"don't travel until you get the plastic" - did anyone else hear that?

[Pork Chop]

friend of ours just had her GC approved. went to have her passport stamped in las vegas, nevada, was told thereafter: "don't travel outside the u.s. until you get your plastic card!"

she called to ask us if we had been similarly admonished when we went in for our i551 stamps. i assured her that not only we weren't, but also that was the first i had ever heard of such a stricture. moreover, i had travelled to europe and back with nary a secondary inspection.

any of you hear anything along those lines? any experiences to share?

 

[Jagabalia]

nope

Did your friend ask for the reason?

 

[Pork Chop]

Did your friend ask for the reason?

evidently not. she was all too eager to get the heck out of there as soon as done, i'd imagine.

 

[gvaknin]

This is news for me. members of this forum indicated more than once that they were advised they could travel without a problem as their passport (with the stamp in it) are checked at the POE.

best,

 

[Sahin]

Hmm

Stamp says clearly "admission allowed" and "employment authorized".
Therefore, there is no legal complication flying on I-551 stamp. Having said that immigration officer could give you hard time or deny your entry in many ways but shouldn't on the basis of I-551 stamp. This is just should and would, but what mmigration officer will do on the ground could be a different story.

 

[npnjan02]

This could mean a lot of things - there were discussion regarding visas needed in countries unless you got the actual plastic card... so it's hard to say without a context what this meant.
Now, we've heard a lot of rumors/speculations around here, there are the 3 I remember:
- If you're about to get approved, do not travel since you might get stuck outside.
- If you were approved, don't change jobs since it might compromise your citizenship.
- Don't change your address cause you file is no longer under "backlog" which will delay it.

You can feel free to add any additional. You you may want to believe them or not.

 

[rajudm]

does it mean...be a prisioner???

What is the big deal if they approve...while you are away on Advance Parole. You cannot be watching their website every minute without leading your own life. Does this mean you are a prisioner in this country until plastic GC is received?

Good to know the hypocrisy of American Freedom in that case....

 

[gvaknin]

a prisoner? no, not necessarily. It is my understanding that you can travel.
Pork Chop, I would contact my attorney and pose this question to him / her.
Sahin, it sounds absurd that a visa stamped by USCIS will be denied by another USCIS officer. If one did not break the law, poses a threat to US society, or anything in that nature, I am not sure why would the officer at POE deny entrance and cancel the visa. It would be interesting to know if that has happened in the past and why,

best,

 

[misc_chic]

This could mean a lot of things - there were discussion regarding visas needed in countries unless you got the actual plastic card... so it's hard to say without a context what this meant.
Now, we've heard a lot of rumors/speculations around here, there are the 3 I remember:
- If you're about to get approved, do not travel since you might get stuck outside.
- If you were approved, don't change jobs since it might compromise your citizenship.
- Don't change your address cause you file is no longer under "backlog" which will delay it.

You can feel free to add any additional. You you may want to believe them or not.

You can add one more --

Dont scratch your A** a lot, otherwise those guys may think that you are scratching their face ...

 

[visak]

One of my friend's wife travelled to India after 551 stamp and at POE, she had to go for secondary inspection and officer asked why did she left the country immediately after getting 551 stamp without waiting for plastic card and other questions (spell your parent names, show secondary ID such as drivers license etc) delaying her admission by 30 min. This was few months ago.

 

[Happyvoda]

One of my friend's wife travelled to India after 551 stamp and at POE, she had to go for secondary inspection and officer asked why did she left the country immediately after getting 551 stamp without waiting for plastic card and other questions (spell your parent names, show secondary ID such as drivers license etc) delaying her admission by 30 min. This was few months ago.

Why they couldn't issue plastic card faster? Instead of 6-12 months, can't they give us the card in several weeks? Looks like AP sometimes is better than the stamp.

 

[orca]

we just came back from australia and new zealand with just the stupid stamping on our passports and at LAX they treated us like we were already citizens. "welcome back" in a jovial tone and the other (un)usual stuffs.

boy, times are a changin'!