Reentry with Green Card

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JenJenWv

Registered Users (C)
My husband and I are planning to visit his family in England this summer. He has had his green card since last summer. Now, he has become concerned that he might have problems reentering the US. Despite all reassurances that he will have no problems, he will not listen to family here because we have not been through the situation ourselves.

If possible, would anyone mind posting some positive experiences they have traveling outside the US and what the reentry process was like?

And, in all fairness, if anyone has had problems, could you reply and let us know what they were?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!
 
JenJenWv said:
My husband and I are planning to visit his family in England this summer. He has had his green card since last summer. Now, he has become concerned that he might have problems reentering the US.
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Perhaps you could be more specific as to why he would think he would have problems reentering, seeing as he has his Green Card. If there are no issues (criminal record, for example), then reentering is simple. My wife and I have done it many times from the UK.
 
wik said:
Perhaps you could be more specific as to why he would think he would have problems reentering, seeing as he has his Green Card.
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He tends to be a worrier and overthink and overplan things. So he's getting really stressed out about this now. Some replies to help him see that it won't be a problem would be helpful, I hope. We've been over the USCIS website and everything else I could find, but he is busy convincing himself he will have problems with reentering after a trip of 12 days.
 
It's easy to get over-worried with anything to do with the USCIS and especially Port of Entry inspections, but if he has a valid passport, a Green Card and no criminal record, there will be no problems at all.

First of all, you are allowed to come back through the US Citizens / Legal Permanent Residents line. The PoE officer will swipe the passport and card, ask how long he's been away (twelve days), and welcome him home!

When my wife and I returned from the UK last September to San Francisco, I didn't even have the card, just the stamp in my passport. My wife received her card the day before we left on our trip, and I received mine while we were overseas. When he asked if I'd received my card yet, I said no and that I was surprised we hadn't received them together. He laughed and said he wasn't suprised at all (a knowing look telling me that he that he didn't think much of the processing end of the USCIS!).

The role of the PoE inspectors is to maintain the borders against undesirable elements or people trying to enter fraudulently. Assuming your husband falls into neither of those categories, you should tell him to enjoy his trip and relax.

I also have numerous European friends that travel frequently to the UK on their green cards, and in ten years I've never heard about any hassles or weird stories at all. And 'secondary inspections' become a thing of the past once you have your Green Card (which makes a nice change from traveling on visas or Advance Parole documents.)

Good luck!
 
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JenJenWv said:
He tends to be a worrier and overthink and overplan things. So he's getting really stressed out about this now. Some replies to help him see that it won't be a problem would be helpful, I hope. We've been over the USCIS website and everything else I could find, but he is busy convincing himself he will have problems with reentering after a trip of 12 days.
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it seems He needs to see a psychiatrist and let him find the meaning about Paranoia in dictionary
 
ginnu said:
it seems He needs to see a psychiatrist and let him find the meaning about Paranoia in dictionary
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Thats a bit harsh. Though a therapy wont be such a bad idea after all.

As long as the GC was earned in a legal manner and that you dont have any criminal records or any incurable contagious diseases or not smuggling anything back into the country, you need not worry about re-entering.
 
ginnu said:
it seems He needs to see a psychiatrist and let him find the meaning about Paranoia in dictionary
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when somebody takes the trouble of posting a question, it is obviously important to them. however funny it may sound to you, they do not deserve facetious responses if you have nothing useful to say.

jenjen,

you will want to reassure your husband that countless people enter on green cards every day without any problems. that's what the GC is for. i had travelled to germany and denmark a few months ago for about a couple of weeks, and reentered with nary a problem: the immigration officers took all of a minute, and waved me through with a cheery "welcome home". and i didn't even have a plastic green card; just a pathetic little piece of paper with an i551 stamp on it. my wife and kids visited our home country ealier this year, and they were gone for almost two months. they had no issues either. in fact, the customs folk gave our kids candy, and helped my wife with her six suitcases by enlisting the help of a skycap for her.

just get in the u.s. citizen line for immigration, declare everything truthfully on the customs form, and you should have no issues at all in either immigration or customs.

hope this helps. good luck!
 
wik said:
I And 'secondary inspections' become a thing of the past once you have your Green Card (which makes a nice change from traveling on visas or Advance Parole documents.)

Good luck!
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I recently arrived back in ATL. Green card stamp in passport and no physical card. Immigration officer sent me to secondary screening and would give no reason why. Secondary screening involved a 30 minute wait and no explanation as to why I was sent there.
 
Expat11 said:
Green card stamp in passport and no physical card. Immigration officer sent me to secondary screening and would give no reason why.
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I'd bet "stamp with no plastic card". Just wanted to verify the stamp - you should expect this on every re-entry before the card, although it won't happen in all cases.
 
Expat11 said:
I recently arrived back in ATL. Green card stamp in passport and no physical card. Immigration officer sent me to secondary screening and would give no reason why. Secondary screening involved a 30 minute wait and no explanation as to why I was sent there.
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I should have been more clear... After getting the PLASTIC Green Card, secondary inspections become a thing of the past.
 
All,

I am planning a trip too, and this information greatly helps.
I have one more question (jenJenWv, I hope you don't mind...:) ) and hope to get an answer: after our GC was approved on 12/04, the H1B application was approved too on 2/15/05 (yes...yes...I know......). Will that cause any problems in the POE? My company's attorney indicated numerous times that he sent them a letter asking them to cancel the application, however nothing happened, until it was approved. What do you think?

best,
 
I recently arrived at JFK with my wife and children. We were away for 4 months. My wife and I have our plastic GC cards. The officer sent us all for "secondary inspection" and after a 45 min wait we got back our passports and GC's. However, there is no entry stamp in any of our passports (mine, wife, or the kids). I'm concerned this may
become issue when applyfor citizenship. What should I do?

A
 
Remember the days you were out, and mention that in your application.
The reason:Even if you do not have your passport stamped, they will have you being checked at the POE on that date. You want to think about why would you be there unless you tried entering the US? because of that reason, I would keep the day, and mention.
 
just returned from UK lastweek.

JenJenWv said:
My husband and I are planning to visit his family in England this summer. He has had his green card since last summer. Now, he has become concerned that he might have problems reentering the US. Despite all reassurances that he will have no problems, he will not listen to family here because we have not been through the situation ourselves.

If possible, would anyone mind posting some positive experiences they have traveling outside the US and what the reentry process was like?

And, in all fairness, if anyone has had problems, could you reply and let us know what they were?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Click to expand...

I just returned from UK last week, no problems at all. Walked through the citizens/perm. residents line. I dont have the plastic card yet, so I had the approval letter stapled to my passport (same page as the red stamp I-551).
 
So far had 3 trips outside the US since getting my PR. You should have zero concerns on trips less than 6 months. More than that and you need to ensure you’re ok as far as re-entry is concerned.

Rgds,
sadiq
 
JenJenWv,
Being a professional worrier myself -- I can relate to your husband. There 3 things I can suggest
1)going to a doctor (it is OK to go the doctor) --
2) maybe a short visit to Canada or Mexico
3) make sure you have the correct docs to Enter UK
 
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Greencard but no stamp in passport

A related silly question. I do not have a stamp approval on my passport because my name check wasnt ready at the time of interview. I have my plastic permanent residency card. The permanent residency supercedes a passport stamp/ approval letter right?

Assuming i never want to visit any country for more than 6 months does a reentry permit help at all?

Thanks.
 
sheerfun said:
The permanent residency supercedes a passport stamp/ approval letter right?
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Yes. The stamp is merely temporary evidence of your Permanent Resident status until the card arrives. The card is what the folks at the border want to use, not the stamp, since they can swipe it and get your info.

Assuming i never want to visit any country for more than 6 months does a reentry permit help at all?
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It is of no value for less than six month absences from the US.
 
Other people's positive experience could hlep .. or not.

If your husband is so afraid of something could happen on his reentry to U.S , that must be a strong reason to support this fear. But if he just feel that unfortunately stuff will be laid on him without any obvious reason or evidence, in this case, I support ginnu's point of view and your husband may need professional psychiatrist's help to get over his problem. I believe that the GC process have put great pressure on all of us , so that's nothing special if you need someone professional to guide you out of it . Actually, I consider it as a positive and healthy way to solve the situation. :)
 
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The man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.

Instead of trying to convince him that he is wrong, just support his idea. I would insist cancelling the trip based on his assessment, then he would have to try to convince me to go. :)
 
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