The cost of carrying your green card
 

Hi i dont like to carry my green card but the law states you must have it with you at all times. Here is what happens when your wallet is stolen.

1. Apart from loosing your money/credit cards.
2. You have to renew your driving license
3. You have to replace your greencard cost $360
4. You have to go through the greencard process again and also you have to have your fingerprint taken again.
All this costs money from time off work to travelling to immigration center plus the waiting time to get your replacement green card between 3 and 6 months.
Next time i will not carry my greencard and if i get stopped will rather take a small fine not quite sure what the fine will be.

Thanks mark

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

Oh dear...I presume you've had your wallet stolen. :(

We've discussed this many times. Neither myself or my family carried our GCs for that very reason...and we were LPRs for about 12 years before we became USCs.

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

Just carry a copy and if the powers that be want the original then make sure you know where you kept it!!

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

So the title should be cost of losing your card.

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

3. Its now $450
4. just file form I-90 and have prints taken

carry a photocopy

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

I have been a Green Card holder for 19 years and I have never carried it in my wallet. I keep it at home in my fire-proof with my British passport. My plan is to apply for citizenship this year before I need to renew my card next year.

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

To Boiler i did not loose my green card it was stolen and the title says the cost of carrying the greencard because you are required to carry the original and if you dont have anything worth saying SHUT UP

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

Hey...that was not necessary.

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

That's out of order; a retraction would not be.

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

At first I thought , how cute, saying photocopy, rather than saying, a scan.
Then I thought, a photo copy taken and stored on the phone might be a good way to go with these things.

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

Perhaps a GC App?

Oops, sorry, I need to shut up.

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

I have never carried mine (always a copy) and none of my Brit friends do either. Its just not worth it. I would like to know what the consequences are though. Does anyone know?

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

Death !

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

Many many years ago we were stopped at a border patrol in Texas and were asked if we were US citizens, we said no and they asked to see our GC's. We didn't have them with us so they pulled us to one side. We gave them our DL and then we had to wait. When the patrol guy came back he gave us a very long lecture and told us that he could hold us in a cell until someone brought our GC's to them, we could also be fined and if our GC's could not be produced we could be held in a cell for months......scared the crap out of me! Anyway, he decided to let us go. Not sure if the rules are the same now as it was way back in the early 90's.

Re: The cost of carrying your green card
 

I know a fine can be levied but have no idea how much. I think there is more reason to carry your GC if you live in a border town...especially with Mexico.