Visiting White Sands NM: Pack your Passport

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becky

Registered Users (C)
Now I'm a permanent resident, finally, I thought that things would some how end immigration wise, and to a large extent I suppose they have... but I was totally caught off guard the other day.

I'm on a road trip, I don't have the plastic card that you're supposed to carry with you all the time. I do, oddly enough, have my passport with the stamp. Something I wouldn't normally carry with me all the time since I'm not leaving the country, but happen to have because I'm moving across the country so I want to have it with me.

Which is a good thing, because approaching White Sands National Monument (which by the way is spectacular -- lots of large white sand dunes that blow around in the desert there) there's a border patrol inspection. He asks my husband USC and I "Are you both citizens?" I say "no" he asks to see my plastic, I say that i've not received it, he pauses, and i offer him my temporary stamp in the passport. He looks and we're on our way.

So, I would caution all travellers inside the US, that if they're going close to a national border, particularly the one with Mexico, then you might run across a border patrol, and if you do, then apparently you do need to have your passport with the temporary stamp.

becky
 
becky said:
...because approaching White Sands National Monument (which by the way is spectacular -- lots of large white sand dunes that blow around in the desert there) there's a border patrol inspection. He asks my husband USC and I "Are you both citizens?" I say "no" he asks to see my plastic, I say that i've not received it, he pauses, and i offer him my temporary stamp in the passport. He looks and we're on our way.
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Becky, so you haven't received your plastic yet? I've seen the roadblocks/questioning on the freeways in So.CA for years, but NM is news to me.
 
hoping lawyer has

Wik,

I hope my lawyer has, that's where I asked for it to be sent. this is the first time i've had any type of network access, i've got no idea where the plastic is -- exciting eh?

becky
 
I got the same in El Paso Texas. They just wanted the A number and I did not have anything on me. Took them like 2 hours to find the file by phone, did finger print and photo. I was on my way to Carlsbad Caverns which was totally spectacular.
 
stillwaitinganw said:
I got the same in El Paso Texas. They just wanted the A number and I did not have anything on me. Took them like 2 hours to find the file by phone, did finger print and photo. I was on my way to Carlsbad Caverns which was totally spectacular.
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<sigh> One step closer to National Identity Cards and Internal Checkpoints, about which I heard much debate on NPR yesterday. Guess that bit about 'carrying your green card with you' is becoming true.
 
becky said:
exciting eh?
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Everything with the USCIS is exciting -- not! I finally got the 'card ordered' update on 09/07 - which said it had been ordered on 09/02. Not mailed yet. We leave for London on Saturday and I guess only a miracle would put it in my hand before we go. Wife has her card and our twins have US passports, so I might be lucky and avoid secondary inspection. :(
 
hmmm .... becky did your husband have to anything to prove he was a USC ?
I don't think so as it would be even more ridiculous...

which now poses the question .... what prevents anyone from claiming that they are USC ?
I mean with Europeans and Canadians and such, you can't even do basic racial profiling !!??

Either they should do it right or not do it ... this half-assed approach would only lead to complacency !!
 
It is silly to expect people to carry their green cards on person all the time. I would think with all the trouble one has to go through in case of loss of card, you would want to keep it in a bank vault or something.

Even the INS rules specify that you only need to be know where the card is at all times and be able to get it upon demand, it is not essential to carry it with you. But I guess it would make more sense to always carry your A# on a piece of paper if asked, in case of questions.

I wonder what would have happened if you dint have your passport with you? Would you have been allowed to go based upon your drivers licence, I wonder?

On a side note, I did visit Carlsbad Caverns a couple of years ago and it was spectacular. :) New Mexico definitely has some of the best sunsets and sun rises in the world not to mention best scenary, and that time I wasn't stopped by Border Patrol so it was even more pleasurable.
 
The exact verbage on this, per the USCIS website, is:

"The Permanent Resident Card, Form I-551, is issued to all Permanent Residents as evidence of alien registration and their permanent status in the US. The card must be in your possession at all times. While that does not require that you have on your person at all times, it does require that you have a currently valid card and that you know where it is and can show it to an immigration officer, if requested. "
 
I find difficulty in understanding the exact verbage...
......While that does not require that you have on your person at all times...... that you know where it is and can show it to an immigration officer, if requested
Yes I do know that my GC card is safely locked..... in a particular box... at a particular address.., then while I am transit through a airport in Midwest somewhere....., trying to catch a connecting flight..., how can I show it.....???
 
freeviews said:
The exact verbage on this, per the USCIS website, is:

"The Permanent Resident Card, Form I-551, is issued to all Permanent Residents as evidence of alien registration and their permanent status in the US. The card must be in your possession at all times. While that does not require that you have on your person at all times, it does require that you have a currently valid card and that you know where it is and can show it to an immigration officer, if requested. "
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The trouble is that there is conflicting information presented about this. The USCIS web wite instructions (above) contradict what is written on the back of the form that your card gets mailed in: that specifically states that you need to carry the card with you at all times (as opposed to just knowing where it is.)
 
If I may twist the interpretation, 'on your person' might mean that you are carrying it in your wallet or shirt/pant pockets. Anywhere else, like in the bag that you are carrying, may not qualify as being 'on your person'. I know this sounds weird, but am not sure of any other explanation.
 
This is similar to the social security card. Something non-citizens are to carry at all times. Who carries it on person? The problems faced while trying to recover the card if lost are a sufficient deterrent to carrying it on person.

I think the best way to tackle the issue is to carry the A# with you at all times. Only if the officer is completely anal, will you still face problems.

I remember an old post that mentioned one such officer who threatened a gc holder that he would revoke his GC because he did not have it with him in person. So such people do exist. All the more reason to fight for early citizenship. Atleast then these problems will be reduced if not stopped. Nothing we can do about the color of our skin, but we shouldn't have to put up with badly trained, under motivated border patrol officers. Who think they are doing their duty, but are just harassing innocent immigrants.
 
ND022202 said:
yes they can by accent :)
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Actually when you go as south as El Paso, anyone's accent will sound alien to the locals !!!
( Remember the scene in Kill Bill, Vol 1 -- with the cop and Son number one ??? :D )
 
:) A brown skinned friend of mine was travelling through Texas by bus, when an old man sitting next to him asked him if he was from Michigan, this guy apparently thought, people living in Michigan are brown for some reason. :)

The South lives in its own world, where the two main issues in everyone's lives are god and football, not necessarily in that order.
 
max2k1 said:
Actually when you go as south as El Paso, anyone's accent will sound alien to the locals !!!
( Remember the scene in Kill Bill, Vol 1 -- with the cop and Son number one ??? :D )
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LOL
how about racial profiling by hats and boots?
 
mango_pickle said:
How about carrying a photocopy of the card ? Shouldn't that be valid ?
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Unless they want to check it's authenticity in the field by scanning it, or looking for the TINY laser etchings on the back for your photo, signature, the presidents heads, etc. A photocopy could be very easily faked. BTW, isn't photocopying federal documents a felony or something? :rolleyes:
 
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