GUWonder

Indeed the US is not the ultimate arbiter of foreign government admission policies and practices beyond that which may be a product of treaty obligations/rights which do have a role to play in some such situations.

Various foreign locales in the Americas accept US LPRs in who have a foreign passport without a (US and/or destination country) visa and happen to travel without an unexpired US permanent residency card. Costs Rica does allow in some such persons without presentation of an unexpired US PR card even as most often it does not accept such.

The OP should have indeed contacted the Costa Rican embassy/consulate in the country of residence and/or citizenship, just as the airline should have known what documents are (and are not most) commonly accepted for admission in the country to which the passengers are being transported.

cbn42

Why would you even bother posting something if you are unwilling to discuss or clarify it?

You made a completely unsubstantiated claim, with a note saying not to ask you further questions about it. How can we take it seriously?

Ari

Not every word in every contract is enforceable; contract law is very complicated and I can't say what would happen if UA went after a passenger for this sort of thing, but there are all sort of legal doctrines (latches, estoppel, contributory neglegence, etc) that could produce a result other than the one UA would like. It seems to me that the fines are large enough to deter airlines from not checking papers carefully, but small enough that the cost of litigating the issue wouldn't be worth it.

dsauch

you are confused as to what this letter says - it allows person to come BACK to US after travel, it does not and cannot allow such person entrance into other countries.

One can have I-131 advanced parol card, in leu of pending GC - it still does not allow such person to travel to Canada for example as US resident. He would need a Visa on the basis of current passport.
Even though such person can have Advanced Parol, Employment Authorization, Driver License, Social Security - pretty much 99% US resident.
Still unless you have GC - get a visa.

Ari

If you have GC, aren't you precluded from getting a visa to many countries?

dsauch

if you have GC you will be allowed to enter _some_ countries without visa. Those that have special agreement with US.

You are absolutely in no way precluded from traveling on your passport and getting a visa into those or any other country.

Often1

There are a heck of a lot of lawyers in the US who make pretty decent livings bringing cases for a lot less than $10K in bulk. And, that's presuming that a lawsuit is necessary to collect:

1. Most people likely cough up or work out a payment plan and a deal.
2. Most people sued probably default because it's expensive to hire an attorney to defend.
3. Most unpaid default judgments are probably sold by UA for pennies on the dollar to a collector who collects a bit more than he paid for the debt.
4. Some people skate
5. Some people fight and win.

But, a broad statement suggesting that "I'd like to see them collect" isn't in synch with what happens to smallish debts here.

GUWonder

Some GC holders may be able to enter some countries even without a US agreement with the foreign jurisdiction to do so for such GC holders without a visa. A special US agreement need not necessarily be in place for such circumstances.

Some countries' embassies/consulates in the US won't issue some visa types to some US GC holders because of US residency status, but those circumstances are rather special circumstances and uncommon for the overwhelming majority of GC holders and don't involve all visa types being refused to all GC holders who are citizens of a country whose nationals in the main require a visa procured before travel to the destination country.

You can take whatever you wish however you wish.

The mentions in my post are completely substantiated, just as much as I am not compelled to take the bait and further feed fish on demand. My own interests don't always involve spoon feeding fish on demand. Why that is wont really change a thing. The fish should try and feed themselves when they aren't stuck in an artificial aquarium segregated from sources they can dive into using their own resources.

GUWonder

Where are all the court cases involving such and the litany of decades of passenger complaints about UA hitting them with lawsuits over circumstances like in the OP's post? Where are the online complaints from passengers about out-of-court pursuit? Scaremongering in defense of what?

moeve

I am not American or a GC holder so pardon me if this question seems stupid. What I do know is that this GC is very important in the US so how come the US can afford to let people wait so long for such an important document.

I need to ask something else - is this GC handled the same way as a passport? Many countries require a passport to be valid for 6 months after the end of the trip which in effect reduces the vailidity of such a passport to 9 years and 6 months. Now since you might need to wait 8 weeks or more for a new one and the new one is issued to the same date as it is applied for that effectively reduces the validity even more. Now does the GC work on the same principle and is this the reason why people wait until the almost the end to apply for a new one? Or are you simply not allowed to apply for the new one before a certain period?

Jaimito Cartero

I think customs is a pretty good job for people in Costa Rica. I'd guess it'd take much more than $20, if they were even interested. I'd give a $100 a 10% chance.

Ari

That's if you have a GC.

I guess my crude play on words needed an emoticon.

leaveamessage

Delays in issuing the physical cards are not exactly rare- especially when removing conditions from cr-1 to ir-1 (as in the OPs case), which is the whole point of the extension letter- to evidence proof of current lawful PR status.
The extension letter is not the same as 'advanced parole' - that is very different and evidence of adjusting status- not proof of lawful permanent residence.

My own CR-1 immigrant visa clearly states on the bottom "Upon endorsement serves as temporary 1-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year" - in other words, until the plastic PR card (I-551) arrives in the mail, that IS the PR card and acceptable evidence of permanent residence, much the same as the extension letter is.

qmiro

It can take months to get a replacement green card. I had a very slight typo in my middle name on the first green card issued to me and I sent it with the correct form to USCIS to get a replacement card. I sent it in early May. I made the mistake of not sending it via a trackable method. I did not hear back from USCIS for weeks. Nothing. No acknowledgement of receiving the card with the typo, nada.
I kept calling and waiting on hold for hours to get someone to tell me something. By early August, nobody at USCIS could even tell me if they received my form. I had to travel internationally in early September and I was getting really worried.
One day, out of the blue, I got a letter from USCIS saying they received my request. I got the replacement card in the mail within three days.
Not to make a silly point, but I could get a replacement American Express card anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours. But a card as important as a green card, I couldn't get for months!
To go back to the OP's problem, I can understand why other governments wouldn't accept a letter saying your card is being renewed and you are in good status as a permanent resident. Someone who is not particularly a computer wizard could produce a similar letter probably in under an hour. So they need to see a valid GC which is much more difficult, if not impossible, to counterfeit.
I did know in the past that having an I-551 stamp on my passport would not allow me into countries like Mexico or Canada without a visa. So I never attempted to do that.
Too bad, OP, I feel for you. But go ahead and plan another trip here in the US. Many beautiful places to go to.

nrr

(1)AMEX is a private Corp.; the "green card issuing people" are a gov't agency. [Propbably "little green men" make them--it is alien related.]
(2)A good hacker should be able to make such a letter in less than 10 minutes.