Sara Jones

Just wondering how many days after approval should I wait for the green card in the mail before launching an inquiry?

ian-mstm

Oh... by all means, wait at least 5 days. If you inquire any sooner than that, they'll think you're being pushy!

Ian

Sara Jones

5 days!! I thought we had to wait 30-60 days or something. How soon are most people getting theirs? I am in New York.

Seanus

I'm not a rocket scientist, but I think Ian was being sarcastic. just be patient, and give it at least a few weeks. USCIS recently issued a recall for over 30 000 GC (I think it was) which need to be re-issued, so that might slow processing down for a lot of service centers too.

-Sean

Matthew Udall

I would say if it hasn't arrived at the 6 month mark after the approval date, contact the Service Center and ask them to look in their PONDS Unit. When greencards are returned to a Service Center by the post office (as non deliverable) they go to a Service Center's PONDS Unit where they “usually” keep them for 6 months (I think I recall one of the Service Centers saying they keep them for a bit longer than that, but I can’t remember if that was the NSC or one of the other Service Centers…. I’d really have to dig out my tour notes to know for sure). If left unclaimed, they are then destroyed.

scrubbedexpat099

They usually arrive within a week, so no that sarcastic. But there may be current delays for the reson mentioned.