News Update - August 24, 2007USCIS Proposes to Require Permanent Residents to Replace Green Cards it Issued Without an Expiration Date and to Pay FeesOn August 22, 2007, the USCIS announced a proposal to require nearly 750,000 permanent residents who were issued green cards between 1979 and 1989 to apply and pay to replace the cards with ones bearing expiration dates. During those ten years, USCIS (formerly INS) issued cards without expiration dates. USCIS is proposing requiring recipients to pay the full fee (now $370 including biometrics fee) to apply for replacement cards. There would be a 120-day window to file form I-90 with the fees, after which USCIS proposes to announce in the Federal Register that all cards without expiration dates are no longer valid. It should be noted that expiration of the permanent resident card will not affect the permanent resident status of aliens, but since under the law all permanent residents are required to have valid green cards at all times; willful non-compliance could subject green card holders to fines. The USCIS cites greater security and evidence of identity for the cardholders as reasons for the proposal, but the prospect of gaining estimated revenues of $277,500,000 undoubtedly was a consideration. The public comment period remains open until September 21, 2007.
† The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004. ‡ This article © 2007 Alan Lee, Esq.
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Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee,
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