Traveling on Extension Letter?

[bellylaugh 14]

 

What about at check-in for the flight back to the US? Did the airline employees at the check-in counter raise questions about the expired GC and did they know that the extension letter extended GC validity by 1 year from the expiration date?

 

I'm traveling soon on expired GC with extension letter. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

I flew with American Airlines from Manchester, UK. Checking in to my flight I had my green card and letter in hand and the agent said "oh, I don't need to see any of that, your information is already in the system." So no one even looked at my green card/letter until I was in the US, and then they were completely familiar with it.

 

I've read other posts where agents at check in were not familiar and asked for assistance for colleagues. Just be sure, if needed, to point out the relevant information (that first couple of lines about extending the green card for one year for work and travel). You might also print some of the relevant pages from the link Derwood posted if you anticipate running into any resistance. 

 

[Dashinka 24,466]

 

What about at check-in for the flight back to the US? Did the airline employees at the check-in counter raise questions about the expired GC and did they know that the extension letter extended GC validity by 1 year from the expiration date?

 

I'm traveling soon on expired GC with extension letter. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

I can tell you that in Beijing flying Delta into Detroit, the airline employees were very familiar with the extension letter.  

[emmaandcarlos 0]

Hi all,

 

Thank so so much for the carrier guide, that's a great resource!!

 

My husband is Nicaraguan and we have the soon-to-be expired GC (5/15/17) + NOA 1 year extension letter (3/27/17) combo. We're wanting to go visit Nicaragua in August of this year, but with the Trump administration, people are making us nervous that we'll potentially have a harder time getting back in.  My cousin told me some horror story about a Colombian GC holder being deported at the airport, but I don't know if that's true. 

 

Has anyone had any experience with this? My feeling is that maybe we might have to educate some folks as we go, and it might be more of a pain in the butt, but we'll get through sooner or later.  

 

Any other thoughts? Should we translate the extension letter so the Nicaraguan flight officials can understand it?

 

Thanks,

 

Emma

[K & V 33]

On 5/8/2017 at 11:33 AM, emmaandcarlos said:

Hi all,

 

Thank so so much for the carrier guide, that's a great resource!!

 

My husband is Nicaraguan and we have the soon-to-be expired GC (5/15/17) + NOA 1 year extension letter (3/27/17) combo. We're wanting to go visit Nicaragua in August of this year, but with the Trump administration, people are making us nervous that we'll potentially have a harder time getting back in.  My cousin told me some horror story about a Colombian GC holder being deported at the airport, but I don't know if that's true. 

 

Has anyone had any experience with this? My feeling is that maybe we might have to educate some folks as we go, and it might be more of a pain in the butt, but we'll get through sooner or later.  

 

Any other thoughts? Should we translate the extension letter so the Nicaraguan flight officials can understand it?

 

Thanks,

 

Emma

I've been hearing from my friend, who has a filipina wife, that his immigration attorney has been telling him horror stories where people have been having difficulties getting back into the country. His Attorney advise him not to travel anywhere until his wife receives her 10 year green card. They even had a trip planned to visit the philippines which they had to cancel. From what I've gathered all of the horror stories appear to be hearsay without any hard reports. I haven't seen or heard anything in the news about people in the middle of ROC having trouble re-entering the country. 

 

My advise, have your Expired GC, NOA, and passport all on hand and be prepared to educate some officials just in case.

[YecaCruz 379]

On 5/8/2017 at 10:33 AM, emmaandcarlos said:

Hi all,

 

Thank so so much for the carrier guide, that's a great resource!!

 

My husband is Nicaraguan and we have the soon-to-be expired GC (5/15/17) + NOA 1 year extension letter (3/27/17) combo. We're wanting to go visit Nicaragua in August of this year, but with the Trump administration, people are making us nervous that we'll potentially have a harder time getting back in.  My cousin told me some horror story about a Colombian GC holder being deported at the airport, but I don't know if that's true. 

 

Has anyone had any experience with this? My feeling is that maybe we might have to educate some folks as we go, and it might be more of a pain in the butt, but we'll get through sooner or later.  

 

Any other thoughts? Should we translate the extension letter so the Nicaraguan flight officials can understand it?

 

Thanks,

 

Emma

If you decide to translate it, make sure it get notarized by a Nica lawyer while you are down there because most official offices won't recognize foreign documents without being notarized. I think you'll be fine without the translation, personally, because many workers at the airport have at least a rudimentary understanding of English. Do whatever you feel you need to ensure a problem-free return at the end of the day.

Buena suerte!

 

[sweet01 39]

On 4/26/2017 at 0:54 PM, Derwood said:

There have been quite a few posts recently regarding traveling on an expired GC with the one year extension letter.

 

Page 38 of this document provides some reassurance:

 

https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Carrier Information Guide- English.pdf

 

It also makes clear that the 12 month extension is from the card expiry date, not the receipt date of the I-797.

Thanks Derwood this is super helpful! 

[cordoba2015 224]

Is there some kind of a list of success stories of people traveling on the extension letter? If not, maybe we could put one together?

[bellylaugh 14]

4 hours ago, cordoba2015 said:

Is there some kind of a list of success stories of people traveling on the extension letter? If not, maybe we could put one together?

It would be a long list! It's really a normal, acceptable, legal way to travel. I know many of us approach it with apprehension but the "worst" scenario I have seen is that someone gets taken to secondary for a few extra questions.

[cordoba2015 224]

4 hours ago, bellylaugh said:

It would be a long list! It's really a normal, acceptable, legal way to travel. I know many of us approach it with apprehension but the "worst" scenario I have seen is that someone gets taken to secondary for a few extra questions.

Reassuring to hear that, since we may be traveling with an extension letter here in the not-too-distant future. Thanks!

[Dashinka 24,466]

On 5/10/2017 at 8:18 AM, K & V said:

I've been hearing from my friend, who has a filipina wife, that his immigration attorney has been telling him horror stories where people have been having difficulties getting back into the country. His Attorney advise him not to travel anywhere until his wife receives her 10 year green card. They even had a trip planned to visit the philippines which they had to cancel. From what I've gathered all of the horror stories appear to be hearsay without any hard reports. I haven't seen or heard anything in the news about people in the middle of ROC having trouble re-entering the country. 

 

My advise, have your Expired GC, NOA, and passport all on hand and be prepared to educate some officials just in case.

Absolutely, although anecdotal, most of the stories here are relating little trouble.

[stackeria 280]

Thanks for the link. It's very helpful.

 

In terms of "success story:" We flew from LHR to JFK with a 3 months expired 2y GC and Extension Letter. Virgin Atlantic staff were aware of Extension Letters and we had no problems at LHR. The automated kiosk at JFK failed to scan the GC and we were sent to the long "X" line. The agent processed US passports but sent my AR wife to the office for processing. He was very nice and informed us that she'd have to be processed there on each reentry until she received her 10y card. We were coming off a transatlantic flight with a baby and it was a sucky experience, but it is what it is.

 

I get the impression that JFK CBP officers aren't fans of the automated kiosk system and USCIS delays. They're essentially apologizing to us every time we fly in.

 

We are planning to travel again soon, reentering the US just a few weeks shy of the I-751 NOA 1y anniversary and almost 3 months prior to the Extension Letter expiry date. Hopefully airline staff will be aware that the extension is from the GC expiry date or we may run into some problems.

 

Out of curiosity, are there any known guidelines for CBP in terms of letting ARs with Extension Letters nearing their expiry dates? Do they let someone in with an extension about to expire?

[THG 35]

Thanks for sharing! Very helpful! Finally see what the stamp look like!

[zuluweta 250]

I recently re-entered the US with expired 2-year GC and extension letter. I skipped the kiosks and headed straight for the immigration officer. Only 4 fingers on my right hand were scanned (no thumb) and I had to take my hat off for the photo. That was it. Easy peasy.

 

Even the airline staff at check in seemed to know what an extension letter is so I encountered no problems there either.

[yvy23 11]

Just a caution for anyone who needs to get a connecting flight once back in the US and is traveling on a GC plus extension letter.  We flew into SFO from Heathrow on July 11th, with an onward connection to Seattle.  We had left a full 3 hours between flights.  After checking with the people directing the lines, we skipped the kiosks (we already knew they wouldn't work with an extension letter, but some airports don't like you skipping them) and got in the line to speak with an officer.  The officer spent about 5 minutes looking through the paperwork, clearly knowing exactly what I'd shown him, and then sent me to secondary anyway.  Where I sat for almost 2 hours before being sent on my way with no additional questions asked apart from what date I'd left the US.  Resulting in us missing our connecting flight.  I will give a big thumbs up to United Airlines who were incredibly helpful in getting us onto another flight and even gave us meal vouchers, listing it as a CBP error, even though there was no fault on United's part.  The only explanation I was given was that everyone on an extension letter now goes to secondary because "green cards used to be handed out like candy" (that's news to me - getting mine was certainly a long and involved enough process).  So, while you are most likely going to be allowed to re-enter the country, you may have to expect it to take anything up to 4 or 5 hours...possibly even longer - there were a couple of people in secondary at 3 pm who had been there since morning.  If you need to get a connecting flight, leave way longer than you think you reasonably need between flights.  This appears to be a fairly recent change - I had traveled previously on the same documents with no trouble or delays whatsoever. 

[believe09 14]

I guess it really is hard for when you are flying. We drove to Vancouver, BC from Seattle in May, and I didn't have a problem. Quite frankly, the Canadian Immigration Officer didn't even ask for my NOA, they just looked at my green card. When we drove back to the U.S., though, the immigration officer looked at the NOA for like 1 minute and then we are off. I am probably just going to wait until I get my 10-year green card before I can even travel via plane...