Green Card taken away...

D

Doomkain

New Member
Hi, I used to have a GC when I was young and lived in the US for 5 years.. certain events forced my family to reestablish ourselves in our home country. Some time later I returned on vacations to the US and my GC was taken away by an officer at the airport :eek: (cant recall I was barely 6 or 7) ... now 15 years have passed... I want to return to the US.

Do I have to redo the whole process of applying for a Green Card? or does the fact that I already had one help in any way? I dont want to wait 6 more years till a green card number is available for me.

2nd question:
I have a Social Security Number since I had my GC.. can I use it to be employed in the US? (the card has no indication of a "not valid for work" item)

thanx...
 
Too late, your green card is dead and gone. If you had tried to get it back when you were 17 or 18, you might have been successful by claiming that the decision to leave the US was your parents' and not yours (there is precedent for that). But now that you are 21 or older, you have already spent a few years as an adult living outside the US without attempting to reclaim your green card, so they will conclude that you have been voluntarily living outside the US for the past few years, and you won't get back your green card.

A Social Security number by itself does not grant any legal authorization to live in or work in the US. But if you redo the process to get another green card, or you obtain a temporary visa like H1 or L1 or J1 that allows you to work, you would use the same Social Security number you already have.
 
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Please let me know how everything goes, because I'm very curious about how things go.
I'm in a similar situation.
 
Doomkain said:
Hi, I used to have a GC when I was young and lived in the US for 5 years.. certain events forced my family to reestablish ourselves in our home country. Some time later I returned on vacations to the US and my GC was taken away by an officer at the airport :eek: (cant recall I was barely 6 or 7)
--------------------when you returned on vacations to US you wre 6-7 year old and Traveling alone? did you inform the officer you came to US for vacations? GC is for living or working in US. did not officer gave you any options at that time? what did he asked and what was your reply?

... now 15 years have passed... I want to return to the US.
--------------------- your GC is gone
Do I have to redo the whole process of applying for a Green Card?
---------YES
or does the fact that I already had one help in any way?
I dont want to wait 6 more years till a green card number is available for me.
-----------------It depends on your country of birth. If marry to US citizen then less time for GC. many are waiting for GC more than 8-10 years.

2nd question:
I have a Social Security Number since I had my GC.. can I use it to be employed in the US?
------------------------how you plan to come to US?
(the card has no indication of a "not valid for work" item)

thanx...
Click to expand...

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thanx for your help.
I really cant afford waiting 6 years to get my green card in order to go back to the US... guess I gotta search for some scholarship or something that will allow me to stay over there.

In fact when I was 17 I did indeed go to the US. Embassy to get a GC once again.. but the lady attending us said that there was NO way to get me another card (a whole lot of paper work was necessary for us to even get to talk to her... she even demanded we bring all of the tax payments from my parents when we all lived in the US)

I guess its just tough luck... thanx for your help.. :(
 
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