Advice please: renewal of Green Card during N—400 naturalization application

[rwsh]

I got my Green Card in 1983. In those days, they were issued with no expiration date (now issued with ten year limits). I submitted my N-400 citizenship application in August 2006. Currently in name/background check.

When I returned from a brief overseas visit a couple of days ago, the immigration/passport officer at Newark told me that I should get a new Green Card as those with no expiration date are no longer valid.

Please advise:

1. Is this true? Am I required to replace my current Green Card?
2. Should I do it, given that my N-400 citizenship application is pending (tho’ no knowing when interview/oath will be scheduled)?
3. If I do renew it, any idea how long it will take to get the new GC?

Many thanks for any advice offered.

 

[Huracan]

I got my Green Card in 1983. In those days, they were issued with no expiration date (now issued with ten year limits). I submitted my N-400 citizenship application in August 2006. Currently in name/background check.

When I returned from a brief overseas visit a couple of days ago, the immigration/passport officer at Newark told me that I should get a new Green Card as those with no expiration date are no longer valid.

Please advise:

1. Is this true? Am I required to replace my current Green Card?
2. Should I do it, given that my N-400 citizenship application is pending (tho’ no knowing when interview/oath will be scheduled)?
3. If I do renew it, any idea how long it will take to get the new GC?

Many thanks for any advice offered.

1. Yes, it's true as far as I know. Please read 2 for the answer to the second question in number 1.
2. Probably not, as you are already applying for citizenship. There are rules by which you don't need to renew your card if it expires during naturalization. However, as you were supposed to have changed the card long time back I am not that sure. You might be alright as long as you don't want to travel out of the country before your naturalization is completed, and you could save some money.
3. I don't know, a few months.

My 2 cents.

 

[happigal]

Most likely you won't need to renew your green card since you've already started the naturalization process.

I did renew my green card but that's because it was expiring and I started the naturalization process with less than 6 months on my green card (with regards to its expiring).

I got my new green card within a month (ie. the whole process...from filing online to fingerprinting to receiving the card) so it didn't take very long at all. It is quite quick because it doesn't go through name check....just fingerprinting and IBIS (ie. border check system).

It really is up to you whether you want to renew your green card...but in my opinion, most likely, you won't need to at this point.

 

[Flydog]

Yes, they changed the rules back in the mid nineties, and everyone who had a no-limit green card at the time had to renew (I remember this because in the spring of 1996 (when I got my GC) the Immigration offices were flooded because of this).

The rule on "my green card is expiring and I'm in the N-400 process" is described in the guide (I think, maybe it's in the instructions, but I think it's in the Guide's FAQ).

It basically says "If you apply for an N-400 more than 6 months before your green card expires you do not need to get a new one" (I know this well, having applied about 7.5 months before my GC expired and having spent much more than that in N-400 processing).

So, yes, as I understand it, you should get a new green card. Had the Imm. officer not told you, you could honestly say "Oh, I didn't know", but, unfortunately you can't say that any more (whether that would work...).

We weren't sure what to do with our minor daughter. She didn't fill out an N-400 (being a minor), so we didn't know if she had to apply for a new GC. To be safe, we did. We applied on-line. The whole process took about a month and a half (including rescheduling the fingerprints). Oddly, her rescheduled FP appointment ended up exactly 24 hours from my wife's oath ceremony (when my daughter became a USC).

At the FP appointment, they affixed a sticker to the back of her GC extending it's expiration. At one point, my daughter had two valid GCs and a US Passport - go figure.