Celtic_Angel

pmsl..I've joked about this...and reckon I could muster up a pretty good Texan drawl if need be

Angry White Pyjamas

Its not so much the $100 fine as the blot on your record if you come to naturalize.

Angry White Pyjamas

Would that be classed as pretending to be a USC? Which is a deportable offence.

scrubbedexpat099

Can not see why it would have any effect on naturalisation. Not a CIMT.

Ray

You just proved what a dumbass law it it ...
Lasy year the USCIS site stated you did not have to carry it at all times...
just know where it was if needed .. but they removed that now ...

I have been stopped three times ..never been asked for it so far ..

Has anyone ever heard of a prosecution for it????

Celtic_Angel

I'm guessing you mean while driving? when would you ever be asked for it anyway...even if you were in a collision ..wouldn't drivers licence and insurance be all you really needed? I think maybe if you were caught breaking the law anyway then the questions about your green card would arise but I've been here 10 years and never once been randomly asked to show my GC.

Angry White Pyjamas

Not to my knowledge.

Its just more bureaucracy in action.

BigDavyG

An oxymoron if ever I heard one

Angry White Pyjamas

LOL. Ok its more a case of bureaucracy in inaction

AdobePinon

Not prosecutions, no. But the Border Patrol down here (NM and AZ) has stopped people at checkpoints and on small roads within a couple of hundred miles of the border and detained foreigners who didn't have their documents. Usually just a couple of hours, but you never know.


As someone on our mailing list said, "It takes an immigration lawyer to fully appreciate the subtleties between "carrying at all time" and "having in your possession at all times"

deng890

Prior to naturalizing I also got pulled over by the border patrol. Because I live in an area 100 miles to the Canadian border, they do sometimes set up check points to look for illegal aliens. The first question they asked me and others in the car was "Citizenship." When I told them I was a permanent resident and that I didn't have my card, he was a little annoyed and lectured me on the law, then let me go but warned me "next time we'll pull you over for furhter questioning." The reality of it, speaking from my limited experience, is that they have bigger fish to fry and a legal resident forgetting to carry their card is at the bottom of their to do list.
Although this doesn't take away from the fact that you *can* be penalized under the law, I think it is unlikely. Most border checkpoints are at or near the border, and in those areas they really are just looking for blatantly obvious border jumpers on their way to the major cities. For the 6 years I was a resident, I never carried my card around (even living in immigrant heavy areas like Miami) and never had problems and I certainly didn't lose sleep over it.

geordiegirl2

my friend was stopped for speeding just inside the mexico/arizona border and was told she should always carry her paaport until she recieved her greencard.
As for the kids it never even occured to me for them to carry theirs until this thread so i'm glad its been clarified before i had time to wonder about it.

franc111s

Come on, you don't have to carry your green card with you.

First, the chances you will EVER be asked for it, as slim to zero. If you were standing on a street corner with a bunch of migrant workers, maybe more than slim. It's not a LAW.

Many people don't have a green card, only an I-551 stamp.

What cop is going to ask you for anything about your citizenship, even if you get stopped.

Sure, your green card should be available (at home) but they cannot deport you if you don't have it and as for fines - give me a break, I know hundreds of Americans and foreiners and NOT ONE HAS EVER been asked for it when stopped for speeding or anything.

PLEASE - don't buy into this.... Just for the one in a million chance you are stopped, you are stopped by someone who wants to know what nationailty you are, they know they law and they want to waste their time following through. chances people - SLIM TO ZERO..

Was this thread serious.. ? (Maybe if you live near the border - it makes practical sense - maybe).

Angry White Pyjamas

Not to appear to be stereotyping but if you are British I doubt you'll be given much hassle unless you give good reason for it. In the same way a visitor to the UK is supposed to carry their passport/visa at all times but I never once asked for or knew of any of my colleagues bothering to ask for such when dealing with Americans, Europeans or Australasians. Call it profiling or called it racism - and call it right or wrong - but you are far more likely to be questioned over immigration legalities if you fit certain criteria.

HunterGreen

Just because nobody ever gets fined (how do you know for certain?) and all that doesn't mean it's bullchit. The INA says everyone 18 yrs and over has to carry it at all times. Whether that can be done practically, whether you or anyone chooses to do so or not, and/or whether you'll ever get asked for it has nothing to do with that.

Elaine