Green Card Question

[furble 3]

Probably a dumb question.

Doing DS-230 now, it asks for an address in the US to send the Greencard to. Thats no prob, have an address for this there but is there an option to send it abroad instead?

Is there any reason to have it abroad anyway? Should my mom in the US (where it will be sent) mail it to us in Indonesia? Will we need this at the port of entry or is just the Visa for the first entry good enough and we'll get the thing when we get to my Mom's place?

Thanks!

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

The green card is mailed AFTER you do POE. The IR1/CR1 stamp in the passport is what gets you into the country. Once you go through POE, the packet you give them is supposed to trigger the green card getting produced and mailed to the address on file. Probably within 2-6 weeks or so. So unless you know you're going to be outside the US at that point, you should have it sent to the address where you will be staying in the months after arrival, or a trustworthy permanent US address. You will need it for subsequent entries to the US, but not the first.

[furble 3]

The green card is mailed AFTER you do POE. The IR1/CR1 stamp in the passport is what gets you into the country. Once you go through POE, the packet you give them is supposed to trigger the green card getting produced and mailed to the address on file. Probably within 2-6 weeks or so. So unless you know you're going to be outside the US at that point, you should have it sent to the address where you will be staying in the months after arrival, or a trustworthy permanent US address. You will need it for subsequent entries to the US, but not the first.

Thanks for the answer. This makes sense.

Next question though, so for a short period my wife will be with me in the US with only her passport (which we won't be carrying with us everywhere we go). So I know if you have a Green Card you are supposed to carry it with you everywhere in case somebody asks for ID or it for various reasons and in the US there are so many possibilities.

Do they give you some sort of temporary Green Card at the port of entry? Really not going to be bringing the Indonesian Passport everywhere with us. Not an easy thing to get a new one if it gets lost. Often times requires lots of "Unofficial payments" (as the US Immigration website calls them) in Indonesia. I don't know, maybe easier to get a new Indo passport at the Indo Emabassy in the US but rather not find that out until her current one expires a long time from now.

[Darnell 8,478]

once in the POE, a stamp is given that validates the VISA stamp to be used as a temporary, 1 year green card.

so since the visa stamp is in the passport, she'll need to show this stuff on occassion,

like at the SSA office to get a SSN,

and at a bank in USA as her primary ID.