, my son entered the U.S. on August 18th. Today is October 26th, and I still have not received his physical Green Card.

He paid the USCIS Immigrant Fee online on April 18, 2025, (before the entry). When he checked my case status at the USCIS Case Status website, I keep getting the following message:

"On April 18, 2025, we received your USCIS Immigrant fee payment for your Permanent Resident Card related to your immigrant visa. We will be processing the request for production of your Permanent Resident Card. You should receive your Permanent Resident Card within 90 days of your entry into the United States or within 90 days after your USCIS Immigrant Fee payment is received. If you do not receive your Permanent Resident Card, visit the USCIS Contact Center webpage at www.uscis.gov/contactcenter. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address"

The 90-day window from the date of entry (August 18th) is approaching quickly.

 

Additional Issue: He tried to add the case to his online account at my.uscis.gov to check for more details, but he still cant find the Online Access Code. The document containing the code was left in his country.

 

Question: Has anyone experienced a similar delay after paying the Immigrant Fee and entering the U.S. with a visa? Should he wait until the 90-day mark (around November 16th) before contacting USCIS to file a "Card Not Received" request?

Any advice on the next steps or how to quickly get a new Online Access Code would be greatly appreciated!

[appleblossom 5,289]

59 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

Has anyone experienced a similar delay after paying the Immigrant Fee and entering the U.S. with a visa? Should he wait until the 90-day mark (around November 16th) before contacting USCIS to file a "Card Not Received" request?

 

There is no delay. If he entered on 18th August then he's still got several weeks to go until it would be considered delayed. And yes, he has to wait until that point to file a card not received, if he does it before it'll just be ignored. 

 

His online account won't tell him anything else, the online case checker does the same thing. Why is it such an issue if he doesn't have his card? It should make no difference to his day to day life. Frankly, it doesn't really matter if it never turns up! 

Edited October 26 by appleblossom

[Meredith48 5]

43 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

There is no delay. If he entered on 18th August then he's still got several weeks to go until it would be considered delayed. And yes, he has to wait until that point to file a card not received, if he does it before it'll just be ignored. 

 

His online account won't tell him anything else, the online case checker does the same thing. Why is it such an issue if he doesn't have his card? It should make no difference to his day to day life. Frankly, it doesn't really matter if it never turns up! 

Because several jobs has asked him for its green card

[appleblossom 5,289]

5 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

Because several jobs has asked him for its green card

 

Right, and as explained above, his endorsed visa acts as a temporary green card for a year. So he just gives a copy of that to his employer, it does exactly the same thing. 

 

It's no. 3 on the list here - https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents

[Meredith48 5]

24 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

Right, and as explained above, his endorsed visa acts as a temporary green card for a year. So he just gives a copy of that to his employer, it does exactly the same thing. 

 

It's no. 3 on the list here - https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents

apparently some employers seems reluctant to take that.

[appleblossom 5,289]

7 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

apparently some employers seems reluctant to take that.

 

I find that hard to believe tbh, pretty much any employer should know that the documents listed on the I-9 list are acceptable. Just print that out and show it to them. 

 

From the official guidance "You must allow the employee to choose which documentation they will present from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents and must accept documentation that reasonably appears to be genuine and relates to the person presenting it. You cannot specify which documentation an employee will present from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents." Your son's endorsed I-551 is on the list of acceptable documents, so they cannot legally refuse it. Your son should report them if they do. 

 

Even after a year, he could just get an ADIT stamp, and that is also on the list. The plastic card is only evidence of his LPR status, exactly the same as the endorsed I-551 or ADIT stamp is, it's no different to either of them. 

 

 

Edited October 26 by appleblossom

[Meredith48 5]

4 hours ago, appleblossom said:

 

I find that hard to believe tbh, pretty much any employer should know that the documents listed on the I-9 list are acceptable. Just print that out and show it to them. 

 

From the official guidance "You must allow the employee to choose which documentation they will present from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents and must accept documentation that reasonably appears to be genuine and relates to the person presenting it. You cannot specify which documentation an employee will present from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents." Your son's endorsed I-551 is on the list of acceptable documents, so they cannot legally refuse it. Your son should report them if they do. 

 

Even after a year, he could just get an ADIT stamp, and that is also on the list. The plastic card is only evidence of his LPR status, exactly the same as the endorsed I-551 or ADIT stamp is, it's no different to either of them. 

 

 

Even in the DMV for the Real ID the wanted that greencard, it was not until a second visit, with a supervisor that wanted to proceed with the passport, this time i was present to witness that

[appleblossom 5,289]

28 minutes ago, Meredith48 said:

Even in the DMV for the Real ID the wanted that greencard, it was not until a second visit, with a supervisor that wanted to proceed with the passport, this time i was present to witness that

That’s just one inept DMV worker, but if he’d shown details from the government website it would have been fine. He was a LPR the moment he landed in the US on his visa, and the plastic green card is just proof of that status, not the status itself. An endorsed visa, or an ADIT stamp do exactly the same thing too, there’s no difference. 
 

But I do find it very odd that anybody hiring employees, or working in HR, isn’t well aware of the list of acceptable documents. You say ‘apparently some employers’ but is that actually your son’s experience, or just random stuff he’s heard somewhere?