If you know any lawful U.S. residents planning to travel to the Philippines with only an I-551 stamp in their passport instead of the actual green card, it may be very difficult to depart the Philippines on flights headed back to the U.S.
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Asian Journal
Manila is Requiring Boarding Letters For People Traveling on 1-551 Temporary (Green Card) Stamps
Attorney Michael Gurfinkel, Sep 04, 2003
People who travel to the Philippines on their temporary I-551 (green card) stamp must first go to the U.S. Embassy, to obtain a boarding letter before being able to return to the U.S. This is in an effort by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Manila, to crack down on those people who attempt to travel on “fake” green card stamps.
Whenever a person is granted permanent residence, he becomes a “green card holder.” However, sometimes it takes many weeks or months for the actual plastic green card to be prepared and forwarded to the person. Therefore, the interviewing officer typically places an endorsement (or stamp) in the applicant’s passport as temporary evidence of lawful permanent residence. This enables that person to travel outside the U.S., work, etc., until he receives the actual plastic green card. The stamped endorsement of approval usually reads: “Processed for I-551. Temporary evidence of lawful admission for permanent residence valid until [date]. Employment authorized.”
This rubber stamp, which the interviewing officer places on one of the pages of the person’s passport, is very easy to “forge.”
And that’s the problem. Some very enterprising and unscrupulous people have been able to duplicate this stamp and, for a fee of several thousand dollars, will stamp an alien’s passport with a simulated “approval”. In fact, long ago, I wrote about this fake greencard scam, where some people were paying up to $10,000 for one of these fake green card stamps in their passport. The consultants claimed that they had “inside connections” to the INS, and that the stamp was legitimate, and the person could travel outside the U.S. without any problems.
Some people were easily fooled, and thought that the consultant could bypass all the immigration laws and get them a greencard without their having to comply with any of the legal requirements. These people further fooled themselves by thinking that they could safely travel outside the U.S. without any problem. And that’s when their problems really began.
Recently, there have been several incidents where people were caught at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), attempting to board their flight to America, by presenting one of these fake stamps. They were sent to the DHS, which quickly discovered, through their records, that the person never had a green card, and that the stamp was a fake.
According to reports from the American Immigration Lawyer Association (AILA), green card holders who are attempting to return to the U.S. by presenting their temporary I-551 stamp, will not be allowed to board their flights, unless they first go the Embassy, have their status as a green card holder properly verified, and have a boarding letter issued by the DHS in Manila.
So, if you have been granted permanent resident status, but have not yet received your official plastic greencard, and want to travel to the Philippines on your temporary I-551 stamp, you should know that you will be required to first obtain a boarding letter, before being allowed to return to the U.S. Don’t just simply show up at the airport on the day of your return flight, as the airline will probably not board you.
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