Traveling abroad with expired Green Card, and Letter of Extension 1 year

[coco2012 2]

I was wondering If anyone has travel with their current passport, expired green card and NOA Letter of extension while on the process of Removing Conditions. My husband and I are planning to travel

abroad for a family reunion and I would like to know if they will allow me to come back in the USA without any issues/delays? Perhaps anyone who has recently left the america with the same situation can help me out

[sasaqlain 24]

Somebody with first hand experience will surely reply to your post, but I wanted to share my knowledge on the matter. You can legally travel outside of the US with an expired GC and letter of extention as the extension letter itself validates your stay by another year. This means that when you re-enter the US, the authorities will and must accept it. The issue is the country you are traveling to. Whether they will accept the extension letter while the GC is expired, is another question. Usually, foreign countries tend to be suspecious towards such documents as its difficult for them to verify such documents. But in general, people have traveled with less or no difficulty(based on their shared experience on VJ). Hope this was helpful. Good Luck!

While I was rreplying to your message, I came accross this post posted today by scotinmass

Posted Today, 07:33 AM

Hi Everyone,

We just returned from a one week trip to Scotland to visit my family. My Greencard expired on Feb 8th and I have the extension letter allowing me to work and travel for a further year. We flew from Boston to London Heathrow then on to Edinburgh. Leaving the US I was never asked for my Greencard. When we checked in at Edinburgh Airport with British Airways the woman at the desk asked for my Greencard. She scanned it in the system and it told her it was expired. I told her about the extension letter and she asked to see it. She then manually changed the expiry date of my Greencard to 2013 and checked us in. When we arrived back in Boston I gave the CBP Officer my passport, Greencard and extension letter. He immediately handed me the extension letter back and scanned my Greencard. Obviously the extension is in the system and they don't need the letter.

So basically there was no issues at all traveling with an expired Greencard and extension letter. They don't seem to require the letter in the US but make sure you take it with you in case they ask for it in the country you are traveling to when you return.

Edited March 19, 2012 by saspk

[fairandfoul 7]

ALWAYS take the original letter with you when you travel outside the country. Whenevr you present your expired Green Card at a foreign departure port, you will ALWAYS be asked to present the original letter. Most airlines, from my first-hand experience, are familiar with this requirement and will not give you any hassles.

I re-entered the United States nine times on my expired card and the verfication delays at the foreign port, on the few instances they occured, were never more than about seven minutes. I can confirm from first hand experience that British Airways, Air France, Jet Blue, American Airways, Iceland Air and Virgin Atlantic are familiar with this process and will give you minimal/no hassles.

Do not rely on the I-551 stamp in the passport often obtained at INFOPASS appointments. The purpose is to replace the Green Card and Extension Letter, but it has NEVER, from first hand experience, satisfied authorites at foreign departure ports in the first instance. I once tried to "test" the veracity of the I-551 stamp as a stand-alone by presenting it, and only it, for a United States-bound flight. I was told that if I couldn't present my Green Card and Extension Letter, the airline might have to scan and send a copy of my passport and I-551 stamp to US immigration authorities and wait for an entry clearance to be sent back. At that point, I provided the card and the letter and was shortly cleared to proceed.

The point I'm making in my last paragraph is that, while the I-551 stamp is a valid immigration document which ultimately will grant entry to the United States (albeit, after a bit of a hassle perhaps), the GREEN CARD + EXTENSION LETTER (ORIGINAL) are golden!

[BigBubble 1]

I was wondering If anyone has travel with their current passport, expired green card and NOA Letter of extension while on the process of Removing Conditions. My husband and I are planning to travel

abroad for a family reunion and I would like to know if they will allow me to come back in the USA without any issues/delays? Perhaps anyone who has recently left the america with the same situation can help me out

As long as you have your valid passport with you, your expired Green Card and your extension letter you wont have any problems. The only thing they can do is take you to that little room at the passport check when you come to the US to check your documents with more detail, but thats it

[menina 50]

I am wondering the same thing and hoping to have the green card in hand before we leave. At this rate, it isn't looking good. Is is necessary to schedule an Infopass to get the passport stamp, or can we just go with the extension letter and the expired green card? My main concern is that I have heard of the people at Infopass taking away the expired green card due to the stamp in the passport.

Edited March 19, 2012 by menina

[coco2012 2]

Thanks everyone for their replies. Me and my husband are planning the trip late in June and seeing the wait time vermont center has I may not have my new GC in time. We are going to Cancun Mexico, so I am just a bit afraid about being stuck in Mexico. We don't want to risk it but we also don't want to miss our family reunion together. It really sucks!!! so in guessing I will risk it and go with my unexpired passport, expired GC and letter of extension

Edited March 19, 2012 by coco2012

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

The extension letter is more of a backup for the dumbest of the dumb airline employees in your home country, so that they let you board a plane back to the U.S. with an apparently expired Green Card.

Once you are in the U.S., your Green Card will be scanned, you will be fingerprinted and photographed. At that time your entire A-file will appear on the computer screen and the CBP officer will know everything about you, not only that your Green Card was extended for 1 year, but where you sat in that airplane and what you had for lunch.

[coco2012 2]

The extension letter is more of a backup for the dumbest of the dumb airline employees in your home country, so that they let you board a plane back to the U.S. with an apparently expired Green Card.

Once you are in the U.S., your Green Card will be scanned, you will be fingerprinted and photographed. At that time your entire A-file will appear on the computer screen and the CBP officer will know everything about you, not only that your Green Card was extended for 1 year, but where you sat in that airplane and what you had for lunch.

Okay great! The reason that Im afraid of being stuck is because that is not where I'm from and I heard certain parts of Mexico are dangerous, so I don't want be stuck in their airport and neither is my husband, but hopefully everything will be okay I do hold a European union passport so do you think that they won't even request my GC since they we don't need a visa to go to the states because we hold a waiver visa?

[Holmes 0]

FYI, people returning from Brazil should watch out.

We just had a bad experience with a copy of an extension letter (yeah I know, we messed up) but I think the employee simply wasn't going to accept the green card because it looked expired.

The airline was TAM, and they were real dicks about it. Completely unhelpful, and my wife was in tears.

And it was on a 1 hour connection in Rio after she had already checked in, so she only had like 20 minutes to resolve it or escalate to another employee. Really messy. I can't link to this properly because I'm a new user but there's this article that says you need something called a "boarding foil" and that it can take 5 days to get in Brazil if you don't have it.

LINKbrazil.usembassy.gov/immigrant-visas/other-services/transportation-letter.htmlLINK

Edited March 13, 2013 by Holmes

[Lisa011 6]

My husband and I will be traveling to Puerto vallarta Mexico in 4 weeks, I will also be using my passport, expired green card and Original extension letter.

Im also nervous about this But, have heard many people do it all the time, thats what the point of the extension letter is.

[coffeefei 0]

I really benefited by reading this post! So I would like to share my first hand experience which just happened yesterday. I and my husband + my 20mth baby girl (they are both US citizen) travelled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a vacation, and I totally forgot that my Green Card expired a few days ago, even though I had gotten approval for condition removal and they have taken my bios a month ago. We were not caught when we left the US, but when we checked in on our return flight...the agent from Alaska Airline noticed that and refused to check me in. They were nice enough to actually talk to the local border security control officer and verified my green card status, it was until that time I realized there is this Letter of Extension...I did receive the letter months ago, but it never occurred to me that I need to bring that letter with me when I travel overseas. In that case, we decided that my husband and my baby should go back first and then send me the extension letter after they get home. My husband scanned the letter and emailed to me after they got home...we were worried that they won't check me in with the photocopy but not the original letter, but no question was even asked with a different officer on the second day (it seems he is quite family with the situation). I did have to go through the secondary inspection at SFO security check point....but was very easy, since they could see everything in the system. They even checked where is my replacement Green Card in the process (it turned out everything was approved just waiting for the supervisor's signature).

So the bottom line is you shouldn't have any issue travelling aboard with expired Green Card and Letter of Extension. Even in the case like mine who forgot to bring the letter of extension...a scanned copy will work. And to certain extent I wonder- depends on the airline agent, even without a copy of the letter will work too, since they could call the border security and verify everything, the letter is really just a formality...nowadays everything is in the server.

[Lisa011 6]

I was worried about the same thing,

Husband and I just got back from Mexico, and no problem at all

[KaashParinda 7]

I really benefited by reading this post! So I would like to share my first hand experience which just happened yesterday. I and my husband + my 20mth baby girl (they are both US citizen) travelled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a vacation, and I totally forgot that my Green Card expired a few days ago, even though I had gotten approval for condition removal and they have taken my bios a month ago. We were not caught when we left the US, but when we checked in on our return flight...the agent from Alaska Airline noticed that and refused to check me in. They were nice enough to actually talk to the local border security control officer and verified my green card status, it was until that time I realized there is this Letter of Extension...I did receive the letter months ago, but it never occurred to me that I need to bring that letter with me when I travel overseas. In that case, we decided that my husband and my baby should go back first and then send me the extension letter after they get home. My husband scanned the letter and emailed to me after they got home...we were worried that they won't check me in with the photocopy but not the original letter, but no question was even asked with a different officer on the second day (it seems he is quite family with the situation). I did have to go through the secondary inspection at SFO security check point....but was very easy, since they could see everything in the system. They even checked where is my replacement Green Card in the process (it turned out everything was approved just waiting for the supervisor's signature).

So the bottom line is you shouldn't have any issue travelling aboard with expired Green Card and Letter of Extension. Even in the case like mine who forgot to bring the letter of extension...a scanned copy will work. And to certain extent I wonder- depends on the airline agent, even without a copy of the letter will work too, since they could call the border security and verify everything, the letter is really just a formality...nowadays everything is in the server.

Thanks coffeefei and others on this string. Its reassuring. My wife and are already in Germany and will be flying back June 3. She has the expired green card, and of course brought the original NOA extension letter plus we also have the official letter (another NOA type letter) stating that her green card was approved (we should have gotten the 10 year green card by the time we left but for whatever reason, no CSC filer that is on Sep 2012 filer waiting list - which is we applied for removal of conditions) as well. Just a small bit nervous about encountering a airline employee that might give us hassle about it--but the airline is Lufthansa and we are taking off from Stuttgart (leaving the country from Munich). These are major airports... so I think our return will be smooth. What do you say guys and gals?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

KP

[TBoneTX 45,284]

Thread bumped for cause.

Edited May 18, 2013 by TBoneTX

[KaashParinda 7]

Folks,

Just to report. My wife and I visited Germany and returned yesterday. No one asked for the extension letter when we checked in (was worried that some airline personnel may not recognize it) and we left Germany without any issues. When we arrived in the US the officer took the green card, checked it and asked for the extension letter. He had a look, stamped my wife's passport (arrival) and returned all documents. Painless - the officer also said "welcome back home." to us. Nice to run into these chaps once in a while.

Best, KP

Thanks coffeefei and others on this string. Its reassuring. My wife and are already in Germany and will be flying back June 3. She has the expired green card, and of course brought the original NOA extension letter plus we also have the official letter (another NOA type letter) stating that her green card was approved (we should have gotten the 10 year green card by the time we left but for whatever reason, no CSC filer that is on Sep 2012 filer waiting list - which is we applied for removal of conditions) as well. Just a small bit nervous about encountering a airline employee that might give us hassle about it--but the airline is Lufthansa and we are taking off from Stuttgart (leaving the country from Munich). These are major airports... so I think our return will be smooth. What do you say guys and gals?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

KP