Greencard lost in mail. I-90 and temporary I-551 stamp

[dejawho]

Hi all,

It's been a bit of a whirlwind after I got my green card approved, and now I'm at risk of getting terminated at my job at the end of the month, because I never received the physical green card.

So the full story is this:

I'm currently working on a H1-b visa and have been since 2016. In April 2017 I got married to a US citizen and we filed for I-485 & I-130 in August 2017. I did not apply for EAD card because i was happily working on my H1-b which was still valid for almost 2 years back then. In hindsight, that was a grave mistake.

Either way, had my interview on 02/12/19 and got approved the next day. Received my I-797 notices for both I-130 and I-485, but then I never received my green card even though the tracking number says it was delivered on 02/21. The USPS cannot find it and it hasn't been returned to USCIS.

Now, this is where it get just frustrating, as my H1-b expires on 03/31/2019 and my job would have to terminate me as they need the physical green card to transfer me over properly.
My job was holding on on renewing the H1-b as it looked good with how I progressed with my green card.

And that would be my first question:
Is it even possible to apply for an extension? Shouldn't I be in the USCIS system as on my green card?

I was on the phone to USCIS quite a lot and they told me, once I apply for a replacement card via the I-90 form, I can get an appointment with my local office (Dallas) to get a temporary I-551 stamp in my passport that would allow me to work and also leave the country again. However, Dallas does not do walk-ins or infopass appointments, so I am currently waiting for them to call me back to arrange something.

Does anybody have any experiences with those temporary I-551 stamps? How long do they last? Were they difficult to obtain?
Could I in theory travel to a field office that does walk-ins?

Is it feasible to actually just physically show up at the Dallas field office and see how far I get? Since it is an emergency since my wife and I would of course lose income,health insurance at the end of the month?
My job are nice enough to say they would rehire me as soon as it is possible again, but of course the whole ordeal would be pretty painful.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[boogiewoogie]

Hi,

im sorry this is happening to you.
HAve you tried e-verify?
Perhaps your employer can look you up there to verify your employment eligibilty.
You can try it as well as an employee.

https://www.e-verify.gov/

and for the self-check https://myeverify.uscis.gov/self-check/index.html

[dejawho]

Thank you, I was not aware of e-verify.
I checked with my employers. Sadly they would still need at least the I-551 stamp.

[dejawho]

For the sake of finishing the story and give a resolution for anybody that might have a similar problem.

I did manage to get an infopass at my local office and got my temporary stamp I-551 for my passport (1 year validity).
The only requirements was that I submitted the I-90 for replacement green card first. Only the receipt number was needed for the infopass appointment.

[Enub4]

Thank you for the update.

Did you have to pay the fee or is it considered (B) My previous card was issued but never received?

I ask this because it has to meet some criteria.

[dejawho]

I had to pay the fee.
As far as I understood it, the card was not returned to USCIS as undelivered, so they considered it lost and I had to file as it being lost. Even though I didn't personally lose it =(