Other Green Card Issue Travel with expired Green Card

[Carl_Tegen]

We have planned a family vacation to the British Virgin Islands. My wifre is Dutch and she realized her Green Card had expired over a year ago. She has lived here for many years, and she simply never checked. We applied on line for a replacement two weeks ago, but it is apparent we will not have a replacement before we travel in 2 weeks. She may not even have her "biometrics appointment". We have spent alot of money on this trip, and we will lose much of this if we try to reschedule. Will she be allowed to reenter the US with her expired card? She has the receipt from the INS that was mailed to us indicating they have started the process on the renewal. We visited the the INS in Newark today to see if we could get the expired card "extended". They said no. The imigration officer we talked to suggested the expired card and the receipt might be sufficient to gain reentry, but then she said "that is the risk you take", indicating she was unsure. Does anyone here have a view?

Carl

 

[Michael Wechsler]

We have planned a family vacation to the British Virgin Islands. My wifre is Dutch and she realized her Green Card had expired over a year ago. She has lived here for many years, and she simply never checked. We applied on line for a replacement two weeks ago, but it is apparent we will not have a replacement before we travel in 2 weeks. She may not even have her "biometrics appointment". We have spent alot of money on this trip, and we will lose much of this if we try to reschedule. Will she be allowed to reenter the US with her expired card? She has the receipt from the INS that was mailed to us indicating they have started the process on the renewal. We visited the the INS in Newark today to see if we could get the expired card "extended". They said no. The imigration officer we talked to suggested the expired card and the receipt might be sufficient to gain reentry, but then she said "that is the risk you take", indicating she was unsure. Does anyone here have a view?

I don't know. I also don't think that any attorney would guarantee that you won't have a problem upon re-entry. The only entity that could say "for sure" would be the INS themselves as they have the power to make decisions regarding this issue. If an actual INS officer who deals with these issues says it's a "maybe" then that is probably what it is. While I'm sorry about the trip issue, for something as important as a green card it should NOT be forgotten for over a year. It's a tough lesson to learn but sometimes there isn't a simple solution. Perhaps staying in the Virgin Islands a little longer until the renewal becomes final might be an answer? Good luck to you both.