I still have a green card

OVERTONE69 · 10-03-2010 5:32pm #1

hey there.uhm bit of a weird situation im in.

when i was a baby i was brought up in america for a year. i was planning on moving there post graduation and a bit of work.

my plan was to apply for a permanent visa

but now i just discovered i still have a green card from 1990!
does this help or hinder me?

its never been updated

lil_lisa · 10-03-2010 8:04pm

AFAIK, green cards last forever so you should never have to worry about visa. The only thing you have to apply for is permanent residency. After a year or two I think you can then apply for citizenship. That's a gold ticket to the US you got!

OVERTONE69 · 10-03-2010 8:06pm

Friggin SWEET as peter griffin would say.

saves me plenty of time and effort. thanks lil lisa

InTheTrees · 10-03-2010 8:13pm

What is the expiration date on your card?

Green cards have to be renewed every ten years at which point I think your immigration status will be re-examined.

The green card is for permanent residency and obviously you havent been a permanent resident for some time so i'm not sure whether it will still be valid. You can apply for citizenship if you've been a permanent resident for seven years.

I think you'll need to make an appointment at the US embassy and go and talk to someone there.

silja · 10-03-2010 10:52pm

I am pretty sure the first advice given is incorrect. While old greencards last forever (the new ones have an expiration date, I am not sure when it changed), you need to be a legal permanent resident of the USA to keep it active/ current. Ie you need to live the majority of each year in the USA, pay taxes in the USA and so on. Therefor, after having lived in Ireland for many years, you would be considered to have abandoned your permanent residence/ green card.

Having an expired greencard from when you were a child doesn't help or hinder you in obtaining a new visa. The good news is that post-grad study visas are easy to come by if you can afford the university fees, and if you have an old Social Security Number (SSN) from last time you lived here in the USA, that will make things easier when you get here, such as getting a drivers license etc.

lil_lisa · 10-03-2010 11:03pm

My apologies. Surely you can revive a previous green card?

Overtone, were you born in the US?

silja · 11-03-2010 1:28am

lil_lisa wrote: »

My apologies. Surely you can revive a previous green card?

With very few exceptions no, a greencard cannot be revived. If you do not take advantage of the rights it grants, you loose them permanently. Exceptions are things like working abroad for a US contractor or the US military.

dermot_sheehan · 12-03-2010 2:30pm

A greencard expires if you are no longer permanently resident in the u.s.

It is presumed if you are absent for a year or more you are no longer permanently resident unless you get a re entry permit in which case you can extend this to two years.

After 20 years absence since 1990 im afraid there's no chance. The greencard lost it's validity in 1991.

hoser expat · 15-03-2010 10:17am

Actually, having that Green Card may turn out to hinder you. It has obviously expired as the card is a 'use it or lose it' kind of thing. If you are out of the country for more than a year you cannot use it to reenter, and if you try to use it there will be hell to pay at the border. On top of that, all green card holders must file taxes every year, even if they don't live in the US. Seeing as your card was abandoned (you didn't use it) I'm not sure how they'll deal with that. You're in a bit of a gray area.

I had a green card and lived in the US from 2001-07. When I moved to Ireland I went to the US embassy in Dublin and formally abandoned my card. I'd consult the embassy if I were you.

OVERTONE69 · 17-03-2010 12:22am

that is a major bummer.

gotta find the american embassy.
im in a pretty crap place right now huh.

wasnt even aware i was living in america at the time up until a few yeaars ago. didnt know i had a green card until a few weeks back , hell i wasnt even aware i was a baby.

id like to say that being a baby would be understandable for not paying taxes and such but this is pretty crap.

spideog7 · 17-03-2010 3:05am

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

...hell i wasnt even aware i was a baby.

The importance of appropriate punctuation :pac:

OVERTONE69 · 17-03-2010 2:41pm

I'm a programmer.
I'm used to typing as fast as i can. If i make a mistake in code, satellites could start falling from the sky.

Whereas if i make a mistake in the english language, a few people get upset.

lol. sorry anyway ill be more carefull with my words.

spideog7 · 19-03-2010 3:51am

Hey I don't care, I just thought it was funny, as long as you comment your code we're all friends here

RubyBlu · 20-03-2010 9:39pm

They'll take your green card off you if you don't use it. My friend went on a holiday after living there and they asked her if she moved back to Ireland. Told them she did, so the confiscated the Green Card. Told her she could reapply for it once she decides to work in the States.

DublinWriter · 20-03-2010 9:43pm

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

I'm a programmer.
I'm used to typing as fast as i can. If i make a mistake in code, satellites could start falling from the sky.

Oh please Jesus let it be Astra 2B.

I still have a green card

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