Traveling to Schengen - US Greencard within 3 months Expiry
I am taking my mom to a trip in Europe to celebrate her birthday. We reside in USA and are working. We intend to be in Schengen for 9 days.
Situation: I actually have bought the plane tickets for mom and me, with hotel reservations already made. I have a US Passport so it is fine.
My mom has a Permanent Resident Card, not a US Passport (Chinese Passport). She is actively being employed in USA and is taking vacation to Europe. However, I realized her Greencard technically expires 2 months after the trip (so 1 month short), she has an active application to renew, but I don't know if she would get before her trip or visa applications.
What evidence can I use to support her visa application to be approved. I can clearly understand the 3 months rule (to avoid overstaying), but this is clearly not an attempt to overstay.
Edit: My mom did not tell me this, but I dig into a bit deeper. She got a sticker on the back of the Greencard that extends the validity of the card for a year (presumably to accomodate USCIS's 12 month processing time).
That is great but also I want to explicitly point that out to the visa office. Should I write them a separate letter asking them to look at the back of the card?
Best Answer
There are no fixed requirements about future validity of permanent residence cards for Schengen visa purposes.
Your mother's status in the US is relevant in two ways for a Schengen visa application:
To show that she resides legally in the country where she files her application.
To bolster her claims of ties to the US (because ties to somewhere you don't expect to be allowed to keep living are not worth much for visa purposes).
The first of these is satisfied if the card she presents is valid at the time of application.
For the second, the important factor is not the expiry date on the physical card she presents, but whether she has a reasonable expectation that the US will continue to let her live there indefinitely. If the upcoming green-card renewal is just a routine replacement of the physical card, then there's no reason for the consulate to care about it. On the other hand, if it involves a substantive decision about whether she should be granted a new card, and it's a realistic outcome that she may be denied, then she should probably be more careful to document her reasons to expect that decision will come out in her favor.
Pictures about "Traveling to Schengen - US Greencard within 3 months Expiry"
Can you stay in Europe for more than 3 months after Brexit?
UK passport holders can cross an external EU border using just a valid passport and stay anywhere in the Schengen Area for up to 3 months. To stay in the Schengen Area for longer than 90 days, a visa or another kind of travel permit is required.Can I travel 3 months before my US visa expires?
You can legally stay in the United States until the expiration of your authorized period of stay. However, you will not be able to travel to the United States Port of Entry to seek a new admission unless your visa has been renewed by the American Embassy in your country of Nationality.Are we allowed to enter US with less than 6 months expiry date?
As a general rule, passports must be valid for six months beyond the date the traveler will exit the United States. However, the United States has signed agreements with a number of countries to waive this requirement.Can you travel while your green card is being renewed?
With evidence that you've started the green card renewal process and the urgent need for travel abroad, the USCIS officer can give you temporary proof of your status. The officer will generally place a sticker on your green card that extends it's validity for an additional year.Can I travel abroad with an expired green card?
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Roberto Nickson, Alex Azabache, Ken Cheung, Enric Cruz López