I-551 stamp?

[champi 13]

Hello VJ Friends,

I am bit panicked right now. I know it's my fault. I booked the trip to Canada for me and my husband 40 days after he arrives in United States. But I found out y'day that my husband will need to show greencard or other evidence that he is a permanent resident. I didn't think of checking the Canada Consulate for documentation requirements till yesterday. I emailed Canadian Consulate at Washington and they said following

"As permanent residents of the United States you are required to provide either a valid US green card or stamp I-551 with additional government issued photo ID such as driver's licence in order for you to enter Canada from the United States. "

So, question is, how do you get I-551 stemp? And when? I am worried that if he does not get his greencard before our trip, we may have to lose out on flight cost. Any help/suggestion appreciated.

[Bobby+Umit 161]

You would go to your local USCIS office with an INFOPASS appointment to see if they will stamp your passport.

[rmncm 0]

It's already in his passport. It should be the middle page and will have his picture on it.

[His_Wifey 1]

i thought thats the stamp we get if we do pass the interview and can be used in the meantime until we get the green card.... dont know if im right or wrong.... anyone can please confirm??

[TayRivers 4]

For anyone entering the USA on a CR-1/IR-1 visa you will be a LPR on arrival. The officer will stamp your visa to activate the I-551 temp greencard. That stamp in your passport is as good as the Greencard you will get in the mail. You can use it for work and for international travel before you get the greencard in the mail.

All you will need is the passport with the CR-1/IR-1 visa that was stamped at POE and one other form of photo ID.

[champi 13]

Thank you everyone :-)

In terms of photo ID, it's silly to require that with I-551 stamp since passport already has the photo, right? Anyways, as soon as we get his Social Security card, we'll try to get my husband a driver permit to show as an ID. I believe the photo ID has to be issued by US government.

[moonhunt 1]

All CR-1/IR-1/CR-2/IR-2 should have I-551 stamp in their passport at POE when they arrive.

When they take MBE with immigration visa, they will stamp I-551 info including A# for 1 year validity.

This is temp green card while waiting for plastic Green Card (I-551).

If you have expired Green Card, or don't have Green Card even though you are LPR, you can schedule Info-Pass with evidence, and they can put I-551 stamp for 1 year validity, which usaually happens when you renew your green card, or remove your condition.

So when somebody enter US with IR-1/IR-2/CR-1/CR-2, make sure that you have I-551 stamp in your passport before leaving immigration and customs area.

Usually ICE employee write down the A# by ommiting leading zero(0).

For an example, if A# is A000123456, they may write A123456.

[moonhunt 1]

Thank you everyone :-)

In terms of photo ID, it's silly to require that with I-551 stamp since passport already has the photo, right? Anyways, as soon as we get his Social Security card, we'll try to get my husband a driver permit to show as an ID. I believe the photo ID has to be issued by US government.

Passport itself is valid ID.

But if you need additional picture ID, you can get "State ID" or "Driver License" from local DMV office.

State ID is essentially same as to Driver License except driving priviledge.

Actually it looks very similar instead having something like "Identification Card" printed instead "Driver License".

You have to pay small norminal fee, of course.

But you may have trouble to get that done with I-551 stamp.

Experienced officer may identify I-551 stamp on the passport, and know it is identitical to Green Card.

But a lot of people doesn't know about it, and some people have tendency to ignore what they don't know.

So it will be pretty much varied from the case to the case.

[champi 13]

Thanks moonhunt and everyone....

I think I've couple of options now assuming we get I-551 stamp.. We'll first try to get SS card. Based on SS card, I'll try to add my husband to my bank account or open a new one all together, add him to my insurance, cell phone bill, etc. Based on the stamp and some of these evidence, we'll see if we can at least get driving learner's permit.. Let's see how things goes... Best case scenario is we get GC before the trip and worst case scenario is we lose $400 bucks which is bad but not end of life...

[His_Wifey 1]

so when the beneficiary passes the interview at the consulate.... what will he/she get then? will the stamp be done at that time or at POE?

[champi 13]

I believe you get stamp at POE.

[moonhunt 1]

so when the beneficiary passes the interview at the consulate.... what will he/she get then? will the stamp be done at that time or at POE?

After successful interview approval, he/she will get Immigration Visa (a little bit bigger than A4/letter size?) stapled to Misterious Brown Envelope (MBE), which has small cut in the corner.

He/she should not tamper with MBE.

Unopned MBE with immigration visa will be surrendered to POE officer upon arrival to U.S., and POE officer will forward those to USCIS district office, and stamp I-551 stamp on his/her passport.

Usually he/she will receive plastic green card - I-551 - via USPS post mail within 30 days.

He/she will receive "welcome to USA" letter, too, I believe.

Sometimes when you mark "Yes" for social security card applied via USCIS/State Dept,

he/she will get social security card in 2~3 weeks, but sometimes the request disappeared in the middle.

If he/she doesn't receive Social Security Card within 30 days, he/she may stop by local Social Security Administration office to request social security number/card by himself/herself.

[Moosker 7]

Crossing the border, they STAMP the visa they printed into your passport. This "activates" your visa.