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MANILA
IS REQUIRING BOARDING LETTERS
FOR PEOPLE TRAVELING ON I-551 TEMPORARY
(GREEN CARD) STAMPS
by Michael J. Gurfinkel, Esq.
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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