Interesting, important questions for Green Card holders

Greengo

Registered Users (C)
Friends,

When the Green Card that you got after a family-based immigration is about to expire because the 10 years are over soon, what do you have to do? Everybody loves his Green Card and everybody has to be able to show his Green Card at all times.

1.)
Do you have to send your Green Card to INS via postal mail and take the risk that it could be lost on the way to INS?

Or does INS automatically send you a new Green Card valid for 10 more years to the address that INS has from your AR-11 form?

Or how does the whole procedure works? What do you have to do, where do you have to go, what do you have to fill out, when do you have to do what?


2.)
If your Green Card expires in a few months and you still want to make a trip to Canada, do you get problems to return to USA? I am asking because I know that you get problems when you visit a country with a passport whose expiration date is less than 6 months.


3.)
When INS gives you a new Green Card because your old one expired after 10 years, does INS ask you questions, like for example, how often you have visited which countries for how long, why you have changed your address in the US several times and many other uncomfortable questions? What happens if you can't remember everything of the past 10 years? Do you have to keep all your tax files of the past 10 years or just of the past 3 years? Does anyone have experience with renewing the GC?


4.)
Does your renewed GC have a new number than your old GC? Do expired passports have another number than new passports?


5.)
If you stayed abroad for a few months and you want to make sure that you enter USA without getting problems at the PoE (bad health condition, weak heart): How can you check in advance that your Green Card is not abandoned? The US government had announced a few years ago that INS computers automatically check when a GC holder left USA. It can be possible that the officer at the PoE swipes your GC and sees in his computer that your Green Card is abandoned. Is there a website where you type your GC number and you can see the status?


6.)
When at the PoE your GC is swiped, what does the officer see? Validity and status or also whether you got your GC because you have married an American or because of family-based immigration?



I have checked this forum extensively and I found no similar questions. Hope some of you guys can answer the questions because I am sure they might be interesting for all of us here in this forum. Thank you!
 
Greengo said:
Friends,

When the Green Card that you got after a family-based immigration is about to expire because the 10 years are over soon, what do you have to do? Everybody loves his Green Card and everybody has to be able to show his Green Card at all times.

1.)
Do you have to send your Green Card to INS via postal mail and take the risk that it could be lost on the way to INS?

Or does INS automatically send you a new Green Card valid for 10 more years to the address that INS has from your AR-11 form?

Or how does the whole procedure works? What do you have to do, where do you have to go, what do you have to fill out, when do you have to do what?


2.)
If your Green Card expires in a few months and you still want to make a trip to Canada, do you get problems to return to USA? I am asking because I know that you get problems when you visit a country with a passport whose expiration date is less than 6 months.


3.)
When INS gives you a new Green Card because your old one expired after 10 years, does INS ask you questions, like for example, how often you have visited which countries for how long, why you have changed your address in the US several times and many other uncomfortable questions? What happens if you can't remember everything of the past 10 years? Do you have to keep all your tax files of the past 10 years or just of the past 3 years? Does anyone have experience with renewing the GC?


4.)
Does your renewed GC have a new number than your old GC? Do expired passports have another number than new passports?


5.)
If you stayed abroad for a few months and you want to make sure that you enter USA without getting problems at the PoE (bad health condition, weak heart): How can you check in advance that your Green Card is not abandoned? The US government had announced a few years ago that INS computers automatically check when a GC holder left USA. It can be possible that the officer at the PoE swipes your GC and sees in his computer that your Green Card is abandoned. Is there a website where you type your GC number and you can see the status?


6.)
When at the PoE your GC is swiped, what does the officer see? Validity and status or also whether you got your GC because you have married an American or because of family-based immigration?



I have checked this forum extensively and I found no similar questions. Hope some of you guys can answer the questions because I am sure they might be interesting for all of us here in this forum. Thank you!
 
Greengo said:
...
When the Green Card that you got after a family-based immigration is about to expire because the 10 years are over soon, what do you have to do?
...
here's the $64 question: if you/whoever have/has been a permanent resident for over five years (which evidently seems to be the case), why not apply for full citizenship, and obviate all GC-related issues?
 
It could possibly result in the individual having to give up their original citizenship. Not and issue for me as my country allows dual citizenship, but some countries like India used to have this problem ( I believe parliament has authorized NRIs to hand onto their passport even after naturalizing). Any other reasons?

Rgds,
sadiq
 
to answer your other questions

I do believe that the number that is on your card is the same and does not change.

If you plan to stay abroad for a few months just make sure it is not over 6 months.

now from what I have read on this forum when the card gets swiped most of the time they don't even look at the screen, so the jury is still out on that one. Then they ask you a few questions about where you live and work and how long you were out of the country and you're on your way.
 
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