How do you protect your plastic GC?

H

Hannah7

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

I found the rear side of my GC very sensitive. As you know, it contains big metal stripe which surely contains a lot of important information.

I wear my GC in my wallet when I drive out of my town. Questions ...

How sensitive is the plastic GC? Can it be "destroyed" by casual/occasional usage?

Mine has some fingerprints on the rear side as people touched the card. I also had the card once next to my cell phone (magnetic field?)

Can any of these things invalidate/destroy/damage green card? What if it falls down?
 
well my advice is not to carry your greencard with you just make a copy and put the original green card in safe place. thats what i did until i got my citizenship i placed it in safety deposit box.
 
It's just a card! So what if it's damaged? You can always get a replacement. When I get mine I'll treat it like any other plastic I carry around.
 
Hannah7 said:
Can any of these things invalidate/destroy/damage green card? What if it falls down?
Click to expand...

USCIS/CBP officials always have the option to check the status through A#. So don't worry if strip has scratches on it. A# is the key to validate the card.
 
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If you have to carry it around, best is to leave it in the sleeve provided with your GC and keep it in your wallet.
 
fromnaija said:
It's just a card! So what if it's damaged? You can always get a replacement. When I get mine I'll treat it like any other plastic I carry around.
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The replacement costs hundreds of dollars and takes 3-6 months to arrive. It's not like a credit card that can be replaced for free in a week, or a driver's license that can be replaced for $25 in a month.
 
Carry it in the same small white envelope it came with. Or use those plastic photo protectors people have in their wallets.
 
I always carried my GC for years in that white envelope in my wallet, along with my credit cards and all the other crap I stuff in my wallet. Never had reading/scanning issues at POE. Even if a part of the hologram or the magnetic strip becomes hard to scan for the machine readers, it does not invalidate the card, there is enough redundant info on it, e.g. the A#.
Ever had a credit card's magnetic strip not read? Eventually the number gets typed in manually; same with a GC.

I understand that after years of waiting, holding the GC in your own hand is a precious moment (been there :)), but realize the card itself is just a portable token of your status. Scratching it or even loosing it does not impact your status but is of course inconvenient and expensive if it truly needs to be replaced.
 
If you lose or seriously damage your GC, can you just file some form and let it replace? Is there such possibility? Or you have to wait those 10 years at least?

If it's possible, are you getting new alien number or exactly the same card?
 
procesor said:
If you lose or seriously damage your GC, can you just file some form and let it replace? Is there such possibility? Or you have to wait those 10 years at least?
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You can get it replaced, but it costs hundreds of dollars and you have to do the fingerprinting again, and it takes 2-6 months for the replacement to arrive. It will have the same A# that was on the original card.

Make sure you keep a copy of the card somewhere, because you need the copy to apply for the replacement. And avoid carrying your passport, driver's license/state ID, and green card card all at the same time (except when you really have to, like at the airport), because you need an ID to apply for the replacement so you'll have big problems if all three get lost or stolen.
 
Jackolantern said:
You can get it replaced, but it costs hundreds of dollars and you have to do the fingerprinting again, and it takes 2-6 months for the replacement to arrive. It will have the same A# that was on the original card.

Make sure you keep a copy of the card somewhere, because you need the copy to apply for the replacement. And avoid carrying your passport, driver's license/state ID, and green card card all at the same time (except when you really have to, like at the airport), because you need an ID to apply for the replacement so you'll have big problems if all three get lost or stolen.
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Well my green card is really worn out. So I was asking what would be the backup plan in case that officers couldn't read the card because of damage of the back metal strip.

Good thing it can be replaced :) Is there somebody whose GC had to be replaced for the "wear and tear" problem?
 
procesor said:
Well my green card is really worn out. So I was asking what would be the backup plan in case that officers couldn't read the card because of damage of the back metal strip.
Click to expand...

If the front of the card is fully readable by eye, they'll use that information to look up your details in the system, and possibly refer to your passport and ask more questions and look up more information to confirm your identity and the validity of the card. They'll let you in, but it might cost you some time waiting in secondary inspection while they do all of that.
 
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