I-551 Stamp vs. NOA Extension

[Milva 0]

Hello All....

We received our NOA for my husband's soon to be expired green card. We will be traveling overseas during the Christmas holidays. I know in the NOA it states that it is ok to travel with this document however I am reading in this forum that sometimes in the POE they give you a hard time.....and even take the expired GC away from you !...

Here is the question... I was thinking about getting the I-551 Stamp on my husband's passport however I read yesterday ( in the news section a letter that was sent out by the HS Director) that the procedure is at the time of the stamp the GC has to be provided to them....

I thought without a GC we could not travel and I am not confident that in Argentina (where we will be traveling to) they will take the NOA as proof.... especially since it is written in English.... Has anyone experienced this scenario and what do you guys think is the best approach? I am just a little concerned since we will be traveling with our toddler and I do not want to wait in Newark for needless time if I do not need to...

Please help me

[radacos 0]

This is a widely discussed topic. If you do a search on VJ, you'll find lots of threads dealing with this. In a nutshell, you should be absolutely fine traveling with the expired GC and NOA. While *some* people have been harassed, I haven't read any first-hand account of people being denied boarding an airplane or being denied entry (I've only read of people who had heard of someone experiencing this, etc...). To be extra safe, your husband can always make an Infopass and get the I-551 stamp -- it does seem to be more widely recognized by foreign officials. Could you post a link to the news article about handing in your GC when you get the stamp? I am curious about that, since I was able to get the stamp and hold on to my expired GC. Anyway, even if you do have to give up the card, the stamp serves as sufficient proof of status.

Once again, the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of your having no problem when you travel. In my experience, I showed the expired GC and NOA upon reaching JFK and was processed in approximately two minutes, not a single question asked.

[NickD 202]

Hello All....

We received our NOA for my husband's soon to be expired green card. We will be traveling overseas during the Christmas holidays. I know in the NOA it states that it is ok to travel with this document however I am reading in this forum that sometimes in the POE they give you a hard time.....and even take the expired GC away from you !...

Here is the question... I was thinking about getting the I-551 Stamp on my husband's passport however I read yesterday ( in the news section a letter that was sent out by the HS Director) that the procedure is at the time of the stamp the GC has to be provided to them....

I thought without a GC we could not travel and I am not confident that in Argentina (where we will be traveling to) they will take the NOA as proof.... especially since it is written in English.... Has anyone experienced this scenario and what do you guys think is the best approach? I am just a little concerned since we will be traveling with our toddler and I do not want to wait in Newark for needless time if I do not need to...

Please help me

Problem is not going, it's coming back, we came back from Venezuela, USC me, Venezuelan wife with an expired green card and the one year extension, I am ex-military and do not take any BS, but the immigration officer was very nice to my wife. Your one year extension is useless without the expired green card, and your green card is worthless without the one year extension, don't let anyone take those away from him. Only problem I have heard is where the returnee is the conditional resident, a woman, and traveling alone, they seem to be targets for some of these idiotic minimum wage officers.

[kerewin21 2]

The problem tends to be on the non-US side of things. It wasn't with the green card/NOA but when my husband tried to return from Morocco with his Advanced Parole document he had to go through an hour-long ordeal with the Moroccan policeman at the airport who makes sure everyone leaving had a valid way to get in wherever they're going. He of course spoke no English and had no idea what the piece of paper was. My husband almost missed his plane because they had to call in basically every police officer in the whole airport to figure it out. But he did eventually get through.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

People traveling to India get harassed at the airport when coming back to the US by ignorant airport officials. Indian bureaucratic culture "gets" the stamp, they don't "get" a letter without a picture or even an expiry date.

My wife is currently in India, she got her I-551 stamp at Newark before leaving. They took her expired GC at the time.

That turned into a problem with getting a waiver on the transit visa through the UK. Apparently, the Brits will grant you a waiver of the transit visa requirement if you have the extension letter NOA + the expired green card. They will NOT grant you the waiver if you have the extension letter NOA + the I-551 stamp.

[sjjp1974 0]

I travelled to my home country with an expired greencard, NOA and I551 stamped on my passport. No questions asked when I got back and my immigration process was completed in less than a minute. I would suggest putting the NOA and expired greencard on the passport page that has the I551. Always better to hold on to the expired greencard since it was used as proof in other countries even though it was expired, the best way to get I551 stamped and to keep the greencard is to do the I551 stamping before the greencard expiry date. You can avoid lot of unnecessary questions at airlines counter, immigration at other countries etc if you hold onto your expired greencard.