Question:
I've got a general question about US citizenship and
immigration. I'm in somewhat of a predicament and would greatly
appreciate any responses. I've been a legal US resident for about 16
years now. I've got an overseas passport and had a Green Card until it
was stolen last year. I re-applied for a new green card last year but
there has been no follow up. I need to travel in February and am quite
concerned that I may run into some problems because of the abscense of
my Green card. As an alternative to re-applying for a green Card, and
something I've been meaning to do for a while now, I am considering
applying for US Citizenship. Will this help with my predicament? If so,
considering my situation, what documents would I need to apply for US
citizenship? And if applying for US Citizenship will not help me, what
can/should I do do find out the status of my Green Card?
Answer:
Unfortunately, you probably don't have time - that usually takes quite
a few months, start to finish.
Applying for naturalization will not help you at this point; first of
all, it will take much longer than until February, and secondly,
they'll need to see your Green Card (and eventually take it off you).
But if your country of origin doesn't object to you being a citizen of
that country and of the US (some do, some don't), then you should
probably naturalize.
For now, you should be able to sort yourself out: according to the INS
website at http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/howdoi/replace.htm , when
you filed form I-90 in person to replace your GC, you should have asked
them to stamp your passport as temporary evidence for the purposes of
travel and employment. If this didn't happen, you can probably go to
your local INS office and have it done.
Applying for Citizenship now will not help because it can take several
months to obtain citizenship and in many places over 1 year. You need to
physically go down to the INS and apply for a new green card on the I-90
form. They can place a stamp in your passport temporarily until you receive
the physical card.
You can find out all the documents you need for citizenship at the INS
website.
Should you require attorney assistance in this matter, please call my office
or email me.
step 1.
Immediately apply to INS for
Green card replacement
step2
=====
You can talk to an attorney regarding
citizenship application. If you have a
copy of both sides of your green card,
you can apply for citizenship. That's
a required document. However, an attorney
may be able to suggest something if
you don't have any copies.
If you have the old passport which was stamped when you got the greencard, that
will be helpful.
Look at the site
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov
for helpful information and rules.
