Driving green card experience

H

Huracan

Registered Users (C)
Hello,

This forum is pretty much dead, always the same employment, or leaving for 6 or more or less months type of questions.

Anyway, some new info which could be useful for some people.

I have recently returned from a driving trip to Mexico. I drove quite some distance along the border. There is quite a few border patrol control points along the border.

Before even crossing to Mexico I had to show the GC for me and my family. First time I didn't show the GC right away, so the officer asked me about the country of citizenship for us. I answered the question and mentioned we are permanent residents and showed him the GCs.

Coming back to the US, showed the GCs to the booth officer right away, before he had a chance to ask anything (this seems to take care of the citizenship question right away). No problem to cross the border, just routine questions about where I had been, where I was going, liquor and food.

Once in the US I passed four or five border patrol controls. Same routine, showed the GCs right away and we were let go without hindrance. I even got a nice officer who asked me questions about a trip he was planning to do. At most they asked me if we all were family and where I was going.

Overall a good experience. Definitely more controls than years ago when I drove on the same highways.
 
Interesting. I have a few questions:

1. Where did you cross the border?

2. Were the border patrol stations only on the US side of the border or did the Mexican authorities also operate such stations on their side of the border?

3. How far from the border was the last US station that you crossed on your way back?
 
Good sharings with crossing the Mexican Border.

How about crossing the Canadian Borders? Does anybody have any sharings?

In the case of land crossings, how does INS determine your absence from this country for future citizenship?
 
Answers

I'll try to answer all the questions.

1. Where did you cross the border?

Laredo, TX.

2. Were the border patrol stations only on the US side of the border or did the Mexican authorities also operate such stations on their side of the border?

Yes, the border patrol stations were only on the U.S. side. I also so a couple of Border patrol SUVs driving nearby the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. The Mexican side had a lot of military controls for drugs I believe. (I think I crossed 5 or 6 in a 600 miles distance).



3. How far from the border was the last US station that you crossed on your way back?

The thing is I drived along the border for quite a while, that's why I saw so many stations. The first one was around 10/15 miles outside of Laredo on the highway towards San Antonio. Then I took I believe highway 95 which runs along the border for quite a while. The last station I crossed I think was after El Paso, TX going towards Tucson, AZ. The bottom line is they are located close to the border on highways and interstate highways.


In the case of land crossings, how does INS determine your absence from this country for future citizenship?
Only thing possible is by the picture they take of the car plates, but this doesn't mean anything. Bottom line I think is that it seems they still don't control this. They never run my cards through a computer, and when you leave the country they don't do anything. In my case I didn't even get my passport stamped when coming into Mexico or coming back to the U.S. Anyway, I just went for a couple of weeks which in my case doesn't make any difference for naturalization, so I'll just try to remember the dates for whene it's time to fill out the N-400.


Hope this answers the questions.
 
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