Permanent Resident-green card enough?

[lawyerrose]

Anyone who is a "green card" holder is also required to keep a current passport from the country where he is a citizen. That's the law.

 

All he'll need is the green card and his passport from whatever country he's from. If he has let his passport lapse' date=' his Resident certificate is in jeopardy...he should straighten this out right away.[/quote']

 

No, I don't think that is the "law" as I've known several people who've been resident aliens since childhood and have never gotten a passport.

 

HOWEVER, it IS true that if a resident alien wants to travel abroad - including the Caribbean - they now need to get a passport from their native country to do so. I'm married to a resident alien, so we're kinda "up" on this issue.

[lawyerrose]

My curiosity got the beat of me. Why would a resident alien have a green card and NO passport from their country of citizenship? Even an expired passport from their home country is acceptable with the greencard.

 

Ed

 

Why would a resident alien have a green card and no passport? Easy. The two I'm intimately acquainted with moved here with their families when they were still underage, their parents didn't naturalize them, they never became US citizens for whatever reason and never needed a passport. My one friend was brought here from Germany when he was 9 years old. He doesn't even speak German. Germany was as foreign to him as it is to those of us born here.

[lawyerrose]

Before they changed the law and required us to have passports to go to our neighboring countries and Caribbean, a green card used to be sufficient. When my wife and I went on our honeymoon cruise in 2004 to the Caribbean, she traveled on her green card only. She didn't at that point have a Canadian passport. She's obtained one since then because of the changes in the law. That's probably why the issue is so confusing to everyone now.

[serendipity1499]

From the U.S. Department of State website:

 

http://help.cbp.gov/cgi-bin/customs.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=572&p_created=1048279878&p_sid=wX-*G4Wi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MjExLDIxMSZwX3Byb2RzPTAmcF9jYXRzPTAmcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXBlcm1hbmVudCByZXNpZGVudHM*&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

"Being a Permanent Resident of the United States' date=' you can travel without

restraint outside the U.S. You must present your green card and passport from your country of citizenship for readmission if the trip was less than one year."

 

[b']Please don't give people information unless you KNOW it's correct....especially on important issues. Anyone who can read can go to the State Department website and get this information.[/b]

 

A Residency card merely means you are allowed to live and work in the U.S... It does NOT prove citizenship....which is required to enter the U.S.

 

 

Actually G'ma you are giving out incorrect information yourself & chastising others for doing the same thing..Suggest you take your own advice & don't give out incorrect info on important issues...

 

According to the same WEB site-

http://help.cbp.gov/cgi-bin/customs.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=572&p_created=1048279878&p_sid=wX-*G4Wi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MjExLDIxMSZwX3Byb2RzPTAmcF9jYXRzPTAmcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXBlcm1hbmVudCByZXNpZGVudHM*&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

• *Lawful permanent residents (LPRs), refugees, and asylees (of the United States) will continue to be able to use their Alien Registration Card (Form I-551), issued by DHS, or the Travel Document issued to those with refugee or asylee status to apply for entry to the United States.
  

The OP stated that the person cannot get a passport as they may be a refugee...

 

I also worked & retired from the International Airline Industry after 30 years & still would not presume to know all the rules & give this type of advice..

 

The person who is traveling should consult with the State Dept. themselves in addition to the Consulates of each Country they will be visiting & get the answers in writing!...If it is in writing or on an official e-mail the information will be accepted by the common carrier..ie; Cruise Line, Airline etc...

 

In my opinion, no poster on these boards should be giving an unequivocal answer or half information...You must read all the rules very carefully in order to give the correct answers..

 

When we traveled to Brazil last year, with a visa in an expired passport I knew that it would be OK to travel...However I had the Brazilian Consulate e-mail me with the official OK to attach it to our new passports so HAL agents would not give us grief at check-in....

 

lawerrose..I too have seen people who are resident aliens who have never needed a passport for travel & we accepted them without question...

 

Cheers..Betty