Nearly one million permanent residents will be required to replace their green cards under a proposal from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Legal permanent residents whose alien cards were issued between 1977 and 1989 without an expiration date will have to replace their cards within 4 months. Failure to replace the card could potentially jeopardize travel and employment opportunities. Willful failure to renew would also carry a penalty of up to 30 days in jail. In a statement, the USCIS said, “The change will allow the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to issue more secure permanent resident cards, update cardholder information, conduct background checks and electronically store applicants’ fingerprint and photographic information.” Earlier the agency had encouraged, but not mandated that green cards issued prior to 1989 be replaced. Cards issued after 1989 expire in 10 years, whereas the earlier cards did not have an expiration date. |
Non-Expiring Green Card Expiring
