Fatima12

Hello All,

Just thought I should update. We did travel with expired green card and extension letter to Pakistan. No trouble at all. We flew Qatar airlines. They recognized the letter. When we got home, my husband's green card was in the mail.

Yeah, I agree. I don't think lying is a good idea. It may only cause more trouble. Honestly, I think no one can guarantee that your wife will not be given a hard time about the GC, ext letter, or i551 until you actually go through with the process. Plus, give some credit to Bangladeshi immigration officers, they can't be so bad

Everyone,

This is what I found on another entry in this blog and this is exactly why we decided to keep our GC and ext letter:

"IN GENERAL:

ALWAYS take the original letter with you when you travel outside the country. Whenevr you present your expired Green Card at a foreign departure port, you will ALWAYS be asked to present the original letter. Most airlines, from my first-hand experience, are familiar with this requirement and will not give you any hassles.

I re-entered the United States nine times on my expired card and the verfication delays at the foreign port, on the few instances they occured, were never more than about seven minutes. I can confirm from first hand experience that British Airways, Air France, Jet Blue, American Airways, Iceland Air and Virgin Atlantic are familiar with this process and will give you minimal/no hassles.

Do not rely on the I-551 stamp in the passport often obtained at INFOPASS appointments. The purpose is to replace the Green Card and Extension Letter, but it has NEVER, from first hand experience, satisfied authorites at foreign departure ports in the first instance. I once tried to "test" the veracity of the I-551 stamp as a stand-alone by presenting it, and only it, for a United States-bound flight. I was told that if I couldn't present my Green Card and Extension Letter, the airline might have to scan and send a copy of my passport and I-551 stamp to US immigration authorities and wait for an entry clearance to be sent back. At that point, I provided the card and the letter and was shortly cleared to proceed.

The point I'm making in my last paragraph is that, while the I-551 stamp is a valid immigration document which ultimately will grant entry to the United States (albeit, after a bit of a hassle perhaps), the GREEN CARD + EXTENSION LETTER (ORIGINAL) are golden!"

Laylasa,

Thanks for your feedback. Which city did you do your infopass appointment? Before going to ours, we were also informed by friends and an immigration lawyer that we should be able to keep our GC and ext letter. But the officer asked for it and would not stamp my husband's passport unless we surrendered it. We decided to keep the expired GC and ext letter and not get the stamp.

Hey,

The officer was ready to give the I551 stamp but he wanted to keep the expired green card in order to stamp the password. We opted out. I don't know if we made the correct decision, I guess time will tell but we decided to keep the expired green card and extension letter and not get the stamp.

The USCIS officer had the typical USCIS officer attitude, we tried to explain to him that we plan on travelling to countries that may or may not recognize the letter and he said in return "that's their problem,". He said the letter is a valid and authenticated letter and should be accepted.

WaliakumAslaam,

My case is slightly different from yours and which is why I was easily able to get the NICOP for myself and my daughter. I also just got my NICOP recently which is cheaper and longer than Pakistani visa. Since my husband is a Pakistani citizen, me and my daughter got our NICOP in 8 weeks based on his pakistani nationality. However, since my mother also has NICOP, the it was easy for me to prove my roots are from Pakistan and get the NICOP card for $55 each.

In your case, do either of your parent have NICOP card? Visit this website for more information: http://pakistanconsulateny.org/index.php?section=Nadra_nicop_new.html

I also noticed that it is easier for female to get NICOP based on their husband and/or parent's pakistani nationality. I don't know how it will be the other way around.

I will also tell you that I had to call the Pakistani consulate in NY many times to get more help and information. They were helpful and answered my questions properly. Wish you good luck as this is a long and tedious process but you won't need a visa for 7 years.

Thanks for the detailed response. Really appreciate. Make dua that we have a smooth and safe journey as well.

@ Fatima 21

Assalam o Alaikum! I just came back from Pakistan and was in exactly the same situation as your husband (down to wife and child too) and did not have any problem at all ..........at any place on the way or at Pakistan customs.

I had the expired card and extension letter. I would advise you not to go to infopass as you will just be wasting your time and might just end up complicating things for no reason at all.

You do need the card and letter together so please just hold onto that and it will work for everyone in this situation.

Thanks so much for replying. That gives me a huge relief. If you can kindly tell me which airline you used? Also, which airports were involved in both Pakistan and USA and which types of questions should we expect? Thanks so much in advance. I

I will remember you in my duas.

What that means is: My husband's friend (in same situation as us) went to the same field office last year to get the i551 stamp. The officer took his expired green card and stamped his Pakistani passport. The friend says that is the worse decision he made to give up his expired green card because now he would be travelling without any proof of a green card. He was lucky and his permanent green card came in the mail few days before his flight.

I know Pakistan has a bad reputation but I sincerely believe that travelling with an expired green card and extension letter should be fine because my husband would be travelling with his family (his wife and infant daughter who are both US citizens). Also, we would not be the first people travelling in such situation. I'm sure people do it all the time.

Will keep you posted about the infopass appt.

Hello,

We are in similar situation. We have our infopass apt on Thursday regarding the i551 stamp. My husband's green card has also expired and our application is in process. We were confident that we would have the new green card by end of December 2012 because our application is at California Service Center and the avg time there is 6 months. I think because of various holidays our application is still in review process. We are going to Pakistan and Saudia Arabia in Qatar airlines and have the green card with extension letter. We are going to infopass appointment to get stamp. HOwever, if they ask us to surrender expired green card or extension letter, we will not do so. We rather keep our expired green card then get a stamp. Called Qatar airlines and they assured us that the extension letter would be honored. Just worried about immmigration at Pakistan airport.

Will keep you posted.

Hello,

We are in similar situation. We have our infopass apt on Thursday regarding the i551 stamp. My husband's green card has also expired and our application is in process. We were confident that we would have the new green card by end of December 2012 because our application is at California Service Center and the avg time there is 6 months. I think because of various holidays our application is still in review process. We are going to Pakistan and Saudia Arabia in Qatar airlines and have the green card with extension letter. We are going to infopass appointment to get stamp. HOwever, if they ask us to surrender expired green card or extension letter, we will not do so. We rather keep our expired green card then get a stamp. Called Qatar airlines and they assured us that the extension letter would be honored. Just worried about immmigration at Pakistan airport.

Will keep you posted.