Can I apply for the citizenship without the physical green card?

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calibuon

Registered Users (C)
I made an infopass appointment to see an immigration officer in Los Angeles. He told me that I can apply for the citizenship without replacing green card. He also gave me his name for reference. My green card was stolen after I came back traveling from Asia. And it will be expired in January 2013.

My questions are can I file without having the physical green card? I know my Alien Number though. I read on the USCIS's website and it says if the green card is lost or stolen, fill out the I-90 form, and attach the receipt with the N-400 form. Let's say my new green card will arrive in November or December, do I have to renew it before applying for citizenship?
Please help me out because your inputs are very important. Thanks in advance!
 
If you apply for citizenship with 6 months (or more) remaining on your GC, you don't have to apply for renewal. You will be entitled to free I-551 stamping if your citizenship case is still pending when your GC is expired or close to expiring.

However you have a somewhat different problem in that yours is lost, and you're supposed to present the GC (even if expired) at each stage of the naturalization process (fingerprinting, interview, and oath). Do you have a copy of the GC?
 
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calibuon said:
I made an infopass appointment to see an immigration officer in Los Angeles. He told me that I can apply for the citizenship without replacing green card. He also gave me his name for reference. My green card was stolen after I came back traveling from Asia. And it will be expired in January 2013.

My questions are can I file without having the physical green card? I know my Alien Number though. I read on the USCIS's website and it says if the green card is lost or stolen, fill out the I-90 form, and attach the receipt with the N-400 form. Let's say my new green card will arrive in November or December, do I have to renew it before applying for citizenship?
Please help me out because your inputs are very important. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

At the time you actually mail in the N-400 application, you do not need a physical green card, as you are only asked to enclose a photocopy of your GC to the N-400. Hopefully, you have a photocopy of you GC made before you lost the card itself.

I don 't know how the exceptions are supposed to be handled, but both the naturalization interview appointment letter and, later, the naturalization oath appointment letter, explicitly tell the applicant to bring his/her green card.
If I were you, I'd file an I-90 now, if only for the peace of mind. This way by the time of the interview you'll either have a new LPR card itself or at least an I-90 receipt notice.
 
Being this close to naturalisation, can't the OP file a police report and present that along with a copy of the GC instead? It's crazy that they'd make him/her apply for such an expensive replacement only for it to be redundant soon after.
 
I have the same problem. I lost my green card and now qualify to apply for a citizenship. Did you take care of this problem? Did they ask for the physical card in order to get a citizenship? I do have a copy of my green card, front and back. I know my A numbers and everything else. I just don't have the physical card.

Please help and let me know what happened with you. Hoping that they wouldn't let me apply for a new green card just so that they can get rid of it when I get a citizenship... I mean, it's $450 just to get a new one!

Thank you,
Sook
calibuon said:
I made an infopass appointment to see an immigration officer in Los Angeles. He told me that I can apply for the citizenship without replacing green card. He also gave me his name for reference. My green card was stolen after I came back traveling from Asia. And it will be expired in January 2013.

My questions are can I file without having the physical green card? I know my Alien Number though. I read on the USCIS's website and it says if the green card is lost or stolen, fill out the I-90 form, and attach the receipt with the N-400 form. Let's say my new green card will arrive in November or December, do I have to renew it before applying for citizenship?
Please help me out because your inputs are very important. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
 
calibuon said:
I made an infopass appointment to see an immigration officer in Los Angeles. He told me that I can apply for the citizenship without replacing green card. He also gave me his name for reference. My green card was stolen after I came back traveling from Asia. And it will be expired in January 2013.

My questions are can I file without having the physical green card? I know my Alien Number though. I read on the USCIS's website and it says if the green card is lost or stolen, fill out the I-90 form, and attach the receipt with the N-400 form. Let's say my new green card will arrive in November or December, do I have to renew it before applying for citizenship?
Please help me out because your inputs are very important. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Hi.. I have the same issue as yours, my green card was stolen in Asia, and I am eligible now to apply for citizenship and it just don't make sense wasting money to replace the GC. What did you do? Please I need your advice and help. Thanks!
 
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