In Mexico, Forgot Green Card

[JD2 71]

Hello, my LPR spouse forgot her Green Card in the USA and we are in Cancun, Mexico for the weekend.  What are our options?  If we have to do the I-131A and get a boarding foil, can we do that at the Consular Agency in Cancun?  How long does it take to get an appointment?

[Family 3,988]

24 minutes ago, JD2 said:

Hello, my LPR spouse forgot her Green Card in the USA and we are in Cancun, Mexico for the weekend.  What are our options?  If we have to do the I-131A and get a boarding foil, can we do that at the Consular Agency in Cancun?  How long does it take to get an appointment?

Have someone fed ex / dhl it to you from home. 

Edited October 11 by Family

[JD2 71]

2 hours ago, Family said:

Have someone fed ex / dhl it to you from home. 

It wouldn't arrive until Wednesday at the earliest.

[Family 3,988]

1 hour ago, JD2 said:

It wouldn't arrive until Wednesday at the earliest.

Not sure the boarding foil process will be that fast..since AFTER an embassy interview ( I have no clue how long that would take to get ) they still need two days to print it, according to link .

Showing up at a land POE and asking CBP directly would still involve cost of airline ticket changes ..and you need to research if CBP adds a fee as well.

 

Personally, I would extend the vacation till the card arrives and chalk it up to universe telling you to have more fun. ..

 

https://mx.usembassy.gov/lpr-cards-greencards-lost-stolen-expired/

 

 

[appleblossom 2,330]

11 hours ago, JD2 said:

Hello, my LPR spouse forgot her Green Card in the USA and we are in Cancun, Mexico for the weekend.  What are our options?  If we have to do the I-131A and get a boarding foil, can we do that at the Consular Agency in Cancun?  How long does it take to get an appointment?

 

You'd have to go to Mexico City. By the time you've got an appointment and then got the boarding foil back, I agree with @Family, couriering the GC is likely to be a much quicker option. 

[Bethie 101]

Fed-X it.  Much less hassle then dealing with US Embassy.

 

In meanwhile, see if someone can email you copy of front and back. Couldnt hurt, especially if you do go to embassy

[JD2 71]

I would UPS or FedEx it but the fastest it could arrive is Wednesday and we have urgent business back home.  I contacted the Embassy.  They told me the following.  Anyone have experience with option 1 or 2?

 

If you are an LPR who has been outside of the United States for fewer than 365 days, below are three options for returning to the United States:

 

1. Apply for admission directly with Customs and Border Protection at a land port of entry.  More information is available about land ports of entry at http://www.cbp.gov/contact/ports

 

2. Ask your airline to call the Regional Carrier Liaison Group in Miami and seek permission to board without an entry document.  The airline retains ultimate authority to board or deny boarding. This is a service provided by the airline to the passenger.  The U.S. Embassy is not involved in the process.  More information is available at http://www.cbp.gov/travel/travel-industry-personnel/carrier-liaison-prog

 

3. Apply for a boarding foil (one-time entry) with the U.S. Embassy.

Edited October 11 by JD2

[Cathi 5,742]

54 minutes ago, JD2 said:

I would UPS or FedEx it but the fastest it could arrive is Wednesday and we have urgent business back home.  I contacted the Embassy.  They told me the following.  Anyone have experience with option 1 or 2?

 

If you are an LPR who has been outside of the United States for fewer than 365 days, below are three options for returning to the United States:

 

1. Apply for admission directly with Customs and Border Protection at a land port of entry.  More information is available about land ports of entry at http://www.cbp.gov/contact/ports

 

2. Ask your airline to call the Regional Carrier Liaison Group in Miami and seek permission to board without an entry document.  The airline retains ultimate authority to board or deny boarding. This is a service provided by the airline to the passenger.  The U.S. Embassy is not involved in the process.  More information is available at http://www.cbp.gov/travel/travel-industry-personnel/carrier-liaison-prog

 

3. Apply for a boarding foil (one-time entry) with the U.S. Embassy.

Other than Fedex or UPS, there is no other way to get it to her. You have no other option other than going to the embassy, which will take even longer. Not sure what else you want us to tell you...

[JD2 71]

2 hours ago, Cathi said:

Other than Fedex or UPS, there is no other way to get it to her. You have no other option other than going to the embassy, which will take even longer. Not sure what else you want us to tell you...

I asked does anyone have experience with option 1 or 2:

 

 

1. Apply for admission directly with Customs and Border Protection at a land port of entry.  More information is available about land ports of entry at http://www.cbp.gov/contact/ports

 

2. Ask your airline to call the Regional Carrier Liaison Group in Miami and seek permission to board without an entry document.  The airline retains ultimate authority to board or deny boarding. This is a service provided by the airline to the passenger.  The U.S. Embassy is not involved in the process.  More information is available at http://www.cbp.gov/travel/travel-industry-personnel/carrier-liaison-prog

Edited October 12 by JD2

[top_secret 2,377]

12 hours ago, JD2 said:

I asked does anyone have experience with option 1 or 2:

 

 

1. Apply for admission directly with Customs and Border Protection at a land port of entry.  More information is available about land ports of entry at http://www.cbp.gov/contact/ports

 

2. Ask your airline to call the Regional Carrier Liaison Group in Miami and seek permission to board without an entry document.  The airline retains ultimate authority to board or deny boarding. This is a service provided by the airline to the passenger.  The U.S. Embassy is not involved in the process.  More information is available at http://www.cbp.gov/travel/travel-industry-personnel/carrier-liaison-prog

 

1: I once wandered into Mexico accidently leaving my wallet in my car parked on the US side and leaving me with absolutely ZERO ID of any type.  CBP took it extremely well.  The first officer basically played me a game of 40 trivia questions about my life and let me in without even sending me to secondary.  YMMV.  We have a Mexican-American guy here at work who is of the hard headed personality type who likes picking fights with authorities for his amusement.  It's like a game for him.  He is a US Citizen but goes down to Tijuana all the time intentionally with nothing more than a "federal limits apply" CA driver's licence just to see if they will challenge him coming back so he can argue with him.  They usually dont.  I feel fairly confident that if someone belongs in the US, CBP at the land border will vet their story to a reasonable extent and based on experience and judgement let them in fairly drama free once they feel confident they actually belong.  It happens all the time.

 

2:  The airline totally could do that if you can get them to.  It's totally up to the airline if they will even try and up to the carrier liaison if they would approve it. All you can do is ask.

[JD2 71]

16 hours ago, Cathi said:

Not sure what else you want us to tell you...

What top_secret said was really helpful.  If anyone has experience with Option 1, that'd be wonderful too ... Because I also heard from a friend of a friend who works at CBP that they have ways to verify someone without their actual green card (and even a USC without a passport), which he thinks is why they recommend land borders since it bypasses Airlines.  Since Airlines have financial liability, they don't like boarding someone without documents.  I think the Airline will be tougher than CBP but we are going to try to depart as scheduled.

[JD2 71]

On 10/11/2024 at 7:30 PM, Cathi said:

You have no other option other than going to the embassy

We went to our flight as scheduled and successfully did Option #2.  It is doable.  I carried a print out of the email from the Consulate and the Carrier Guide that had the Regional Carrier Liaison Group phone number in it.  Also, I highly recommend LPRs get Global Entry and upload/scan your documents into your airline accounts using the mobile app so that you can do mobile check-in.  I believe both of those things were helpful because we had mobile boarding passes that said "travel ready" and "TSA Pre" before arriving at the airport.  Also, I was able to get an appointment for Tuesday at the Consulate in Merida.  Technically, that was the next business day.  They said if approved, it would take 2-3 days to get the passport with the boarding foil back.  Thankfully, we don't need to do that now.

Edited October 14 by JD2

[Family 3,988]

1 hour ago, JD2 said:

We went to our flight as scheduled and successfully did Option #2.  It is doable.  I carried a print out of the email from the Consulate and the Carrier Guide that had the Regional Carrier Liaison Group phone number in it.  Also, I highly recommend LPRs get Global Entry and upload/scan your documents into your airline accounts using the mobile app so that you can do mobile check-in.  I believe both of those things were helpful because we had mobile boarding passes that said "travel ready" and "TSA Pre" before arriving at the airport.  Also, I was able to get an appointment for Tuesday at the Consulate in Merida.  Technically, that was the next business day.  They said if approved, it would take 2-3 days to get the passport with the boarding foil back.  Thankfully, we don't need to do that now.

Excellent update…kudos for perseverance!