I-485 approved but urgent travel to India without Physical card

L

loma

Registered Users (C)
Hi I had received welcome notice after I-485 approval, but due to family emergency at home (my father-in-law passed away) had to travel to India without being able to get I-551 stamped in passport.

What are my options to get back in US? I have a valid H1B stamped, have advance parole permit also valid. What should be my approach? I have asked my friend to keep checking my postal mail and courier me the physical green card if I receive it in the mail.

Has anyone had similar problem/experience. Please advise.

Thanks
Amol
 
loma said:
Hi I had received welcome notice after I-485 approval, but due to family emergency at home (my father-in-law passed away) had to travel to India without being able to get I-551 stamped in passport.

What are my options to get back in US? I have a valid H1B stamped, have advance parole permit also valid. What should be my approach? I have asked my friend to keep checking my postal mail and courier me the physical green card if I receive it in the mail.

Has anyone had similar problem/experience. Please advise.

Thanks
Amol
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No need to worry. You can still use valid AP or even H1B.
 
I do not think it is legal to use old H1/AP, they are invalidated since I-485 approval, they already registered PR status.

If you are in India, I would recommend you to go to nearest US consulate/embassy and ask them for transportation letter.
Transportation letter will allow you to come to US.

It may be considered by CBP as immigration fraud if you use invalid documents.

Although it is my oppinion only and you may want to discuss this situation with your lawyer
 
Sorry to know

Friend, do not enter on H1B under any circumstances since your GC is approved. If you use H1B, thats it...gone case.

I believe you can use AP.

My friend's family's GC approved while they were outside USA and they came back on AP. They received the physical cards also on the same day they entered USA.

DO NOT ENTER ON H1B SINCE YOUR GC IS APPROVED.
 
More information

Friend...here is somemore information: http://www.antaoandchuang.com/i-keeping.html

sourced from the above website :

THINGS TO AVOID (which may unintentionally create the appearance of having abandoned the INTENTION of continuing to reside permanently in the United States):
DO NOT return to the U.S. using any form of non-immigrant visa. For example, if you stay outside the U.S. for longer than one year, without having obtained a reentry permit, do NOT return to the U.S. on a tourist visa; instead, apply to the U.S. consulate for a Special Immigrant Visa.
DO NOT arrive via a chartered air carrier where nearly all passengers are nonimmigrant.
DO NOT return to the U.S. with a spouse and or children who are neither citizens nor green card holders, especially if they will be in the U.S. only a short time.
DO NOT arrive at a port of entry functioning as a gateway to a resort area.
DO NOT enter the U.S. on a round-trip ticket which terminates outside the U.S.

****************************************
 
You can use the AP to come back, don't worry about it. I personally know of people who have done it, and some on this forum have mentioned doing the same. It is common for people to be abroad when the GC is approved, or to have to travel shortly after approval but before they get the card, and they use the AP without a problem.
 
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saiprasanth_us1 said:
Friend, do not enter on H1B under any circumstances since your GC is approved. If you use H1B, thats it...gone case.
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AP is preferable, but the H1B can also be used. Otherwise, people with an H1B but no AP would get screwed if their GC was approved while overseas. But no, they are still able to use the H1B to enter.
 
Hi All

Thanks for your replies and support. I actually got my physical cards couriered to India, from my friends who were checking my postal mails, in my absence.

Thanks
Amol
 
Sending Green Cards by mail outside the country is ILLEGAL. You have already committed a felony by getting GC mailed out of country. This can have serious repurcussions. I am surprised you never consulted with an attorney on this issue and are going by your own rules.

Your best bet, as everyone has already mentioned, is to use AP to enter. If you tell CBP that you had your GC couriered, you can be in serious soup. They swipe GC when you leave country and swipe it again when you reenter-and obviously you have no exit record on your GC when you left US. Are you getting the sense of things now?

Use AP. DO NOT USE GC to reenter.
 
Uh oh... if I remember correctly, my GC was sent to me, too. And, I entered the country with it. Will I be in trouble when I apply for citizenship?

Also, sunmicro, you say there won't be an exit record on the GC, but what if the GC isn't shown to the airline desk upon exit? I've never had to show it.
 
Jackolantern said:
First, it was sent by courier, not the mail. Second, where is your source for this information?
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Courier and mailing do the same job-delivering a package, letter etc. from one point to another.
Second, do your own research. I am not your press secretary collecting references for you.
 
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cafeconleche said:
Uh oh... if I remember correctly, my GC was sent to me, too. And, I entered the country with it. Will I be in trouble when I apply for citizenship?

Also, sunmicro, you say there won't be an exit record on the GC, but what if the GC isn't shown to the airline desk upon exit? I've never had to show it.
Click to expand...

That's strange-never heard of that. Like for non-immigrants, they take away I94, US Citizens have their passposrt swiped and same for GC holders when leaving country. Infact, US passport has the similar code pattern as is on GC or a non-immigrant visa. CBP needs to have some kind of exit record. I don't know if you are missing something here. You may have a I-551 stamp in your passport and that's the reason they are not asking for GC to be produced at exit/entry.

In any case, I don't think you'll have any problem with citizenship since you had no problem traveling in/out of country.
 
sunmicro said:
Courier and mailing do the same job-delivering a package, letter etc. from one point to another.
Click to expand...
There is a difference, as there some things that the postal service will not carry although they are fine for other services to carry.
Second, do your own research. I am not your press secretary collecting references for you.
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I have done my research and found nothing about it being illegal to send a green card overseas to the owner of the card.

In fact, the US embassy web site for Tokyo has this statement:

http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivlprfaq.html#nine
I forgot my Green Card in the United States. What should I do?

You should have someone send it from the United States. If this is not possible, you will be required to apply for a transportation letter.
Click to expand...
 
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There is a lot of mis-information here. I have traveled from LAX to London 11 times in the last year and they have never asked for my GC when I leave the US. Only in London when I check in and in LAX when I return. Prior to getting the GC I had AP for 4 years and not once did they ask for that either on leaving the US.
 
Entered US without problem

Hi

FYI, I was able to enter back in US smoothly with my PR card. I asked the officer, that on exit no one asked for my card to be swiped, and she told that she does see the exit date on her system and maybe the I-94 card taken from my passport would have resulted in exit date in the system.

Looks like I am ok, and any problems, if any at all, might be uncovred during citizenship application, if any and I am not sure if I will go for the same anyway.

Thanks
Amol
 
When you leave they do not always swipe your GC, i left right after receiving it to europe for a week, they took my old I-94 and that was it, nothing else, coming back in GC swiped and welcome home by the Border Guard.
 
Looks like sunmicro is suffering from egg on face syndrome...

I am waiting to see what other misinformation and nonsense he will spew on other threads.
 
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