Carrying green card on you?

[JeremyR 8]

3) Imagine the following scenario:

The catch-22 situation you outlined is simply nonsense.

(1) The lack of GC is easily rectified by taking an InfoPass appointment and requesting a temporary I-551 stamp in your passport. Lack of green card doesn't mean you can't obtain proof of status. A legal permanent resident without the ability to prove it is entitled to receive a stamp in their passport. Obviously you'd have to stump up for the I-90 though I don't think you need to do so prior to requesting the stamp.

(2) The bank will accept a foreign passport as proof of ID, no questions asked. "Government-issued ID" does not mean "US Government-issued ID". Depending on the bank, replacing a lost card may be possible over the phone without even showing any documents (my wife did that not long ago). There's no need to demonstrate LPR status to the bank.

(3) The DMV will accept a passport and I-551 stamp as both proof of identity and of legal presence.

Loosing your GC and passport at the same time would quite possibly leave you in the very sticky situation you described, though. Whether a person carries the GC on their person or not is a personal choice but I wouldn't recommend keeping the GC and passport in the same place, even in a safe.

when i came to the u.s. on f-1 visa, i have never carried my passport around to prove my status, as it was not a requirement. why is the green card any different? weird stuff.

See the law cited earlier in this thread, here.

(edited for clarity)

Edited October 31, 2009 by JeremyR