Traveling with the I-797 lettter

[Javi76 7]

If anyone is worried about traveling with the letter extending your greencard.

 

Some words of encouragement. The only time we needed to pull the letter out was arriving here back in Dallas. 

 

We flew from Dallas to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Budapest, then drove to Oradea, the border of Romania and Hungary. No one needed it.

 

Coming Back, not needed at Hungary Border. Not needed to board plane to Frankfurt from Budapest. They finally asked to see it leaving Frankfurt to Dallas. At Dallas after de-boarding an into immigration and Frankfurt was where they asked. They saw the letter and treated is as her greencard basically. Stamp in the passport, Admitance to USA approved. 

 

Hope this helps.

[NYCruiser 423]

3 hours ago, Javi76 said:

If anyone is worried about traveling with the letter extending your greencard.

 

Some words of encouragement. The only time we needed to pull the letter out was arriving here back in Dallas. 

 

We flew from Dallas to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Budapest, then drove to Oradea, the border of Romania and Hungary. No one needed it.

 

Coming Back, not needed at Hungary Border. Not needed to board plane to Frankfurt from Budapest. They finally asked to see it leaving Frankfurt to Dallas. At Dallas after de-boarding an into immigration and Frankfurt was where they asked. They saw the letter and treated is as her greencard basically. Stamp in the passport, Admitance to USA approved. 

 

Hope this helps.

Makes sense. It is really for the last port before you fly to the USA. They do ask it though. When we went from Kenya via Amsterdam, in Kenya they wanted to see it at Kenya Airways, then KLM would not let him board until he got rechecked by agents at Schipol. before we entered the plane. 

[Dashinka 24,831]

9 hours ago, Javi76 said:

If anyone is worried about traveling with the letter extending your greencard.

 

Some words of encouragement. The only time we needed to pull the letter out was arriving here back in Dallas. 

 

We flew from Dallas to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Budapest, then drove to Oradea, the border of Romania and Hungary. No one needed it.

 

Coming Back, not needed at Hungary Border. Not needed to board plane to Frankfurt from Budapest. They finally asked to see it leaving Frankfurt to Dallas. At Dallas after de-boarding an into immigration and Frankfurt was where they asked. They saw the letter and treated is as her greencard basically. Stamp in the passport, Admitance to USA approved. 

 

Hope this helps.

I wouldn't think the letter would be needed when traveling across international borders other than the US.  I believe most folks (my wife included) only had to show it when checking into her flight to the US and at the CBP upon entry to the US.

[Javi76 7]

8 hours ago, NYCruiser said:

Makes sense. It is really for the last port before you fly to the USA. They do ask it though. When we went from Kenya via Amsterdam, in Kenya they wanted to see it at Kenya Airways, then KLM would not let him board until he got rechecked by agents at Schipol. before we entered the plane. 

 

1 hour ago, Bill & Katya said:

I wouldn't think the letter would be needed when traveling across international borders other than the US.  I believe most folks (my wife included) only had to show it when checking into her flight to the US and at the CBP upon entry to the US.

both very good points. Essentially, the only one who is going to need to interpret the letter is the USCIS immigration officer at the port of entry. I hear alot of people worried that foreign immigration officers will see the expired greencard and halt all travel. Not so. As most foreign officers could care less about your US status. They care if your passport is valid. 

[Dashinka 24,831]

22 minutes ago, Javi76 said:

 

both very good points. Essentially, the only one who is going to need to interpret the letter is the USCIS immigration officer at the port of entry. I hear alot of people worried that foreign immigration officers will see the expired greencard and halt all travel. Not so. As most foreign officers could care less about your US status. They care if your passport is valid. 

And the airlines carrying someone to the US.  Airlines face big fines if they bring someone to the US that does not have a means to cross the border legally.

[hmz 6]

Good to know. We will be flying from Frankfurt as well.

 

Quick question. Can you check in online with an expired green card?

[mindthegap 2,607]

43 minutes ago, hmz said:

 

 

Quick question. Can you check in online with an expired green card?

Yes. 

Put the expiry date as the date when your extension letter/stamp expires.