I can't pay the USCIS green card fee! Need help please ASAP

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

1 minute ago, yomnaaly said:

It's better to do it before entry tho. 

Why?

[yomnaaly 2]

4 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

Why?

USCIS must receive the immigrant fee from you before it will send you your green card. To avoid any delay in receiving your green card, it’s best to pay the fee as soon as you get your immigrant visa packet from the consulate or embassy, before you leave for the United States.

If you wait to pay the fee until you arrive in the U.S., USCIS will send you a notice and request for payment. You won’t get your green card until you pay.

The card is your best proof of U.S. permanent residence, so the sooner you get it, the better. The temporary proof of permanent residence you receive when you first arrive in the U.S. at the airport or border expires after one year

[payxibka 10,045]

5 minutes ago, yomnaaly said:

It's better to do it before entry tho. 

Neither better or worse. simply a personal choice

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

4 minutes ago, yomnaaly said:

USCIS must receive the immigrant fee from you before it will send you your green card. To avoid any delay in receiving your green card, it’s best to pay the fee as soon as you get your immigrant visa packet from the consulate or embassy, before you leave for the United States.

If you wait to pay the fee until you arrive in the U.S., USCIS will send you a notice and request for payment. You won’t get your green card until you pay.

The card is your best proof of U.S. permanent residence, so the sooner you get it, the better. The temporary proof of permanent residence you receive when you first arrive in the U.S. at the airport or border expires after one year

The plastic card will not be produced until the new immigrant has entered the US AND the $220 fee has been paid.  I don't think waiting until entry will cause much of a delay, to be honest.  Paying it prior to entry does take one thing off the "to do" list, I guess.

Edited March 30, 2021 by Lucky Cat

[payxibka 10,045]

3 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

The plastic card will not be produced until the new immigrant has entered the US AND the $220 fee has been paid.  I don't think waiting until entry will cause much of a delay, to be honest.  Paying it prior to entry does take one thing off the "to do" list, I guess.

I didn't know there were better or worse ways to prove your residence,  did you? 

[pushbrk 12,882]

51 minutes ago, payxibka said:

I didn't know there were better or worse ways to prove your residence,  did you? 

It depends on who is asking you to prove it.  I don't carry my passport around with me.  Do you? (That's the royal or generic "you".)  My X and stepdaughter didn't and never even carried their green card unless they were traveling and specifically needed it. I recommend paying the fee before entry IF POSSIBLE, because there are two triggers that must be pulled in order for the green card to be produced.  If it's already paid before entry, then ENTRY is the last trigger.  The system is designed to work most efficiently with the triggers pulled in that order.  

 

Deciding to travel before the fee is paid, simply means the immigrant is likely to have their physical green card produced and mailed later than if paid before entry.  In most cases, that's no big deal.  Not all officials checking ID, know the endorsed visa is a temporary green card.  Having to prove status to anybody but an employer is pretty rare though.

[JFH 12,190]

8 hours ago, Linnn said:

What if you screenshot the error message and habe him print it? That way he can also prove it once he enters, if they even ask for it.

Not even necessary. CBP will neither know nor care whether the fee has been paid. Many people don’t pay it until after they arrive. It’s perfectly acceptable. 

[fem_femme 6]

Thanks gus for all your advices here! So now we know why I was getting the error message. It is because once the visa was generated and handed to my husband, it didn't take me long to try to pay the fee. As I said before, perhaps less than 30 minutes or so, but now, after around 12 hours later I guess or whenever I posted the qustion, while my husband is in the air, I just made another attempt to pay for it and my A# with the ID # were found and I was able to successfully pay and got a confirmation email. So the issue here was that you need to wait a little before trying to pay for it as it seems that once the visa was handed to my husband, the system ahd not yet updatd his info, hence the error message. So all is good now and thanks again for all your help! The email confirmation contained all his tracking status info for us to later track the arrival of his green card. Do you guys know how long it takes to get the G.c. and also his social security now that I posted this last comment as a follow up to my situation earlier today? 2-3 weeks or longer for both? WOuld love to find out just recently how long it took people to get both docs?

[Chancy 6,241]

1 hour ago, fem_femme said:

Do you guys know how long it takes to get the G.c. and also his social security now that I posted this last comment as a follow up to my situation earlier today? 2-3 weeks or longer for both?

 

For those who pay the fee prior to US entry, USCIS says it may take up to 90 days after entry to receive the GC -- https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/expect-green-card

 

Re: SSN -- recent updates from VJ members indicate card received in around 2 to 3 weeks after entry.

 

1 hour ago, fem_femme said:

WOuld love to find out just recently how long it took people to get both docs?

 

Check this thread --

 

 

[Abioye 0]

Hi,

 

if not yet tried, suggest you use Firefox or chrome browsers to make the payment. I paid mine the day I got my passport so don't think that should be an issue.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to General Immigration-Related Discussion.

[April M 28]

On 3/30/2021 at 8:38 AM, fem_femme said:

Hi guys. So my husband just left the US Embassy with a CR-1 visa approved and stamped in his passport! He was already told a week ago to visit the Embassy again today to pick up his passport so he did and a week ago we booked his flight for the day after of his visa pick up to fly to the US (flying tomorrow early morning) and he also did his covid test for the flight and all he needs to do now after leaving the Embassy today is to go back and pack his bags for an early flight tomorrow. He was given instructions where to pay for his green card and it says to pay for it BEFORE he enters the US.

 

Because he just got his visa an hour ago or less, I tried to follow instructions to pay for it myself but it keeps showing 'error' each time and in one instance it says that if you received your US visa, to wait 5 days to try again and if it doesn't work to contact USCIS. Well, now we don't have 5 days to wait as he is flying to the US tomorrow and I can't seem to go beyond the 'error' notice on USCIS fee website. The instructions, as mentioned, says we need to pay before he enters the US and I'm panicking because we thought all we smooth and now I'm not sure what to do. We we cancel his trvael arrangement, it's going to cost us around $500 now to wait several days to try paying for it again. Please advise as I'm really upset now and not sure what to do as we are running out of time rpetty much considering that where my husband is it's mid day and he's supposd to go to the airport early morning tomorrow. There's no way for him to pay for his US visa later on at all? 

Call the USCIS , stay on the phone with them until you find out how to fix it. I had the same problem. 

[Mylilelar 8]

On 3/30/2021 at 7:05 AM, Lemonslice said:

They suggest to pay as early as possible, to make sure the card is received in a timely manner.  However, for one year after entry, the stamped visa is the same as a physical card.  You'll have time to fix it, should you still have problems in a few days.

I paid for my wife's a month before she got here on Feb 10 and it came a month later to USA.

Above poster is correct>>>>>the stamped visa on his passport is all he needs.

[Diane and Chris 651]

If paid either before or after he travels, he will not have the green card in hand when he arrives in the U.S.  His visa is what he needs to enter. The green card will be mailed later. 

[fem_femme 6]

I wanted to update the thread for anyone else who will wonder how long it takes for SS # to arrive upon immigrant's entry it took my spouse a week to get his, so we are waiting for his actual g.c. to arrive now. The last time I checked through USCIS status it just shows that it's paid for but no other update. SS arrives fairly quickly! This is if you pick SS option on your immigrant visa application DS-260.