POE swipe GC

[thelastone 0]

hi,going back soon to U.S.A but I´m just curious, what do the officer see at the POE(port of entry)when the officer swipes your green card?your valid status?how long have you been oitside of the U.S.A?how many times have you left the U.S.A?criminal backgrounds?if you´re married and to who?thank you if someone could give me some info on these ones.

[TBoneTX 45,329]

hi,going back soon to U.S.A but I´m just curious, what do the officer see at the POE(port of entry)when the officer swipes your green card?your valid status?how long have you been oitside of the U.S.A?how many times have you left the U.S.A?criminal backgrounds?if you´re married and to who?thank you if someone could give me some info on these ones.

They can see most of this. Why are you asking, please?

[SuperDuper! 230]

Why does it matter what they see? What matters is your relationship to your spouse. They say that curiosity killed the cat.....

[thelastone 0]

simple questioning cause first time i came back i was with wife and i really dont remember what they did to me or not, dont even remember if they swiped the green card, this time i´m going back all by myself,so i´m nervous cause i dont know what to expect, maybe i should have asked what do they do to you at the port of entry(10 years green card).thanks

[imzadi 0]

No reason to be nervous - the fact that your wife isn't traveling with you doesn't mean you have a bad relationship.

From all the trips my husband and I made there was only one we made separately (the return leg) - we flew into Vienna together but came back on different dates. I remember the POE officer just asked me how long I was gone, swiped the GC and stamped my passport. That was it.

They have it in their system anyway how many trips you make abroad, how many days you are absent etc. Just need to be careful not to spend too much time outside the US.

I've always kept a little log of all my international trips - it saved me some time later when I filed N-400.

Anyway - have a nice trip, you'll be fine!

[thelastone 0]

thank you everyone for giving me these inputs and information,i was kind of lost, not anymore:)thanks!!!

[SimranS 9]

No reason to be nervous - the fact that your wife isn't traveling with you doesn't mean you have a bad relationship.

From all the trips my husband and I made there was only one we made separately (the return leg) - we flew into Vienna together but came back on different dates. I remember the POE officer just asked me how long I was gone, swiped the GC and stamped my passport. That was it.

They have it in their system anyway how many trips you make abroad, how many days you are absent etc. Just need to be careful not to spend too much time outside the US.

I've always kept a little log of all my international trips - it saved me some time later when I filed N-400.

Anyway - have a nice trip, you'll be fine!

Can you please explain how they know how long you've been gone, when there's no GC swiping at exit? And if they already know then why do they need to ask almost every person this when they enter?

[imzadi 0]

Can you please explain how they know how long you've been gone, when there's no GC swiping at exit? And if they already know then why do they need to ask almost every person this when they enter?

Yes, they don't swipe the GC, but the passport is scanned every time you leave the country. So there is some sort of record of international travel in their computers. Common sense, I guess ...

[juliava 80]

Yes, they don't swipe the GC, but the passport is scanned every time you leave the country. So there is some sort of record of international travel in their computers. Common sense, I guess ...

Not accurate. I was recently gone overseas and my passport was only reviewed, NOT scanned, not even once when I left US, nor when I arrived in my home country. The plain ticket was the only thing that was scanned and that was done by the airline staff while boarding the plane.

[SimranS 9]

Yes, they don't swipe the GC, but the passport is scanned every time you leave the country. So there is some sort of record of international travel in their computers. Common sense, I guess ...

The PP is swiped only by the airline check-in staff, at most, not by the CBP or any govt. official. For someone leaving by air, they could theoretically look up the info in passenger manifests, but this is not done as a matter of routine. Why else would they have to ask every time "how long have you been gone?" And this would never work as an official means of tracking exits anyway, because there are numerous other ways someone can leave the country, i.e. walking across the borders or using private vehicles. In such cases they would have no record of how long a GC holder had been out.

The US govt. believes in the freedom of everyone to leave the country at will which is why there's no immigration check at exit, unlike in many other countries. Until and unless they start swiping GCs at all exits from the US, they really have no accurate way of knowing how long you've been gone when they swipe you in at POE (besides "what you tell them").

[imzadi 0]

The PP is swiped only by the airline check-in staff, at most, not by the CBP or any govt. official. For someone leaving by air, they could theoretically look up the info in passenger manifests, but this is not done as a matter of routine. Why else would they have to ask every time "how long have you been gone?" And this would never work as an official means of tracking exits anyway, because there are numerous other ways someone can leave the country, i.e. walking across the borders or using private vehicles. In such cases they would have no record of how long a GC holder had been out.

The US govt. believes in the freedom of everyone to leave the country at will which is why there's no immigration check at exit, unlike in many other countries. Until and unless they start swiping GCs at all exits from the US, they really have no accurate way of knowing how long you've been gone when they swipe you in at POE (besides "what you tell them").

Sorry - error on my side ...