Traveling abroad with Green Card

[Anonymous]

Planning a trip in summer for about a month. Is there any issues with immigration for Green Card holders while returning back? I see some fear being spread since Jan and want to make sure it is safe to go.

Please share your experience if you traveled recently.

[Anonymous]

No one in my circle (from Europe and east Asia, scientists and lawyers) are traveling out of the US on their green card, visa or diplomatic visa. Usually most people travel back to their home country for part of the summer, or at least send their kids. Not this year. We've all heard horrific stories of people in each of these categories who were rudely interrogated, detained, and sent back to their country. Two World Bank people I heard about had their diplomatic visas revoked *for no reason*.

We're staying right here.

[Anonymous]

I think your country of origin as well as your age and gender make a big difference as to whether you can expect any issues. Consider sharing that?

[Anonymous]

I'm an immigration lawyer, and belong to a social media group of immigration lawyers. There is a lot of fear mongering and a lot of "I heard this from a friend <insert bad story>" but far fewer actual issues IRL.

As a pp said, country of origin and gender as well as attitude (although I hate to say that) seem to make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think your country of origin as well as your age and gender make a big difference as to whether you can expect any issues. Consider sharing that?

Not OP, but actually, no, it doesn't these days. There have been French, Germans, Australians and Canadians detained (handcuffed, made to sleep in cells for days without explanation, yelled at, etc). Multiple EU countries have issued travel advisories to the US. Nationality, age or gender does not matter. Being blonde and white as snow doesn't help either.

[Anonymous]

I use Global Entry so bypass the actual person.

I'm German and a woman. Travelled recently no issues.

[Anonymous]

Woman. From a developed Asian country. Had global entry. They waved me through customs, took less than a minute.

[Anonymous]

Every time someone has posted starting recently and started their post with the phrase "I'm an immigration lawyer", they showed their naivete... or worse, they lied knowingly, maybe to lull the American public into thinking their border officers are upstanding people.

Just so you know, 99.99% of people passing a border control check are incredibly polite. Why? Because the whole ordeal of passing a US border point, for a foreigner, is deliberately made to be intimidating. Even back in normal days, border control officers were always brusque and unsmiling at the best of times. I've lived in the US for years legally as a tax-paying visa-holder, and I've been witness to several insane encounters with border officers who yelled and spit at, and leveled accusations at the top of their voice, to well-behaved folks (some of them with kids) trying to cross a border - and not the southern border, to which I've never traveled. Dulles. Niagara Falls. Random border point in Vermont. That sort of border. I've been selected for secondary interviews and sat waiting for it with people from all over the world, regardless of ethnicity, age or sex. Some were mothers with newborns, some were really old people. My own courteous, elderly parents from Europe were once detained for 4 hours at Dulles, and at the end they were let go without an explanation. And all that was before the current administration.

Don't tell me it's all fine and dandy if you're polite, when I've seen otherwise with my own eyes. I am convinced that the sort of person who seeks a job as a border officer has an inner desire for hostile dominance of others. It's barely bridled when normal Presidents are in power. It must be completely unbridled now. Let it sink in that the border officer to whom you hand over your passport for the check has unlimited power over you. They have a bad day... and it's all over for you, no matter what you say or do.

[Anonymous]

Do you have an immigration lawyer? I'd see if you can speak to them.

[Anonymous]

I just came back from Costa Rica, entering the country through Houston. The immigration control officer hasn’t asked me a single question, just ensured that the fingerprints get taken properly. When I came back from a 6-day vacation in Mexico in November to IAD, I was asked various questions - where I’d been, for how long, and why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have an immigration lawyer? I'd see if you can speak to them.

Why? Legally, they are allowed to travel back and forth. What is happening now is not normal, and the reasons for not letting someone back in don't seem to be things that even an immigration attorney can predict.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t if I were brown or black. No way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have an immigration lawyer? I'd see if you can speak to them.

Why? Legally, they are allowed to travel back and forth. What is happening now is not normal, and the reasons for not letting someone back in don't seem to be things that even an immigration attorney can predict.

My best friend is here on a green card. They have dual citizenship in two other countries and has been advised by an attorney to not leave the country at this time.

[Anonymous]

Or if I had been to the Middle East like ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Planning a trip in summer for about a month. Is there any issues with immigration for Green Card holders while returning back? I see some fear being spread since Jan and want to make sure it is safe to go.

Please share your experience if you traveled recently.

What color are you? But, yes, I think there's a very real possibility you will face problems trying to reenter the country. These Trump people were never just about illegal immigration. They're hell bend to stop legal immigration, too.