U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced a new process for lawful permanent residents to receive temporary evidence of their lawful permanent resident status by mail rather than physically visiting a field office to receive an Alien Documentation, Identification, and Telecommunication (ADIT) stamp (i.e., I-551 stamp).

All lawful permanent residents are entitled to evidence of their permanent resident status. Until the permanent resident card is in hand, lawful permanent residents may require temporary evidence of their status in the form of an ADIT stamp if they fall into one of the following categories:

• They do not have their Permanent Resident Card; or
• Their Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Green Card); Form I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence; or Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, is still pending adjudication, and their Green Card and extension notice have expired.

With these new procedures, when lawful permanent residents call the USCIS Contact Center to request temporary evidence of status, an immigration services officer will verify their identity, their physical mailing address, and whether that address can receive UPS or FedEx express mail.  They will then either schedule an in-person appointment for the lawful permanent resident, if needed or submit a request to the USCIS field office to issue the ADIT stamp.  If an in-person appointment is not needed, the USCIS field office will review the request for temporary evidence and mail the applicant a Form I-94 with an ADIT stamp, DHS seal, and a printed photo of the lawful permanent resident obtained from USCIS systems.

USCIS may continue to issue temporary evidence of status in the form of an ADIT stamp. USCIS determines if the requestor should receive an ADIT stamp and has the discretion to determine the validity period based on the lawful permanent resident’s situation (not to exceed one year unless specified otherwise by regulation or policy).

Some lawful permanent residents will still need to appear in person at a USCIS field office to receive temporary evidence of their status, including those who have urgent needs, do not have a useable photo in USCIS systems, or whose address or identity cannot be confirmed. 

This new process will allow USCIS to issue temporary evidence of lawful permanent resident status in a timely way without requiring a scheduled appointment at the field office, thereby reducing the burden on applicants and increasing availability of field office resources.

Please reach out to one of the members of our immigration team if you have any questions.