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Fee Changes Associated with Lost Green Cards Abroad

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing those who have lost Green Cards overseas and the fees associated with rectifying that situation. 

So let's go ahead and provide some factual analysis on this real quick. What are we talking about? Well we are talking about a situation in which a lawful permanent resident of the United States, AKA a Green Card holder has gone abroad. They have got their I-551; that is their Green Card. It is actually a card that looks like a driver's license and that individual is abroad. They have gone abroad and they have lost their Green Card. This can become a major problem because many air carriers are going to want to see that document before they are going to let that individual board and go back to the US because what that air carrier is afraid of is being fined or penalized by the US Government for knowingly bringing somebody to the United States who may not be able to be admitted to the United States.  That is a real concern for airlines in an international context.

Well there is a way to deal with that. There is a Travel Document associated with lost Green Cards. Basically, in an American citizen context, if you have lost your passport an Embassy can give you what is called a boarding letter. It is basically a letter that allows you to get on the plane, very similar with a lawful permanent resident. It recently came to my attention that the fees associated with obtaining one of these boarding letters have been modified and they have been modified upward. So the form associated with such a document, a Travel Document for someone who has lost a Green Card, is an I-131A. Up to the time of this video at least the filing fee for that is US $575. There is now currently a proposal. It is on file with the Federal Register and the proposal is that that fee be raised to US $1,010. That is a 76% increase in the fees associated with that type of a document. So those who are stuck in that position, it is a very unfortunate position to be in and unfortunately they are probably going to have to deal with getting one of these letters to return to the United States and they should be aware that these fees have been modified in such a way that they are substantially more expensive than they were in the past.