Outside of the US w/o Green Card?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone ever had their Green Card (Permanent Resident Card) lost/stolen/forgotten/expired while traveling abroad? What did you do? If you were permitted to fly back to the US, what did they do to verify your status at Customs/Border? How long did it take? Were you charged a fine? Did you have to buy a new airline ticket?

I have a family member in this situation and I don't know what is the best next step. I was told that to send the card with an overnight delivery service (obviously the easiest solution) would actually be illegal and would be confiscated.

Experience in the last few years would be helpful as these things change constantly, especially post-911.

What a nightmare this is, any help would be truly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

I lost my green card while abroad. They held me for a few hours in Miami while they looked up my information. No fines. This was 3 years ago.

[Anonymous]

ditto to PP although was with US DH and kid so only held for about one hour. Not fined, but custom agent did say that normally fine is $200 (was two years ago). if you're still oversea I would declare to US embassy. See what they say. I realized i'd forgot mine only in plane back home.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for your posts. I actually came home and back to bring him the GC myself. The border/customs agent said the fine is $545, but it did not matter since the airline would not let him fly to the US without the GC anyhow, so he couldn't get there. (The airline can be fined $3,000 or more for sending a person without the right documentation to the US). He could not get a "transportation letter" from the US embassy as it was closed for Easter week. It seemed like the whole country was shut down on vacation...

The lesson here, double check the expiration date of your green card before traveling!

[Anonymous]

Normally, the person can go to the US Embassy and get a transportation letter that will allow the airline to board him/her. It takes a few days to process and costs about $300, I think. The person still needs to have his/her foreign passport so if that's lost too they need to replace it before the Embassy can issue a green card.