HELP! Permanent Resident Card

nutshell

Oh, Disney!
Joined
Dec 3, 2007
We have a three night cruise on the dream scheduled for July 27. My wife applied to renew her permanent resident card last year because it had expired. We completed our part of the process in January and thought all is well. We’ve now been told it could take several more months for USCIS to process her new card! That means she won’t have it before we cruise!

Does anyone know if she can cruise with the expired card and proof she’s applied for the renewal? Any other tips? I’m freaking out right now.
 
We have a three night cruise on the dream scheduled for July 27. My wife applied to renew her permanent resident card last year because it had expired. We completed our part of the process in January and thought all is well. We’ve now been told it could take several more months for USCIS to process her new card! That means she won’t have it before we cruise!

Does anyone know if she can cruise with the expired card and proof she’s applied for the renewal? Any other tips? I’m freaking out right now.
That's really a question to direct to DCL. How it was handled for someone (if such a situation has come up) in the past is really no indicator as to how it's handled now. Or, even, how it will be handled on the day of your cruise.
 
That's really a question to direct to DCL. How it was handled for someone (if such a situation has come up) in the past is really no indicator as to how it's handled now. Or, even, how it will be handled on the day of your cruise.
I’m already on hold with DCL, and will be visiting USCIS later today, but I’d still like to hear others’ experiences, tips or suggestions.
 
If it were me, I would not be leaving the country (and going on a ship, even a closed loop is leaving the country) without a valid permanent resident card. What will happen, as you disembark, if the US customs agent denies her entry back into the country?
 


I have a green card and a UK passport. I don't think she will be able to get back into the US without a valid card - regardless of whether it is being renewed or not. I'm curious as to what the answer is - hopefully USCIS will pull out a miracle and process it faster for you. The process times really are crazy-long. Fingers crossed it will all work out for you/her. pixiedust: Getting answers from the USCIS is not easy.
 
If it were me, I would not be leaving the country (and going on a ship, even a closed loop is leaving the country) without a valid permanent resident card. What will happen, as you disembark, if the US customs agent denies her entry back into the country?
I’ll kiss her goodbye and go home. Lol
 
I have a green card and a UK passport. I don't think she will be able to get back into the US without a valid card - regardless of whether it is being renewed or not. I'm curious as to what the answer is - hopefully USCIS will pull out a miracle and process it faster for you. The process times really are crazy-long. Fingers crossed it will all work out for you/her. pixiedust: Getting answers from the USCIS is not easy.
Just finished up at USCIS. We walked in at our local office. They told us to make an appointment and come back, but said the process is easy. They’ll just give us a Form-551 stamp for her passport. The stamp indicates she is a lawful permanent resident waiting for a card. Pretty ridiculous that we have to make an appointment and go back. We had all the paperwork ready and the needed stamp was literally six inches away from the agent’s hand. Oh well. That’s your tax dollars at work.

I also called DCL and they said she could just travel with her Japanese passport. That didn’t sound right to me.
 


Just finished up at USCIS. We walked in at our local office. They told us to make an appointment and come back, but said the process is easy. They’ll just give us a Form-551 stamp for her passport. The stamp indicates she is a lawful permanent resident waiting for a card. Pretty ridiculous that we have to make an appointment and go back. We had all the paperwork ready and the needed stamp was literally six inches away from the agent’s hand. Oh well. That’s your tax dollars at work.

I also called DCL and they said she could just travel with her Japanese passport. That didn’t sound right to me.

She could totally LEAVE the US with a valid Japanese passport - the question is would they let her back in. And DCL doesn’t get to decide that.

We had to stay in Canada while we were waiting for our PR cards to arrive (US citizens, Canadian PRs). Apparently if we had left, Canada may not have let us back in. I imagine the rules are the same for the US - except that we only had to sit tight for 40 days...

Glad they had a workaround for her. Here as well we could have applied for an emergency rush type of situation. Thankfully the cards arrived in plenty of time.
 
Just finished up at USCIS. We walked in at our local office. They told us to make an appointment and come back, but said the process is easy. They’ll just give us a Form-551 stamp for her passport. The stamp indicates she is a lawful permanent resident waiting for a card. Pretty ridiculous that we have to make an appointment and go back. We had all the paperwork ready and the needed stamp was literally six inches away from the agent’s hand. Oh well. That’s your tax dollars at work.

I also called DCL and they said she could just travel with her Japanese passport. That didn’t sound right to me.

Thanks for letting us know and glad that there is a somewhat easy work around, although two trips to the USCIS is enough for anyone! I wouldn't want to risk travelling on just a passport in case there was an issue with it - sounds like you've got it all sorted out. :thumbsup2
 
I also called DCL and they said she could just travel with her Japanese passport. That didn’t sound right to me.

OMG! Given the circumstances, I cannot believe how incorrect that information is! How stupid of DCL to even say that. Sure she could have left the country but almost surely would not have been allowed back in.

DCL should have told you to call the "appropriate agency"! Never trust a cruise line, airline, etc. with important visa, resident, etc. questions. They obviously cannot know every situation for every nationality.
 
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Wow, I can't believe DCL told you that! My coworker's fiance was in the same situation and was told not to leave the US until she had a new card because she would not be allowed back in. Glad they found a workaround for you.
 
OMG! Given the circumstances, I cannot believe how incorrect that information is! How stupid of DCL to even say that. Sure she could have left the country but almost surely would not have been allowed back in.

DCL should have told you to call the "appropriate agency"! Never trust a cruise line, airline, etc. with important visa, resident, etc. questions. They obviously cannot know every situation for every nationality.

Wow, I can't believe DCL told you that!

Sadly, the person answering the phone often does not have the correct answer. And that's not just a DCL failing. It happens on most cruise lines. Most of the time they will answer what they think you want to hear, or what they think the correct answer is. For really important questions (like necessary ID) going to the actual source works much better.
 
DCL's answer to the question Does anyone know if she can cruise with the expired card and proof she’s applied for the renewal? was correct, she will be allowed to board and therefore she can cruise. The other question is whether or not she would be allowed back into the US, that is not a cruise question. Glad OP went to the source and found a work around.
 
DCL's answer to the question Does anyone know if she can cruise with the expired card and proof she’s applied for the renewal? was correct, she will be allowed to board and therefore she can cruise. The other question is whether or not she would be allowed back into the US, that is not a cruise question. Glad OP went to the source and found a work around.

Right. This is something I’m a bit fuzzy on. Do they let you board the ship even if you don’t have documentation allowing you to re-enter the US?
 
Right. This is something I’m a bit fuzzy on. Do they let you board the ship even if you don’t have documentation allowing you to re-enter the US?

I doubt it.

BUT the Japanese passport would allow her reentry if she had dual citizenship and chose to travel on that passport OR was not a "permanent" resident and was simply from Japan. Since she seems to just be going the resident route, her country of citizenship would show in DCL's system as Japan, and therefore they likely would allow her to sail on the passport as a "regular" Japanese citizen would be allowed no issues. The complication comes because of the resident status thing. Which I don't know that DCL would know. So yes, I think it is very likely that she would have been allowed to board.
 
Just finished up at USCIS. We walked in at our local office. They told us to make an appointment and come back, but said the process is easy. They’ll just give us a Form-551 stamp for her passport. The stamp indicates she is a lawful permanent resident waiting for a card. Pretty ridiculous that we have to make an appointment and go back. We had all the paperwork ready and the needed stamp was literally six inches away from the agent’s hand. Oh well. That’s your tax dollars at work.

I also called DCL and they said she could just travel with her Japanese passport. That didn’t sound right to me.
Could be true but then she would need to enter as a tourist with an esta but that messes with her status/ application or get denied. Advance parole is what they gave you guys.
 
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I had an issue with this just this past month. But first, let me tell you when we cruised in 2016, I still had my temporary permanent resident card that is for a two-year period (I'm Canadian, married an American in 2014), and I was only ever asked to show my current Canadian passport for boarding, as well as for disembarking at the US port. My issue was that the conditional green card expired last May, and I was sent a letter for a one-year extension because they are so far behind in issuing the replacements. I had to use this to travel to Canada last year because at the Canadian border they don't want to see my passport, they want to see my green card for the US. Now it has been a year, and I was not sent another extension, so I was getting worried if I had to unexpectedly travel to my family in Canada. When I called USCIS, I was then told about this magical stamp you needed in your passport or you couldn't work or travel. Glad my husband pointed out it was coming up soon, as I was just expecting to get another extension in the mail. So they never would have told me, it was up to me to find out what to do. I tried every morning for a few days to get an appointment at our local office which is an hour away, and I finally got one and had to go that same day. Took me an hour to get there, half hour in line, half hour to wait after checking in, and then all of 30 seconds for him to stamp my passport. But I'm free to travel and work now, and hopefully they will get my new card to me before I have to do it again next year (yes, he said I have to do the same thing next year if I don't receive my card - they are currently working on April 2016, and mine is May 2017!) Glad to hear your wife got her stamp. My husband's greatest fear is losing me at a border somewhere! ;)
 
I had an issue with this just this past month. But first, let me tell you when we cruised in 2016, I still had my temporary permanent resident card that is for a two-year period (I'm Canadian, married an American in 2014), and I was only ever asked to show my current Canadian passport for boarding, as well as for disembarking at the US port. My issue was that the conditional green card expired last May, and I was sent a letter for a one-year extension because they are so far behind in issuing the replacements. I had to use this to travel to Canada last year because at the Canadian border they don't want to see my passport, they want to see my green card for the US. Now it has been a year, and I was not sent another extension, so I was getting worried if I had to unexpectedly travel to my family in Canada. When I called USCIS, I was then told about this magical stamp you needed in your passport or you couldn't work or travel. Glad my husband pointed out it was coming up soon, as I was just expecting to get another extension in the mail. So they never would have told me, it was up to me to find out what to do. I tried every morning for a few days to get an appointment at our local office which is an hour away, and I finally got one and had to go that same day. Took me an hour to get there, half hour in line, half hour to wait after checking in, and then all of 30 seconds for him to stamp my passport. But I'm free to travel and work now, and hopefully they will get my new card to me before I have to do it again next year (yes, he said I have to do the same thing next year if I don't receive my card - they are currently working on April 2016, and mine is May 2017!) Glad to hear your wife got her stamp. My husband's greatest fear is losing me at a border somewhere! ;)
Thanks for the post! My wife doesn’t quite have her stamp yet. She was able to get an appointment for 5/16 and should get it then. They wouldn’t stamp her because she was a walk-in even though we had her passport and papers, and the stamp was literally six inches away!
 

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