Expired Green Card + NOA Experience while returning to US from India

[vikrampb]

Hi,

I am a Green Card holder (obtained through marriage to a US citizen) whose conditional Green Card expired on 09/01/2012. I applied for removal of conditions on 05/31/2012, had my biometrics done in July 2012, and received my NOA stating that I was authorized to work and travel and that my conditional residency has been extended for a period of one year. I am traveling to Mumbai with my wife on the 28th of November, 2012 and will be returning to US (Seattle) on 28th of December, 2012. My immigration lawyer has assured me that my unexpired Indian passport + my expired Green Card + the original I-751 stating that I am authorized to travel should be sufficient for traveling to Mumbai and returning back to Seattle.

I wanted to know if anyone in the recent past has been to India under similar conditions and return to the US and what their experience was. Specifically, did you face any problem with immigration officials in India on your return trip, and did you face any troubles with airlines officials in India or on your stopover city not recognizing the NOA ? If so, what was done to overcome these problems? I will be flying Emirates Airlines from Seattle to Dubai to Mumbai and back the same route. I've heard about people getting an Infopass stamp in their passport, but there have been conflicting reports about this being recognized at some immigration points, and not being accepted at others, so I have decided against getting one. Would any of you have a recommendation on this based on your experience?

Any help or information in this regards will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Vikram.

[vikrampb]

Update -- Expired Green Card + NOA Experience while returning to US from India

Hey All,

Just got back to Seattle and thought I should post an update so that it may help anyone who is in a similar situation. I will limit this update to Emirates Airlines and Mumbai Customs and Immigration since that is what I went through.

1. Emirates Counter Mumbai:
Emirates airline officials in Mumbai are very familiar with the NOA document. During check-in, I gave the guy at the check-in counter my expired green card, and the NOA letter from USCIS. He saw the date of expiry on the green card, then looked at the NOA document and asked me if I was on a green card extension. I said yes, and the only trouble he had was locating the extended expiry date. I pointed out the receipt notice date and also the sentence on the NOA document that said my conditional green card was extended for a period of one year. Just to be sure, he asked his supervisor to re-verify, and the supervisor very confidently told him to go ahead and issue the boarding pass. He read through the entire NOA document, but it seemed more of a formality. He had obviously seen this (expired green card + NOA document) before. He did take a photocopy of my green card and the NOA letter for his records, so I would suggest you keep a photocopy of these two as well on your return trip so that you save some time at the ticket counter. I had arrived at the counter 4 hours in advance thinking I may have to do some explanation in order to get my tickets but it turned out to be a non-issue. My personal suggestion would be to arrive as early as possible in order to give yourself enough time should any problems arise.

2: Mumbai Immigration
The immigration officer at Mumbai did not ask me a single question. He merely looked at my expired green card, matched the Alien number on the Green Card with the Alien Number on the NOA and let me through.

3: Emirates Counter Dubai:
It was a similar story at Dubai -- the Emirates Airlines agent merely matched the Alien numbers on the green card and the NOA document and waved me through.

4: US Immigration:
I presented my passport, my expired green card and the NOA document to the immigration official after landing in Seattle. Apparently the extension is already in their system. The immigration officer merely glanced at the NOA document, looked at his computer screen and asked me how long I was in India. I said "One month", he stamped my passport and said "Welcome back" and I was sent on my way to collect my luggage.

Moral of the story -- My personal experience is that your Indian passport (valid for at least 6 months from your date of travel) + your original expired green card + the original NOA letter (I-751) from USCIS that states your conditional permanent residence has been extended for one year are sufficient documents to travel to India and get back without any problems. I had carried my marriage certificate (since I got my green card through marriage to a US Citizen) and a letter from my company stating I was their employee from "X" date till present as well, but these were not required at all. I will leave it to the individual's discretion on whether he/she wants to carry any such additional documents or not.

Hope this is helpful to somebody!

[cranialsurge]

Similar situation.

Thanks a ton for posting this. I'm in the exact position. Have an I-751 filed for the removal of conditions on my LPR which is set to expire on 08/20/2016. Already have my NOA with the line clearly calling out the extension for a year. My attorney did recommend me to head over to my local CIS office via an InfoPass appointment and get a passport stamp clearly calling out the extension expiry date. So I will be flying to India for a week in September after I secure this.

Hey All,

Just got back to Seattle and thought I should post an update so that it may help anyone who is in a similar situation. I will limit this update to Emirates Airlines and Mumbai Customs and Immigration since that is what I went through.

1. Emirates Counter Mumbai:
Emirates airline officials in Mumbai are very familiar with the NOA document. During check-in, I gave the guy at the check-in counter my expired green card, and the NOA letter from USCIS. He saw the date of expiry on the green card, then looked at the NOA document and asked me if I was on a green card extension. I said yes, and the only trouble he had was locating the extended expiry date. I pointed out the receipt notice date and also the sentence on the NOA document that said my conditional green card was extended for a period of one year. Just to be sure, he asked his supervisor to re-verify, and the supervisor very confidently told him to go ahead and issue the boarding pass. He read through the entire NOA document, but it seemed more of a formality. He had obviously seen this (expired green card + NOA document) before. He did take a photocopy of my green card and the NOA letter for his records, so I would suggest you keep a photocopy of these two as well on your return trip so that you save some time at the ticket counter. I had arrived at the counter 4 hours in advance thinking I may have to do some explanation in order to get my tickets but it turned out to be a non-issue. My personal suggestion would be to arrive as early as possible in order to give yourself enough time should any problems arise.

2: Mumbai Immigration
The immigration officer at Mumbai did not ask me a single question. He merely looked at my expired green card, matched the Alien number on the Green Card with the Alien Number on the NOA and let me through.

3: Emirates Counter Dubai:
It was a similar story at Dubai -- the Emirates Airlines agent merely matched the Alien numbers on the green card and the NOA document and waved me through.

4: US Immigration:
I presented my passport, my expired green card and the NOA document to the immigration official after landing in Seattle. Apparently the extension is already in their system. The immigration officer merely glanced at the NOA document, looked at his computer screen and asked me how long I was in India. I said "One month", he stamped my passport and said "Welcome back" and I was sent on my way to collect my luggage.

Moral of the story -- My personal experience is that your Indian passport (valid for at least 6 months from your date of travel) + your original expired green card + the original NOA letter (I-751) from USCIS that states your conditional permanent residence has been extended for one year are sufficient documents to travel to India and get back without any problems. I had carried my marriage certificate (since I got my green card through marriage to a US Citizen) and a letter from my company stating I was their employee from "X" date till present as well, but these were not required at all. I will leave it to the individual's discretion on whether he/she wants to carry any such additional documents or not.

Hope this is helpful to somebody!

[shobmir]

Information needed

Thanks a ton for posting this. I'm in the exact position. Have an I-751 filed for the removal of conditions on my LPR which is set to expire on 08/20/2016. Already have my NOA with the line clearly calling out the extension for a year. My attorney did recommend me to head over to my local CIS office via an InfoPass appointment and get a passport stamp clearly calling out the extension expiry date. So I will be flying to India for a week in September after I secure this.

I'm in the same situation and will be travelling in October 2017 . Wanted to know if you were able to get Stamp on passport and and how was your travel and what airline ?
Thanks in Advance !!