A Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) of the United States is required to present a valid Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card (Green Card), if seeking readmission to the U.S. after a temporary absence of less than one year.
If you are not in possession of your Permanent Resident Card, you may apply for a Transportation Boarding foil in order to facilitate boarding by the airline to transport you back to the U.S. A “Boarding Foil” is valid for a maximum of 30 days and for a single entry. To issue a “Boarding Foil”, an interview with a consular officer is required to confirm that you hold a Lawful Permanent Resident status in the United States.
You may apply for a Transportation Boarding foil if you are an LPR and:
- You are returning from temporary international travel of less than one year and your Permanent Resident Card (also known as a Green Card or Form I-551) has been lost, stolen or destroyed.
- You are returning from temporary international travel of less than two years and your reentry permit (Form I-327) has been lost, stolen or destroyed.
(The length of your absence from the United States will be measured from the time you departed the U.S. to the time you pay the fee for filing Form I-131A).
If you are an LPR with an expired Green Card, you may not need to file a Form I-131A.
Although regulations generally require an LPR to travel with a valid Green Card, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) policy permits a transportation carrier bound for the United States to board an LPR without carrier documentation if you:
- Are an LPR who has an expired Green Card that was issued with a 10-year expiration date, or,
- Are an LPR with an expired Green Card with a two-year expiration date AND you also have a Form I-797, Notice of Action, for Form I-751 or Form I-829 to remove the conditions on your permanent resident status. The Notice of Action extends the validity of the Green Card for a specified length of time, generally one year.
U.S. Embassy link: https://uk.usembassy.gov/lost-or-stolen-green-cards/
If you have any questions about how the immigration and nationality laws in the United States may impact you or your family, or if you want to access additional information about United States or Canadian immigration and nationality laws, please feel free to get in touch with the immigration and nationality lawyers at the Nachman Phulwani Zimovcak (NPZ) Law Group. You can send us an email to us at info@visaserve.com, or you can call us at 201-670-0006 extension 104. In addition, we invite you to find more information on our website at www.visaserve.com