Green card bent and have scratches

[baby_mde]

I have noticed few scratches on lower portion of the magnetic area, which is back side of the green card. Is there any problems, if the green card can not be read when officer scanned it at port of entry?

Please advice.

[cafeconleche]

Nah, don't worry about those. I had many scratches. It'll work, just like your credit card works despite the tonnes of scratches on the magnetic strip.

[Jackolantern]

Don't worry about it. The lettering on the bottom part of the front is also machine-readable, so if the magnetic part on the back doesn't scan they can still scan the front, and once the information comes up on the system they'll see that it matches what's on the card.

However, if the damage is very bad, the immigration officer at the POE might type into the system that you have a damaged card and tell you to get a replacement before you travel again. Which means you'll have a problem if you travel with it again after that. And some employers might not want to accept a damaged card. But if you have a Social Security card without the employment restriction wording on it, you can show the employer the SS card + driver's license or state ID instead of the GC.