"When you receive your card, you must carry with you at all times if you are 18 or older."

[NickD 202]

"It is the law."

Any comments on this statement from the USCIS? Are there any limits, like taking a bath, going to bed, making love? Or is this just you leave your home? What about taking your dog for a walk around the block, or going to the beach, exactly where to you put this card if you are wearing a bikini?

When I was in the military, had to wear those dog tags at all times, but they supplied a neck chain with the tags. Really no way to hook that green card around your neck and don't dare punch a hole in it to put in a neck chain. Water can seep in and wreck it.

Certainly makes sense to carry it with you when traveling abroad, you need it to get back in!

But the law says, "When you receive your card, you must carry with you at all times if you are 18 or older." that implies no exceptions. It does seem to be an unreasonable law, like awaking up a night to use the rest room, do you dare go without your green card in your own home?

"What Does the Law Say?

Section 264 of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides that, "Every alien in the United States … shall be issued a certificate of alien registration or an alien registration receipt card in such form and manner and at such time as shall be prescribed under regulations...." It also states, "Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him.... Any alien who fails to comply with [these] provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor" and may be subject to fine and/or imprisonment upon each conviction. The specific requirements and procedures for applying to replace a permanent resident card are included in the Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] at 8 CFR § 264.5.

Please note: If you are a conditional resident and your status is expiring, these instructions do not pertain to you. You are to use USCIS Form I-751 (Petition to Remove the Conditions on Residence) to apply to remove the conditions on your permanent resident status."

If you should lose or ruin your card you are up against this:

"Filing Fee :

The fee for this application is $290.00.

The fee for the biometrics is $80.00.

You may submit one check or money order for both the

application and biometrics fees, for a total of $370.00.

For a replacement card. With price tag that high, one would tend to keep that card in a safe place, and on your person isn't exactly a safe place.

Processing time for a ten year replacement card at Nebraska is Aug 7. 2007 so you would have to wait at least ten months or more for a replacement card.

USCIS is certainly providing an incentive for obtaining your US citizenship, carrying your green card wherever you go for the rest of your life can be a burden.

[FVA 0]

actually i do carry it with me all the time. we had fire alarms in our apartment building a couple of times - first things i grabbed? green card and laptop - in that order.

nobody ever asked for it in 3 years. one time, before i had my DL, i showed it as a form of ID to get into this bar - they didn't accept it. they didn't let me in the bar, saying that the police department doesn't recognize green cards as forms of ID - which is ridiculously stupid, since we go through all those FBI checks and all those verifications, etc. But no - driver licenses (which we all heard can be easily forged) are better than GC in police's opinion.

so why carry it with you all the time? only 'they' know!

Edited June 24, 2008 by FVA

[NickD 202]

Understand they ask for your green card at the oath ceremony. Trying to get my wife to say, that will be $370.00 payable now, and I will send it to you in about a year. Wait, this is a ten year card, that will cost you $545.00 that you charged us for this one, we expect a refund on that. LOL

[sparkofcreation 0]

There was a well-publicized case here of a permanent resident (young woman from Korea) who was detained (as in, in jail) for like three days while they "verified her status" since she wasn't carrying her permanent resident card when asked for it.

Of course, within 100 miles of the border, the Border Patrol has total authority to stop absolutely anyone they see and ask them their immigration status for no reason whatsoever. And this did occur in Las Cruces, the second biggest city in NM, which is only about 20-30 miles from the border.

[NickD 202]

There was a well-publicized case here of a permanent resident (young woman from Korea) who was detained (as in, in jail) for like three days while they "verified her status" since she wasn't carrying her permanent resident card when asked for it.

Of course, within 100 miles of the border, the Border Patrol has total authority to stop absolutely anyone they see and ask them their immigration status for no reason whatsoever. And this did occur in Las Cruces, the second biggest city in NM, which is only about 20-30 miles from the border.

Shouldn't us natural born US citizens be carrying our birth certificates with us at all times? What other proof do we have that we are here legally? And most birth certificates do not have a current photo ID if any photo ID period. So how come we aren't issued a green card or something like that. The only ID we have is our drivers license that we have to carry only while driving, but sure helps if you want to pick up your airline tickets at the airport, that is how they do that now to save on a postage stamp and the same goes for cashing a personal check. But rarely never do that anymore, much quicker to show swipe my CC. Ha, use to tease when asked to see my driver's license, why, was I speeding?

Wife has the same stuff in her wallet that I have in mine, SS card, DL, a bunch of credit cards, but if our wallets are lost or stolen, call the CC companies to block the old numbers and get new cards for free, same with the SS card, DL would cost about fourteen bucks for a replacement, that can be done in less than ten minutes, but that green card. Now that is a major headache if it gets lost or stolen.

But after she is naturalized, she is not required to carry anything, right?

[Canuck4USA 0]

I would assume that this applies to when you are out of your home. Of course you cannot always carry the card on your person, but you can lock it up in your car if you are at the beach or whatever.

lol...why don't USCIS make it easier for everyone by just implanting chips in all of us. That way if we look suspiciously foreign, they can scan us instead...lol

[NickD 202]

I would assume that this applies to when you are out of your home. Of course you cannot always carry the card on your person, but you can lock it up in your car if you are at the beach or whatever.

lol...why don't USCIS make it easier for everyone by just implanting chips in all of us. That way if we look suspiciously foreign, they can scan us instead...lol

Immigration is new to me, well five years now, but was talking to my dentist what we are going through, he said his dad married a Canadian some 45 years ago, but they are finally going through immigration now to get his mom naturalized and going crazy. A good friend that I haven't seen in years also married a Canadian. Was it the case years ago, you could just marry a Canadian and live wherever you want?

[sparkofcreation 0]

Shouldn't us natural born US citizens be carrying our birth certificates with us at all times? What other proof do we have that we are here legally? And most birth certificates do not have a current photo ID if any photo ID period. So how come we aren't issued a green card or something like that. The only ID we have is our drivers license that we have to carry only while driving, but sure helps if you want to pick up your airline tickets at the airport, that is how they do that now to save on a postage stamp and the same goes for cashing a personal check. But rarely never do that anymore, much quicker to show swipe my CC. Ha, use to tease when asked to see my driver's license, why, was I speeding?

Wife has the same stuff in her wallet that I have in mine, SS card, DL, a bunch of credit cards, but if our wallets are lost or stolen, call the CC companies to block the old numbers and get new cards for free, same with the SS card, DL would cost about fourteen bucks for a replacement, that can be done in less than ten minutes, but that green card. Now that is a major headache if it gets lost or stolen.

But after she is naturalized, she is not required to carry anything, right?

There is no legal requirement for *anyone* to carry *identification* (unless you're doing something that requires it, but it's not required in general). The requirement is for *non-citizens* to carry proof of *immigration status*.

[NickD 202]

There was a well-publicized case here of a permanent resident (young woman from Korea) who was detained (as in, in jail) for like three days while they "verified her status" since she wasn't carrying her permanent resident card when asked for it.

There is no legal requirement for *anyone* to carry *identification* (unless you're doing something that requires it, but it's not required in general). The requirement is for *non-citizens* to carry proof of *immigration status*.

So happens my neighbor woman is of Korean descent, born in Detroit, would they stop her too? Exactly how can the law determine the difference between a permanent resident, an illegal, or a US citizen if stopped unless they were all carrying some form of proof of their status. Are they mind readers?

Seems like if they can detain one person, they can detain them all, like Nazi Germany, where are your papers? Was this Korean woman involved in some kind of a crime, like driving a vehicle with a burned out tail light? But then they could detain her, you, or me if we didn't have a driver's license.

Heard on the news the other day, the Arabs or those of Arab descent were complaining the contents of their notebook hard drives were being copied at airports without due cause. I can appreciate that, almost had my notebook confiscated last airline trip because I couldn't turn it on as the battery was dead. Good thing I tossed the AC adapter in the bag with it, and after chasing around found an AC receptacle so I could show the guard it fired up. Didn't look over any of my stuff, just wanted to see if it would fire up. So I can appreciate their dilemma.

We are all suspect, many suspect the president with his ties to the Arabs, but they are not doing anything about it.

[samantha_lou 0]

I must admit, I do not carry my card on me...if I did, then goodness knows how many times it would have been lost and needing replacing by now! I am always changing wallets, purses - buying new ones etc for particular outfits and what I'm wearing that day! I don't know, its just not practical and I have keys, a cell phone plus a laptop to worry about! I do take it with me if I'm going away anywhere though, but not just day to day and when I'm out and about locally.

[NickD 202]

I must admit, I do not carry my card on me...if I did, then goodness knows how many times it would have been lost and needing replacing by now! I am always changing wallets, purses - buying new ones etc for particular outfits and what I'm wearing that day! I don't know, its just not practical and I have keys, a cell phone plus a laptop to worry about! I do take it with me if I'm going away anywhere though, but not just day to day and when I'm out and about locally.

Nobody, never, ever has stopped either my wife or daughter to request to see their green card, the only times we had to show it was for school, work, and the DMV, and for my wife to come back into this country with our one trip where I carried her green card and passport. I put that in a zip lock bag and use a shirt with two large button down front pockets so a pick pocket would have to fumble with those buttons to get at them. But he would be dealing with a 6' 2" 215 pound guy instead of a 5' 3" 120 pound woman carry a purse. And I don't have to toss my purse on those conveyor belt X-ray machines that are way over crowed and someone can run off with it, if not the guard dumping the contents in a tray, they stay in my pocket.

I did make copies of their green cards, perfectly readable, both the front and the back they carry with them if stopped, if told them if they want to see the originals they are locked up in a fireproof safe at our home. Why, because the USCIS charges us 400 bucks and it takes over a year to get new ones, perfectly ridiculous. By the way, what to you do during that years, carry around a I-797C receipt that is also totally impracticable? Not even water proof, what happens if you get caught out in the rain.

Another argument, if it does ever come up, if copies of your green card are good enough, for the USCIS, why aren't they good enough for you. Both my wife and daughter have to carry photo ID's to get to work and to school. They wouldn't even have those photo ID's if it wasn't for showing both her employer and the school that they are here legally. Daughter already lost hers twice, cost ten bucks for a new one and took all but five minutes. If the USCIS makes rules, they should offer free replacement cards and get them to you in less than a week. With all the cards I had to carry, even top secret clearance in the military, never ran across an agency that made it so difficult and expensive to provide a replacement card, it's crazy.

Is it illegal to make a copy of a green card? According to our professional copier services it is, but the USCIS, the DMV, employer, school, and bank made copies of their cards claiming it was for their protection for all except the USCIS. I just hate contradictions.