Question:
Hello everyone and thanks for reading.
I have a question regarding travel
without a passport. My wife is a
green card holder and a Chinese
citizen. Her passport expired and
for reasons not clear to us, the
Chinese government will not give
her a new one. As a result, she
has no ability to travel. I did
some reading about the INS reentry
permit and found the paragraph below:
"Reentry Permits are also sometimes
used by "stateless" permanent residents
in lieu of a passport to enter some
countries.
This is because
some countries view Reentry Permits
as evidence that the U.S. will accept
the "stateless" permanent resident
back into the U.S. However, if you
are in this category, be sure to
check with the consulate for the
particular foreign country to make
sure that they will accept a Reentry
Permit for this purpose. " We really
want to travel to Hong Kong and
it seems that this Reentry Permit
might be the only way we can do
this. However, I am rather nervous
about this since I cannot imagine
traveling across international borders
without a passport. As I see it
we need to do the following:
1. Call the
Chinese consulate and see if the
Hong Kong immigration laws allow
this document to be an acceptable
entry document.
2. Obtain
a reentry permit from the INS.
3. Get a
Hong Kong Visa from the Chinese
consulate for my Chinese wife. Once
we have done all this, we can make
this 2 week trip to Hong Kong. Does
anyone see any problems with this
scenario? One thing I worry about
is the airlines. They ask to see
your passport before bording. Will
they recognize this document? It
would be miserable if they denied
us entry to the aircraft because
we didnt have a passport for my
wife. Last question. Does anyone
know how long it takes to obtain
an reentry permit?
Answer:
Do mention that she is a Chinese
citizen. Because it might be that
Chinese citizens may be allowed
to China (including Hong Kong) on
Chinese passport only - that is
a usual practice for many countries,
though those who are not Chinese
citizens might be allowed on reentry
permit.
I don't think
entry will be a problem. I doubt
the reentry permit will be valid
for entry to her country of citizenship---if
she still cannot get a passport,
they'll come up with alternative
documentation. Given the short nature
of your trip, she won't need a reentry
permit to reenter the US, either---the
green card will be enough. So there
may be little point in getting the
permit. But if they've already refused
her a passport for reasons you don't
understand, are you certain she
will be allowed to *leave*? That
would seem like a very important
question to consider, and entry
issues pale in comparison. (You
do understand that, given that your
wife is a Chinese citizen---not
stateless---the US will not be able
to help if her government should
do that.)
