Travel without green card

[argem41]

Hi! On August 19 I went to the US embassy in my country and got immigrant visa under CSPA law. Now I'm in NY, I paid for my green card in October but haven't received it yet and I want to travel to my country for a few days. Can I travel without receiciving the green card

[PKumar01]

You cannot travel outside the US without proper proof that you're a permanent resident. However, this may be affected by which visa you entered with. If you just applied for a GC, then it hasn't been enough time for you to get approved yet.

[scientist2016]

Hi! On August 19 I went to the US embassy in my country and got immigrant visa under CSPA law. Now I'm in NY, I paid for my green card in October but haven't received it yet and I want to travel to my country for a few days. Can I travel without receiciving the green card

The moment you entered the US your immigrant visa turned in to a GC. So, yes you can travel outside the US.

[argem41]

Perfect. That's what I thought because they have the registration number printed on the immigrant visa

[newacct]

Perfect. That's what I thought because they have the registration number printed on the immigrant visa

US immigrant visas have a line on them that says "upon endorsement serves as temporary I-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year". This means that your immigrant visa, upon entry (where it was "endorsed" by the entry stamp), it automatically became an I-551 (equivalent to a green card, which is also an I-551) for 1 year after the entry. You can use that immigrant-visa-turned-I-551 by itself to enter the US, work, or do anything else that you can do with the physical green card during that one year. Note that this is true even after the expiration date of the immigrant visa, because it's no longer an immigrant visa that you're using at this point (immigrant visas are single-use anyway), but rather an I-551 that the immigrant visa turned into, and that I-551 is valid until 1 year after your initial entry.