Re-entry on Expired GC, while I751 is processing with lost receipt of renewal

V

VEverest

New Member
Hi! My husband and I had to travel outside of the US on an emergency trip to the UK (his home country) and although his I-751 has been processing since January, we never got a receipt from the USCIS, only a receipt of Biometrics, which has gone missing. Our flights are tomorrow morning. I am a US citizen.

In his passport, his H1-B visa is still valid, can we enter on that or simply give them the written slip with his SRC Number on it? Otherwise, would he be able to enter on a traveller's visa?

This is really urgent as we have flights out tomorrow! Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
If you have an SRC? number, can you not find the case info online, and print out the status...? Just an idea. Otherwise, if the H1B is valid and he's still working at the same company, then I would imagine he could still travel on the H1B. I was in the same situation H1B (I'm also from the UK) and went from H1B > GC. Not sure if having the GC invalidates the H1B though...
 
Once you become a Permanent Resident you can not use a visa to enter the USA. (Unless it is an SB-1).

What in the world makes you think that would be OK? You can not go back to visas.
 
PraetorianXI: At this point we are desperate. The USCIS told us we could travel on the expired Green Card with the SRC number written down and the Consulate here are saying no way. I didn't know you couldn't go back to visas. We filed in January and never got the receipt of filing the I751, but it says processing on the internet. From what an immigration attorney told me back in the states, they've done this to several people. I'm not an immigration attorney, hence the post on the boards seeking help. I thought that maybe, once he's in the country, it wouldn't matter. I'm not stupid, but I'm surely not a pro at these things. Our lawyer that "helped" us get the green card in the first place has been dis-barred. She ruined alot of people's applications and as it turns out, knew nothing of immigration matters. So filing the I751 was something I did personally. That's the first time I've done any of this on my own.

As for printing that status page out, it doesn't have his name or anything on it. There is no way to prove it's his. The US consulate wouldn't let me come with him and they are saying it could take a week to get another in-date stamp in his Green Card (not to mention wanting $131 dollars). He's taken my passport, our baby's, our marriage license and our booking information showing we were just here for a short period of time.... we'd not have even thought about traveling if his father wasn't dying.

Our flights are at noon, British time, it's 730 now. We cant really afford to stay here, but, we may have to. To make matters more complicated, he's meant to be starting working in Mozambique in a couple of weeks as a contractor. I don't know if that's going to make matters worse or not, I am filing for his citizenship as soon as we have the money. It went towards coming here.

Does anyone know if he can process his Citizenship while working abroad 6 weeks at a time and being home 4? He will still be paying American taxes and holding down an American household.
 
For the sake of education, what you should have done is: Get an I-551 stamp on your passport before traveling.

What you may be able to do now, is get a Transportation Letter from the US embassy.
 
I did call USCIS and ask them if that was required. They assured me it wasn't. I'm not one to fly off half-cocked. I asked all these questions to USCIS before we travelled. I was told the SRC number would be sufficient.

My husband was told at the embassy today that this is an overwhelming problem. The embassy has had to do several HUNDRED of these exact cases. So, really, I was only doing what USCIS told us to do.

As stated before, I am not an immigration attorney, or an idiot. Nor have I been married 100 times to different foreigners. This is my first husband and first time dealing with matters like this, it's also my first trans-atlantic flight, even though I've been married for 4 years. So I thought by calling the USCIS directly, I'd have gotten correct information. I assume most people would think the information from USCIS would be correct.
 
VEverest said:
I did call USCIS and ask them if that was required. They assured me it wasn't. I'm not one to fly off half-cocked. I asked all these questions to USCIS before we travelled. I was told the SRC number would be sufficient.

My husband was told at the embassy today that this is an overwhelming problem. The embassy has had to do several HUNDRED of these exact cases. So, really, I was only doing what USCIS told us to do.

As stated before, I am not an immigration attorney, or an idiot. Nor have I been married 100 times to different foreigners. This is my first husband and first time dealing with matters like this, it's also my first trans-atlantic flight, even though I've been married for 4 years. So I thought by calling the USCIS directly, I'd have gotten correct information. I assume most people would think the information from USCIS would be correct.
Click to expand...

I understand your frustration and hopefully the embassy will be able to sort this out for you.

Sadly, USCIS is know for their Hell Hotline, where you call and you got 50/50% chances... 50% chance that the answer they give you is wrong and the other 50% is that they can not answer your question (they can only read out a script for you).
 
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