Do I need to keep my plastic GC with me?
- Thread starter creack
- Start date
You don't need the GC for "daily life", just a copy will do. You must however have access to the actual card and must be able to produce it at a short notice. If you travel to border areas you might want to carry the actual card with you to avoid any inconvenience.
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Triple Citizen
Registered Users (C)
Jackolantern
Registered Users (C)
Remember that since INS loves you - then you can return a favor and just have the GC with you. And you will get rewarded with a smile from an inspector at the airport. It is such a lovely organization. So you would not want to do it if anything for the lovely organization that helps monitor you until you get your citizenship?
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I am not a lawyer and this is not a legal advice.
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I am not a lawyer and this is not a legal advice.
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
I don't carry it with me, because it's too valuable. Check out Jackolantern's link.
Does the law state that you carry it? Yes, but I am not sure who and how someone would enforce that. If you get in trouble and they ask for it, then you can always produce it within an hour or two.
Should you carry it? Well that depends on you. Many on this board have carried it for years. I have spent enough time in this country where I don't look and sound like an illegal, and i highly doubt ICE is tracking me so I don't carry it with me. I think the chances of losing it are increased if you carry it on you. No one has ever asked me my immigration status in this country (except when applying for a job), and I doubt they will start now and ask me to produce proof. Unless traveling out of the country, I do not carry it (not even for domestic trips, and I travel frequently)
Should you carry it? Well that depends on you. Many on this board have carried it for years. I have spent enough time in this country where I don't look and sound like an illegal, and i highly doubt ICE is tracking me so I don't carry it with me. I think the chances of losing it are increased if you carry it on you. No one has ever asked me my immigration status in this country (except when applying for a job), and I doubt they will start now and ask me to produce proof. Unless traveling out of the country, I do not carry it (not even for domestic trips, and I travel frequently)
TheRealCanadian
Volunteer Moderator
The law is no different than the one that requires you to carry your Driver's License when you operate your car.
Do you carry your DL when you drive? Why? It's also an important document that you do not want to lose.
It all boils down to your level of comfort with risks. Do you want to strictly follow the letter of the law? Do you want to be prepared fo the unlikely event of being stopped by immigration officials? Are you willing to fork out a few hundred dollars and time spent in chasing paperwork for a replacement card if you lose your original card?
What if you lose your GC AND driver license, how will you prove your legal status to the DMV? (You can't get/renew/replace a license without proving legal status in most states)
Ask yourself these questions and then decide one way or another.
What if you lose your GC AND driver license, how will you prove your legal status to the DMV? (You can't get/renew/replace a license without proving legal status in most states)
Ask yourself these questions and then decide one way or another.
Yes, and I'll tell you why and explain the difference between the two. A DL is a license to drive, so when I drive I carry it with me. It is also a recognized valid ID, so I carry it in case I get asked to show it (for a cc transaction, to sign in somewhere, etc).
How often am I asked for my GC? NEVER, unless I enter the US. Domestically it just has no use unless something specific to immigration happens, and for that I usually have enough time to get it out and copy it or whatever...
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
And replacing a DL is MUCH cheaper than replacing a GC. It also takes a lot less time.
TheRealCanadian
Volunteer Moderator
A GC is a license to be in the US, so when I am in the US I carry it with me. What's the difference?
Interestingly enough, I have been asked by an official to show my GC more times than I have been asked to show my DL. Go figure.
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
You've been asked to show your GC at a time when you normally wouldn't? That's interesting. Where was it?
VidhiVidhan
Registered Users (C)
Well, I was in bathroom one time and my wife knocked and asked where my green card was. Apparently some friends who had come over for dinner wanted to see what it looked like.
TheRealCanadian
Volunteer Moderator
What's more interesting is that I never said such a thing.
I've been asked to show my GC by an official more times than I have been asked to show my DL. I have never been asked to show either at a time I normally wouldn't.
Interesting...what kind of "official" is asking you for you GC (besides an immigration official)?
TheRealCanadian
Volunteer Moderator
Just an immigration official, and someone at the DMV and the SSA.
Jackolantern
Registered Users (C)
Three important differences:A GC is a license to be in the US, so when I am in the US I carry it with me. What's the difference?
1. Everybody who drives is supposed to carry a license, whereas some 90% of the population (citizens) aren't required to carry any immigration documents. That makes it useless for detecting illegal immigrants on an ad-hoc basis, because if a person is randomly stopped the lack of a green card in the person's immediate possession doesn't give a clue as to whether they are illegal or not ... because 90% of the people you stop aren't going to have documents and aren't required to have them. So you're ultimately going to have to revert to other means like guessing based on how they look and speak, or taking their word for it, or looking up their information on a computer based on some other ID they might have on them.
If the driver's license rule had a similar condition where only a small subset of drivers have to carry a license (for example, only people who were born outside a given state have to carry a license when driving within the state) the requirement to carry the license on one's person would be just as useless for detecting unauthorized drivers. On the other hand, the requirement to carry immigration documents actually is useful in places where everybody is required to show them, like when arriving from overseas travel or applying for a Social Security card.
2. Driver's licenses are much quicker and cheaper to replace than green cards.
3. The requirement to carry around the green card is much more onerous and causes a much greater risk of loss or theft than carrying a driver's license, because the obligation to carry a license only applies to when one is actually driving; not when you're walking down the street or riding a train or being a passenger in a car or swimming at the beach. Whereas the green card rule applies to everywhere you go in the US and everything you do.
TheRealCanadian
Volunteer Moderator
While that's true, it's a non sequitur. It doesn't make the requirement any more or less valid.
Another non sequitur. It may provide justification for not obeying the law, but does not speak to the validity of the requirement.
Again a non sequitur - but I'd venture that 99% of the people walking down the street or riding in the train who have a DL carry it, whether they need it or not. Do you take your DL out of your wallet each time you go out, even if you're not driving??
It just boils down to the fact that people don't WANT to follow the law, yet they demand that USCIS do so.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^What he said^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^