Immigration officer said can't travel before green card arrives

[qawan 0]

Hello,

I recently arrived in the US (June 4, 2010) on an immigrant visa (IV category IW1, i.e. self-petitioning widow). The immigration officer told me that it would take 3 to 6 months for my green card to arrive and I could not travel outside the country before that. Given that I need to travel in approx 2 months to wrap up things in my home country, I'm extremely concerned. Here are my specific questions:

1. My understanding was that it takes approximately 30days for the green card to arrive, why would it take 3-6 months in my case? Are there some special conditions in my case, being a self-petitioning widow, that I am unaware of? Could the immigration officer be wrong?

2. As far as I understood, the immigrant visa, upon endorsement, serves as a temporary green card (I-551) which can be used to travel on. In my passport there is a stamp on my visa that says "admitted June 4,2010", wouldn't that be the endorsement? Or does it look different?

3. Where can I get information about my case status? The USCIS website has the case status tracking option, however my 'receipt number' is not being accepted and I'm thinking its because I went through the consular processing option. I tried calling but there was no info there either. Do I need to make an InfoPass appointment?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

What else is written on the stamp? Does it say anywhere I-551?

If it does, that is indeed the 'temporary' green card and would allow you to travel and return to the US. If it doesn't say I-551, then a few weeks before you need to leave, you can make an Infopass appointment at your USCIS office (go to http://www.uscis.gov and in the left hand corner will be a link to Schedule an Appointment/Infopass), and have an Immigration officer put the I-551 stamp in your passport. Bring proof of your travel needs with you. You can probably make the appointment now, but don't schedule it until about 2 weeks to 10 days before you need to leave as your green card may arrive within that time and they will probably not give you the stamp until closer to your travel dates. If your green card does arrive before then you can always cancel the Infopass appointment.

And oh yes, the immigration officer can indeed be wrong - it is one of the standing jokes on VJ that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing at USCIS.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Kathryn41