Traveling on Extension Letter?

[Roy&Chanel 109]

On 3/3/2019 at 2:51 PM, theanswerisdance said:

Typically you just keep the letter for your records, but it’s useless for travel on its own once you’ve surrendered the expired GC. Also, as with everything else, USCIS is incredibly inconsistent from office to office and even from officer to officer within the same office as to whether they’ll keep take your GC from you when you get the stamp. Some do, some don’t, assume that they will but they might not. Regardless, once you have the stamp you don’t need to carry anything else but your passport with the stamp to enter back into the country.

mine expires in Sept too, I'm planning a trip around that time..I guess I will have to wait for alittle longer for infopass stamp appointment.

[tomatoboy 33]

Out of curiosity, has anybody visited Canada in the past year or so on an extension letter. My wife is currently pending RoC and would be traveling with her extension letter. She had no issues visiting Canada via NY last fall on her green card (since US LPRs are allowed visa free entry in Canada), but I’m wondering how folks have fared using their extension letters with an expired green card of late. We were thinking of visiting Banff and Jasper National Parks while we are in Montana, but that means making the crossing into Canada at a smaller land border crossing that might not be as familiar with extension letters, and I’m wondering if anybody has run into any issues using an extension letter in Canada. 

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

I think most CBP officers even at smaller border posts are familiar with the Extension letters. If any one is not, ask to speak with their Supervisor or peer. 

[tomatoboy 33]

4 hours ago, WeGuyGal said:

I think most CBP officers even at smaller border posts are familiar with the Extension letters. If any one is not, ask to speak with their Supervisor or peer. 

Oh, no I meant their Canadian counterparts. I have no concerns about returning to the US on the extension letter, it is about using the extension letter to verify LPR status to allow for visa-free tourist entry in Canada once a green card expires. 

[Manchester 2]

Hey guys,

 

I’m not sure if this is the right topic but I need some advice. I have a pending i751 case and my extension letter has expired. I responded to an RFE but I have not received a response in 6 months now. My ID is about to expire as well and according to our local office they don’t accept walk in appointments nor do they schedule one. How do I justify myself at this point or renew government issued documents? 

 

Thank you guys and wish me luck lol.

[Ali7 7]

40 minutes ago, Manchester said:

Hey guys,

 

I’m not sure if this is the right topic but I need some advice. I have a pending i751 case and my extension letter has expired. I responded to an RFE but I have not received a response in 6 months now. My ID is about to expire as well and according to our local office they don’t accept walk in appointments nor do they schedule one. How do I justify myself at this point or renew government issued documents? 

 

Thank you guys and wish me luck lol.

Hi, schedule an info pass appointment so you can get a stamp in your passport. The stamp is enough proof of your residency.

[Manchester 2]

11 minutes ago, Ali7 said:

Hi, schedule an info pass appointment so you can get a stamp in your passport. The stamp is enough proof of your residency.

 

 

“This office is not accepting walk-in requests or scheduling InfoPass appointments.

There are still ways to get basic information about immigration services and ask questions about your case online without an office visit or a phone call. If you have a question about a pending application”

[Ali7 7]

12 minutes ago, Manchester said:

 

 

“This office is not accepting walk-in requests or scheduling InfoPass appointments.

There are still ways to get basic information about immigration services and ask questions about your case online without an office visit or a phone call. If you have a question about a pending application”

I know, it's extremely difficult to get an appointment online. I'd try to call them tomorrow or asap, explain them the situation and try to get an info pass though the phone. Otherwise, try to log into the website in the middle of the night, I don't remember exactly the day, or the trick since I don't have a stamp because my extension letter hasn't expired yet. However, I'm leaving you a link with a post where they talk about it. I hope this helps you

 

Edited March 7, 2019 by Ali7

[Manchester 2]

Thank you so much.  

[Ali7 7]

2 minutes ago, Manchester said:

Thank you so much.  

No problem  

[mskidw 12]

8 hours ago, Manchester said:

 

 

“This office is not accepting walk-in requests or scheduling InfoPass appointments.

There are still ways to get basic information about immigration services and ask questions about your case online without an office visit or a phone call. If you have a question about a pending application”

Your local office could be one of the testing location for eliminating online Infopass system. My Detroit local office is definitely one of them. I can no longer schedule an online Infopass. The only way for me is to call customer service, they will request one, and then you will receive a phone call to schedule the actual appointment with you within 48-72 hours (which I forgot..), then you get an appointment. 

 

I hope this information helps.  

[dvensel1 5]

On 3/3/2019 at 1:42 PM, theanswerisdance said:

The stamp’s only given when your extension letter is nearing expiration, like you said, within 30 days of the expiration date of the letter. If you made an InfoPass appointment to get a stamp with 6 months left on your extension letter (assuming that your letter expires in Feb or March 2020 as you filed in Sept 2018) they wouldn’t give you the stamp, because the expired GC plus extension letter serve the exact same purpose as the stamp does. When your extension letter is nearing expiration, if you haven’t received your new green card by that point, you’d take your expired 2-year GC and your nearly-expired extension letter to your InfoPass appointment and they’d actually keep your expired GC in exchange for giving you the stamp (or they’re supposed to, anyway, though some people have managed to Lee their cards). But you’ll only ever travel on one or the other — expired GC + letter, or else the stamp — but not both.

OMG!  Thank you for this info.  I was perusing this web site for answers and came across yours.  You answered my question.

I have a daughter in Montreal Quebec and who is now a Canadian citizen.  She and her hubby have two kids.  We only live about 65 miles from them and get up there often and have never had a problem using the 2 yr green card and her 189 month extension - until 3 weeks ago.

The agent looked at the extension and asked us to pull off to the side while he checked things out.  Later, he came back and told us of how it works.  Seems my wife's extension only had a little more than 2 months left on it and good only until 5/21/19.  Therefore, he wasn't sure he should let her in.  It explained it this way:

1) Entering Canada on her green card and passport allows you to stay for up to 6 months on "tourist visa" status.  That means that if my wife had indeed stayed for the entire 6 months, she would have aged out on her extension and the agents on the US border would be legally right to disallow her from entering this country.  In other words, without an extension that's good for at least 6 months (or more), they'll let you in, but you may not be able to return to the USA.  Chances are slim they'd actually do this, but the Canadian border guard wanted us to know about it and how it works.  I had never thought about that.  And he was correct.  However, he let us pass and we had a fine time with my kids over dinner.

Returning to the USA I asked our border agents about it and they indicated their counterpart was correct.  However, he said that it's likely that they would let her back in and simply stamp her passport with a tourist visa stamp right then and there.  Keep in mind, this is if we had stayed in Canada the entire 6 months the Canadian stamp was good for.  She would have aged out her extension and been stuck between countries.  The US agent assured us we would have been fine however and would have called their people (supervisors?) first to confirm the proper action.  Thankfully I know most of the agents personally as well as the area supervisor.  It helps but it doesn't mean instant gratification either.  Living less than 10 miles from Canada helps you get to know people.

But again, many thanks for your response on the other question.  You took care of more than one person.  I'll pay it forward.

Thank God for this site!

 

[rooji 25]

Hello,

 

I wanted to know if anyone recently traveled to Pakistan on Qatar airlines recently with expired GC and extension letter? Did they have any trouble especially if their name is common Muslim name? Me and husband are traveling in about 2 months with our new born baby and I need to know if I will run in any problem. We are traveling from DC airport.

 

Thanks

rooj

[saadsabir1230 1]

On 1/15/2018 at 3:16 PM, LTGermany said:

Has anyone traveled recently using expired green card and extension letter on Condor Airlines or Lufthansa (German airlines)? Were they familiar with the documents?

Hey, planning to travel with Lufthansa with Exp GC and Letter , how was your experience with them ? pls thnks.

[Cougarfalcon83 20]

Has anyone travelled to India on the extension letter? Any issues while coming back at India and in the US?