FOR OVER A HALF MILLION PERMANENT RESIDENTS – IT'S TIME TO RENEW!
By Alexander H. Lubarsky, LL.M, Esq.
Our office has been absolutely inundated with many green card holders who have noticed that the ten years on their card has expired and it is time to renew their green card (mica).
Why the big interest in renewals of green cards now? In the Fall of 1989, the Immigration & Naturalization Service began issuing new Green Cards with a ten year expiration date. This expiration date is longer than many of the previously and subsequently issued green cards.
The renewals may be mailed in or done in person at the Immigration & Naturalization Service office. Applicants should be warned that they should plan to spend at least half of a day in the Immigration & Naturalization Service office as the process is very slow and bureaucratic. Applicants will have to stand in many lines (the form line, the cashier line, the submission line etc…) and those without all of the proper supplemental documentation (fees, proof of status, Immigration & Naturalization Service style photographs etc…) will be turned away and will have wasted the better part of a day.
Many will choose to have their immigration attorney take care of this procedure through the mail. Thereby, turning a five hour nightmare at the Immigration & Naturalization Service office into a half hour visit to your attorney.
What if one fails to renew the expiring mica? This DOES NOT mean that you are no longer a permanent resident. Your STATUS does not expire, but your CARD does. Therefore, employers, border officials, schools, airport officials and others who routinely ask to see this card will not accept an expired card. They will not charge you with being without permanent resident status, but on the other hand they will refuse to confirm that such status is rightfully attributable to you – thus placing you in a sort of "Green Card Limbo."
Upon filing for the renewal, one can ask for a special renewal stamp to be placed in his passport to show that his card is in the process of being renewed (it often takes several months for the actual new card to be issued). If one does not have a passport from their native country, then a special letter may be requested from the Immigration & Naturalization Service which similarly indicates that this process is underway. Both the passport stamp and the letter expire in one year and indicate that one has lawful temporary status and that their green card is being renewed.
How early can one renew a green card which is about to expire? Be careful not to try to renew your green card TOO EARLY! Green card holders are allowed to apply for renewal UP TO SIX MONTHS BEFORE the expiration date on the card. Although it often takes the Immigration & Naturalization Service longer than six months to actually deliver the renewed card, the applicant will receive an official "receipt notice" indicating that the card is in the renewal process. This document, when showed with your green card which has just recently expired while you are waiting for the renewal, will effectively breathe life into the card until it is renewed.
The form used in this process is known as an I-90. This form can be obtained quickly from your immigration attorney or it may be ordered directly from the Immigration & Naturalization Service by calling 1-800-870-3676. The Immigration & Naturalization Service will mail a free copy of this form in about four to six weeks from the placing of the phone order. Also, forms can be accessed at www.ins.usdoj.gov on the Internet.
The form requires a fee of one-hundred and ten dollars as well as two photographs and a copy of the expiring green card and a passport (if available). Do not ever mail the originals of your expiring green card or your passports – an attorney certified photocopy will insure that you do not lose these documents. The Immigration & Naturalization Service office will later ask you to come in and present your originals in order to receive the temporary stamp/letter as described above if this is desired.
Applicants with criminal histories are advised NOT to go to the Immigration & Naturalization Service offices themselves. They should speak to their immigration attorney at once and possibly have him or her proceed with the renewal by way of mail. There have been many instances of people with some criminal histories being arrested at the Immigration & Naturalization Service offices
The information contained on this site is intended to educate members of the public generally and is not intended to provide solutions to individual problems. Readers are cautioned not to attempt to solve individual problems on the basis of information contained herein and are strongly advised to seek competent legal counsel before relying on information contained learned on this site. Copyright © 2001 Community Legal Centers of California. All rights reserved.