return to USA with green card after staying more than 1 year in India

randymogii

New Member
hi

My Mom has valid a green card. She has been outside USA for more than year. Can she come back to USA with her green card? does the air lines object her from boarding the flight in india? please let me know if any one has gone thru this. Thanks in Advance
 
Some airlines (i saw this myself when I had a green card) ask if you’ve been out the US longer than a year. However there is an explicit CBP instruction to airlines that they have to board anyone with an unexpired green card and cannot make their own determination of admissibility for such an LPR. See https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/f.../2021-Dec/Reminder- LPR Boarding 20210305.pdf and note specifically the lines that say

Passengers with a valid, unexpired Permanent Resident Card (PRC or “Green Card”) may be boarded without any additional documentation.

Airlines should not be determining admissibility of a travel outside the parameters of the document requirements.


So if her green card is unexpired the airline actually cannot refuse to board her on an admissibility based and it will be entirely up to the CBP officer at entry to determine admissibility.
 
Some airlines (i saw this myself when I had a green card) ask if you’ve been out the US longer than a year. However there is an explicit CBP instruction to airlines that they have to board anyone with an unexpired green card and cannot make their own determination of admissibility for such an LPR. See https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2021-Dec/Reminder- LPR Boarding 20210305.pdf and note specifically the lines that say

Passengers with a valid, unexpired Permanent Resident Card (PRC or “Green Card”) may be boarded without any additional documentation.

Airlines should not be determining admissibility of a travel outside the parameters of the document requirements.


So if her green card is unexpired the airline actually cannot refuse to board her on an admissibility based and it will be entirely up to the CBP officer at entry to determine admissibility.
But just because airlines are allowed to board them doesn't mean the airline is required to board them. The airline can still decide to refuse boarding anyway. (For example, airlines are also allowed to board green card holders without a passport, as well as board people with expired 10-year green cards, but I don't think many airlines will board people in those two circumstances.)
 
But just because airlines are allowed to board them doesn't mean the airline is required to board them. The airline can still decide to refuse boarding anyway. (For example, airlines are also allowed to board green card holders without a passport, as well as board people with expired 10-year green cards, but I don't think many airlines will board people in those two circumstances.)
I guess you are reading the instruction differently to me. It seems very clear to me that the airline is instructed not to refuse boarding on the basis of its own assessment of admissibility. The instructions about what to do about an expired green card is in that instruction document too by the way, which helpfully also includes CBP numbers to call if there is an issue. If the mother is confident enough that she can convince a CBP officer to let her in when she’s been more than a year out, she should be confident enough to keep going up the chain of command at the airline and if necessary insisting cbp be called. If that were me I would certainly get to the airport early to allow time for this potential situation.

I also fail to see why an airline with a direct route to the US would refuse to board a LPR without a passport (i can understand if there is transit requiring it en route). The airlines job is to see that passengers have appropriate documentation. Such a passenger has appropriate documentation. This is not relevant to OP however.
 
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