If You Haven’t Lost Your Green Card, Hold Onto It. Keep It Safe.

Video Transcribed:  You’ve lost your green card. What do you do now? My name is Ted Hasse. I’m an immigration attorney at Wirth Law Office answering your immigration questions. You can give us a call with your questions, 918-932-2800.

Lost physical green card, that’s a question that I got from an individual this week. Bad news on this is that the process for replacing a lost physical green card, the card that you carry around that shows that you have a lawful permit status, it’s expensive, and it’s in fact the same process that you need to go to when you’re going through a renewal. Maybe something that you’ve dealt with before. Believe the US CIS fee is $540. It can take some time. It’s a bummer when it happens. If you haven’t lost your card, hold onto it. Keep it safe. Although you know, for most purposes you can’t use a copy. Do keep a photograph of it on your phone. Do keep copies around just in case it disappears. There are certain circumstances where you’re going to want to be able to show that if you don’t have the actual physical card, but secure that card, keep it safe. It’s difficult to replace. It’s expensive to replace and it can be a major hassle for you.

Something I wanted to touch on also, in talking to that individual, they wanted to know about whether or not they could sponsor an individual, or I should clarify, they had the misconception that there was no way, no possibility and no way for them to sponsor a another individual family member for their immigration status. That’s not the case.

If you are a lawful permanent resident of the United States though not a U.S. citizen, and you want to seek to be reunited with a family member, that’s something that an immigration attorney may be able to help you with. If you have questions about that, your status handling green card matters, whatever it is, happy to help you. Happy to talk to you, give us a call, 918-932-2800. Again, my name is Ted Hasse.