Travel outside USA while waiting for 10 years green card

[Sam_111 2]

Hi All,

My green card will be expired in the end of this Mar and I filed my I-751 last year and i am now still waiting to get my condition removed, also, i received my one year extension letter already as well as finished my fingerprint.

My question is can I travel outside USA and stay for 1 - 2 month by the time I am still waiting for 10 years card? if yes, i just need to take my 1 year extension letter and expired green card with me when I return to the USA, is there gonna be a problem? Or I have to do anything else in order to make sure that I have no problem to return to the USA?

Please advise.

Thank you so much for your help.

[missy8888 0]

If you are not divorced, you will be fine. I am divorced and I was out of the Country for one week while I-751 is still pending. I only have the expired greencard and the extension letter, but I was in serious trouble.

[charmander 692]

If you are not divorced, you will be fine. I am divorced and I was out of the Country for one week while I-751 is still pending. I only have the expired greencard and the extension letter, but I was in serious trouble.

Could you be more specific about what happened? It sounds like you ran into an inexperienced CBP agent but there is nothing about a divorce waiver that stops you from traveling abroad. After all, around 7% of all ROC petitions are divorce waivers. They cannot ban this many people from traveling.

[missy8888 0]

I am still in shocked now, it has been 3 days since I was detained for 7 hours at the Immigration office at the Airport. I am thinking now to just forget about my I-751 application and just go home to my country. I am feeling so depressed now.

So, I traveled outside the US for 1 week, yes just one week. When I was at the airport getting back here in the US, they brought me to the office and questioned me for hours. I just told them the truth. No lies at all. I got divorced from the US citizen before 2 year of our marriage. I filed my 1-751 alone. And still waiting for results. I only have the 1 yr extension and done with biometrics. The immigration officer got my expired greencard.

[missy8888 0]

And I have an interview appointment for the homeland security. Yes, interview, wethere I can stay OR NOT. This interview is different from the USCIS.

This is just my own bad experienced, so people can still do what they want to do if they want to travel.

This is just my own bad experienced, people can still do what they want to do, they can go travel if they want to.

[charmander 692]

I am still in shocked now, it has been 3 days since I was detained for 7 hours at the Immigration office at the Airport. I am thinking now to just forget about my I-751 application and just go home to my country. I am feeling so depressed now.

So, I traveled outside the US for 1 week, yes just one week. When I was at the airport getting back here in the US, they brought me to the office and questioned me for hours. I just told them the truth. No lies at all. I got divorced from the US citizen before 2 year of our marriage. I filed my 1-751 alone. And still waiting for results. I only have the 1 yr extension and done with biometrics. The immigration officer got my expired greencard.

In terms of timing, when did you file for ROC? Were you close to the expiration of the 1 year extension when this happened? If this was the case, maybe the agents found it hard to believe your case was still not adjudicated after this long. Have they checked the USCIS case tracker to see your case was still pending?

Regardless, a pending case is clearly not adjudicated yet. They should not have caused you any trouble. I am sorry for what you went through.

[missy8888 0]

I filed I-751 October 2015. My extension letter is still okay. I even called the USCIS twice to make sure I am okay to travel and they know that I am divorced. This is just last week. They still let me in but I have interview this end of the month. Now, I am so confused and depressed, imagine two different agencies. Homeland and USCIS. Uscis is harder already and here I go. I have to report to homeland also. They keep asking me if I know what is going on. I just said no.

[charmander 692]

I filed I-751 October 2015. My extension letter is still okay. I even called the USCIS twice to make sure I am okay to travel and they know that I am divorced. This is just last week. They still let me in but I have interview this end of the month. Now, I am so confused and depressed, imagine two different agencies. Homeland and USCIS. Uscis is harder already and here I go. I have to report to homeland also. They keep asking me if I know what is going on. I just said no.

Have you called USCIS on this incident? If you do ask to speak with an immigration officer (tier 2 agent), and try to learn what caused them to detain you like this and have an interview with homeland.

[newacct 688]

I filed I-751 October 2015. My extension letter is still okay. I even called the USCIS twice to make sure I am okay to travel and they know that I am divorced. This is just last week. They still let me in but I have interview this end of the month. Now, I am so confused and depressed, imagine two different agencies. Homeland and USCIS. Uscis is harder already and here I go. I have to report to homeland also. They keep asking me if I know what is going on. I just said no.

Stop freaking out. The process sounds scary but really isn't. It's a mistake and they will sort it out and dismiss the whole thing. You are not going to be deported while your ROC is pending. You are a permanent resident. Even in the worst case, to deport you, they would need to put you in removal proceedings before an immigration judge, and that judge will see that you have pending and legitimate I-751 (and even if you didn't, you could file it at any time prior to being deported; but you do have it pending), and will wait for that to finish. Almost certainly you won't even be put into removal proceedings and they will just realize it's a mistake and say nevermind.

[missy8888 0]

Not yet,I just stayed at home and don't know what to do, I will try to call now. Thank you

[missy8888 0]

Thank you I will just go to my interview appointment. This immigration officer told me, thats the day they will decide if I can stay or Not in the US. So I don't really know what to do.

Stop freaking out. The process sounds scary but really isn't. It's a mistake and they will sort it out and dismiss the whole thing. You are not going to be deported while your ROC is pending. You are a permanent resident. Even in the worst case, to deport you, they would need to put you in removal proceedings before an immigration judge, and that judge will see that you have pending and legitimate I-751 (and even if you didn't, you could file it at any time prior to being deported; but you do have it pending), and will wait for that to finish. Almost certainly you won't even be put into removal proceedings and they will just realize it's a mistake and say nevermind.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,388]

Thank you I will just go to my interview appointment. This immigration officer told me, thats the day they will decide if I can stay or Not in the US. So I don't really know what to do.

Don't freak out, they made a mistake. Your I-751 is pending. Until it's adjudicated, you are still a Legal Permanent Resident. They can't just deport you without going to the immigration court. By the way USCIS is part of Homeland Security.

[missy8888 0]

So I just called the USCIS and told them what happened and asked them why homeland security got my expired greencard. Uscis told me I have to wait for the results of my application and that right now they're still processing a lot of applications. And they don't know why homeland securityvat the airport detained me. Actually, the papers from homeland security at the airport says that they can't determine yet if they let me stay or not. My interview appointment will be this 31st.

[missy8888 0]

Thank you for enlightened me with my current situations.