What if I Lost My Green Card and Need to Travel
A lost dark-green card abroad tin be a travel headache. You must have valid proof of your permanent resident status to board an airline or other transportation carrier. Merely if y'all've lost your green card or reentry permit while outside the United States, in that location is a process to obtain temporary travel documentation.
U.Southward. laws crave transportation carriers such every bit airlines to check passengers for passports and visa before bringing them to the United States. In fact, these laws impose penalties if passengers are non in possession of the required documents.
As a permanent resident traveling overseas temporarily, you can generally use your permanent resident bill of fare (green card) or reentry let to reenter the United States. You can employ either document to board a transportation carrier and return to a U.S. port of entry. Only you will most likely experience problems if you try to return to the U.Due south afterward the travel document is lost, stolen, destroyed or mutilated.
Form for Lost Green Card Abroad
Permanent residents who have lost a green card or reentry permit while traveling abroad must file Form I-131A, Application for Travel Document (Carrier Documentation). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) publishes the form, but y'all'll need to submit information technology at a U.S. embassy. The form allows permanent residents to apply for a temporary travel document (carrier documentation) if they:
- Are returning from temporary overseas travel of less than one year, and their green card has been lost, stolen or destroyed, or
- Are returning from temporary overseas travel of less than ii years, and their reentry let has been lost, stolen or destroyed.
Do not file Form I-131A if:
- You were issued a green card and have been abroad for a menses of one year or more than; or
- You lot were issued a reentry permit and have been away for a period of ii years or more.
The length of the absence volition be measured from the time y'all departed the U.South. to the time you pay the Grade I-131A fee. In these situations, you lot may have abandoned your permanent resident status. A Returning Resident (SB-ane) visa may be an appropriate solution in these situations. Delight consult with an immigration attorney if this applies to you.
Form I-131A, Awarding for Travel Document (Carrier Documentation), allows individuals in this state of affairs to apply for a travel document. The travel certificate may be a foil placed in the applicant's passport (known as a boarding foil) or a transportation alphabetic character. Passengers tin can present the travel document to the transportation carrier. It's generally valid for 30 days.
Expired Green Carte du jour Abroad
If you have an expired green carte du jour, yous most likely do non demand to file Course I-131A. Customs and Edge Protection (CBP) policy permits a transportation carrier bound for the United States to lath a permanent resident without carrier documentation if the rider has:
- An expired green card with a x-year expiration date, or
- An expired greenish carte du jour with a two-yr expiration date AND a Class I-797C, Detect of Activity, showing that they have filed a Form I-751 or Class I-829 to remove the weather condition on their permanent resident condition. The Notice of Activity extends the validity of the card for a specified length of time, generally ane twelvemonth.
If yous have an expired dark-green carte du jour (with a x-year expiration date) or a dark-green card (with a ii-year expiration date) and valid Form I-797C, Notice of Action, indicating that status is extended, you may apply these documents to return to the United States in most cases. Nonetheless, USCIS encourages you to check with your airline or vessel before determining whether to file Form I-131A. In some cases, despite the CBP waiver, a transportation carrier may choose to enforce the requirement.
RECOMMENDED: Expired Green Card Creates 5 Big Issues
Form I-131A Filing Fee
Before submitting an application for the carrier documentation, you must pay the Form I-131A filing fee on the USCIS website. Pay the filing via the USCIS online filing arrangement. You lot can also reach the USCIS online filing organization past going to:
- world wide web.uscis.gov/i-131a
- Click the Filing Fee tab
- Click the link to the online payment system
You (or anyone in the world) tin can pay the fee via credit card, debit card or a U.S. depository financial institution account via the Automatic Clearing House (ACH) payment organisation. Access the USCIS online payment system from virtually any desktop or mobile device.
Yous will need proof of payment when submitting your awarding. Upon making payment, you will be presented with a confirmation folio. Print this folio immediately; yous will not be able to render to the confirmation page. You should likewise receive an email with your payment confirmation. Impress either the confirmation page or confirmation email.
Filing Form I-131A
Dissimilar most other USCIS forms, you must file Form I-131A at a U.S. Embassy or U.S. Consulate. There is no reason to file Form I-131A, nor tin can it exist filed, from within the United States. First, nosotros recommend that you contact the part to see if an appointment is necessary. Locate the nearest U.Southward. embassy or consular office.
CitizenPath Guarantees Your I-131A Will Be Approved
When you prepare your I-131A on CitizenPath, we provide simple, step-by-pace instructions and alerts to help you avoid costly delays. Information technology was designed by immigration attorneys, and then we guarantee USCIS will corroborate your form. No credit carte du jour is required to try it.
Required Evidence for Course I-131A
When yous appear at the U.Due south. Diplomatic mission or Consulate, you lot will submit several items of required evidence with your application. Your consummate Form I-131A application package should include the following items:
- Form I-131A with an original signature
- Your original passport and one re-create of your passport's biographic folio. (USCIS may need to keep the original passport for a few days, merely they will render it upon completion.)
- A re-create of your tickets, itinerary, or any other evidence indicating your last appointment of departure from the United States and your intended date of render travel to the U.Due south. Examples of adequate testify include e-tickets and boarding passes.
- One passport-style colour photograph (2″ x 2″) of yourself taken inside 30 days of filing this application.
- Evidence that you accept paid the Grade I-131A filing fee. Examples of acceptable documents include: printed payment confirmation page from the USCIS website or a printed copy of the email confirming payment of Grade I-131A.
- Evidence of your Lawful Permanent Residence or Provisional Residence (if available). Examples of acceptable documents include: a re-create of your green carte, your immigrant visa, I-551 stamp in your passport, or CBP access postage stamp in your passport. Again, submit this evidence if it is available.
The diplomatic mission or consulate will mostly issue the carrier documentation within two weeks. If your travel needs are more urgent, attend your embassy meeting with evidence in paw. Examples of testify may be a doctor'southward note indicating that your relative is sick in the United States or a letter from an employer indicating your necessary attendance at a business function. USCIS will review these situations on a case-past-case status and may expedite your instance at their discretion.
Reentry to the United states of america
The carrier documentation provided through an approved Class I-131A application will enable you to prove to a transportation carrier only that you lot are authorized to travel to a United States port of entry to apply for access to the United states of america. Exist advised, information technology is not a guarantee of admission or parole into the The states. A CBP officeholder will conduct all required inspections when you arrive at a U.S. port of entry and will brand the final decision of whether to admit or parole yous to the Us.
Replacing Your Lost Green Carte Abroad
Filing a Class I-131A does not requite you a new green carte. Upon returning to the Us, you must replace your dark-green card past filing Class I-xc, Application to Supercede Permanent Resident Card, and pay the filing fee. Likewise, if your green carte is expired, you'll need to file the same application to renew your green card.
Replacing Your Reentry Permit
Mostly, it's not necessary to supersede your reentry let unless you plan to leave the United States for some other trip of ane year (just less than two years). To replace a lost, stolen, destroyed, or mutilated reentry allow, file Grade I-131, Application for Travel Document, and pay the filing fee.
Other Considerations
If you have a child who was born outside the United States and is coming to the U.Southward. for the first time, you likely need to request carrier documentation if the following three weather are true:
- You are a permanent resident or have an immigrant visa;
- Your child is under ii years old; and
- Your child is traveling with y'all to come to the The states for the first time.
Check with your airline or transportation carrier commencement to ensure they will lath your child in these circumstances without documentation. If the airline or transportation carrier refuses to board your kid without carrier documentation, you will need to pay for and submit a carve up Form I-131A for your child.
Equally ever, do non file Course I-131A if y'all have ever abandoned your permanent resident condition, have an arrest history, or accept been in any type of removal or deportation proceedings. Your situation requires boosted attending from an experienced immigration attorney.
Upon determining that you accept a lost light-green carte du jour away and an intended return date to the U.S., it's important to prepare and file the Form I-131A application in a timely manner. It will take approximately two weeks to receive the carrier documentation, and the documentation will generally exist valid for a period of 30 days.
RECOMMENDED: Green Card Abandonment: Risks of Travel Abroad
About CitizenPath
CitizenPath makes preparing Form I-131A like shooting fish in a barrel. Our online service volition guide you through the application in simply a few minutes.
Our online service provides uncomplicated, affordable, step-by-step guidance through USCIS clearing applications. Individuals, attorneys and non-profits use the service on desktop or mobile device to prepare clearing forms accurately, avoiding costly delays. CitizenPath allows users to attempt the service for free and provides a 100% coin-back guarantee that USCIS will approve the application. In addition to your temporary carrier documentation, we provide support for Dark-green Card Replacement (Form I-90), Reentry Allow Replacement (Form I-131), and several other popular forms.
Source: https://citizenpath.com/lost-green-card-abroad/