Can Polish citizens with US greencard travel to Canada?

Of course you need your passport. You don't need your Green Card if you are a permanent citizen. But you do need the travel documents form I-551 when you have a temporary green card, plus your temporary green card and passport.

Yeah, might well be. Although I would bring my passport anyway - just in case.


If you're a US citizen, then you only need your passport, but if you are a permanent resident (holding a permanent greencard) then you need both greencard and passport. Just happened to me.

exactly.

yes, you are right. I am talking about a permanent US resident not a permanent green card resident. I just said it wrong.

The laws have changed as of June 2009 so get your passport or you may not be able to reenter US.

A friend of mine with a polish passport, living in the united states with green card. He is going on a cruise from NYC to Bermuda and the Bahamas, anyone know if he should have visas?

he may talk to bermuda or bahama officials about that.

Polish Passport and Alien Registration Card are sufficient. I travel between US and Bahamas quite often and those two documents is all you need.

As far as US citizens traveling to Bahamas without a passport - those days are long gone. Everyone needs a passport now.

Should be pssbl. My brother has a green card and alien registration, but still holds his Dutch passport. He has been to Canada a few times without any trouble.

His wife has it even easier: she is a native American and she only needs to show her birth certificate and gets everywhere within North America - it's a privilege native Americans have.

>^..^<

M-G (I believe you get a stamp in your passport when you enter Canada)

i don't think so.

Hello everyone,
I'm flying through Vancouver to go on the cruise. I have a green card and old passport (old I mean NOT non-biometric). I cannot found anywhere information if I will be able to pass the borders of Canada with Green Card and old, valid passport.

Do you have any suggestions or know stories like mine ?

Thank you!

if everything is valid, you're good to go...

Thank you!

I travel a lot and basically you need a passport anywhere you go nowadays. In the past we were spoiled here in the US and could travel to Canada, Mexico, etc. using our Driver's license and nothing else. 9/11 changed all that. If you have a Polish passport (newer version with the RFID chip - biometric) you shouldn't have any trouble entering Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean Islands. If you have an older passport check with respective embassy - you might also need a birth certificate, etc.

If you have a visa in your passport then that's what you'll need to get back into the US. If you have a regular or a conditional green card then that's what you'll need to get back in (AND your passport of course).

Bon voyage. :)

Note - Conditional green card is marriage based and issued before the actual interview of the spouses - usually it's a ~2 years permit - for travel purposes it works the same way but it has an expiration date. In the past while a person applied for a permanent residency through marriage you were not allowed to leave the country until the interview. Family emergencies, etc. were exluded but you had to notify the INS. Not sure what it's like today.

Amazing the things you learn when dating an immigration attorney... She's long gone but I still remember the many things she taught me... she was a great teacher. LOL

Also - based on reply #22 I guess you might need a visa too.

"...Poland (holders of non-biometric passports only)..."

Just renew your Polish passport to get the biometric version and you should be fine. If you live in the US I'd imagine you should be able to renew at the Polish Consulate.

we don't have such document in PL..


all green cards have expiration dates now..


correct


this is a bit puzzling to me as you can just show them your green card when entering Canada and that is all you need.. however, these days, they may ask you for the passport.. not sure.. last time i crossed the border was before the passport requirement and i just used my DL both ways.

i would argue that we do.

...or the equivalent.


Correct, however an actual green card (or is it pink card :) never expires [providing you follow the INS guidelines]. It's simply the document that expires just like your driver's license or your passport.

Not so with the conditional green card. Unless you've had your interview and passed it your conditional green card will expire (unless extended due to the INS's inefficiencies, etc.). So that's what I meant.


Passport is for entering back into the US. Canadians simply want to know who you are and to make sure you'll be able to get back into the US.

yeah but it's not the same thing as it is in the usa.. here it's like another ID


just an ID (dokument obywatelski or something)


never.. well, that could probably be argued as one has to reapply and INS (or Homeland Security now) could deny it, if they felt like it.. it's not like a DL where you just pay a fee and get another copy...


yeah i know but technically then you really don't need a visa to Canada.

always be sure your visa is of multiple entry... :)

Yes, you're right.

Well, green card works the same way in other countries. In Sweden we call it PUT certificate (Permanent Uppehållstillstånd) or Permanent Residency Permit but break any major laws and you get kicked out. That's why the renewal process exists so they can look into your past 10 years and see if you deserve to stay. In my view a permanent resident should become a citizen asap - to fully participate in a society one must be able to vote!

I find it ironic the new Arizona law is so controversial - if you see the highlighted area below legal aliens were ALWAYS required to carry their legal permit (same in Sweden). La Raza and other latino racist organizations think the law shouldn't have to apply to them - they want preferencial treatment. My solution is expell all illegals and when needed invite legal aliens from true allies of the US, from countries whose soldiers spillt their blood fighting right next to our soldiers. Poland would rank very high on that list.

A Permanent Resident Card, commonly known as a Green Card, is evidence of your status as a lawful permanent resident with a right to live and work permanently in the United States. It also is evidence of your registration in accordance with United States immigration laws. The Permanent Resident Card is also called INS Form I-551.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

Section 264 of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides that, "Every alien in the United States shall be issued a certificate of alien registration or an alien registration receipt card in such form and manner and at such time as shall be prescribed under regulations." It also states, "Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him. Any alien who fails to comply with [these] provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."

the problem with the original AZ law was that it allowed the police to stop people for "looking" illegal. how does an illegal person look like? that is why the AZ governess signed the augmented law rather quickly where status ID could only be asked if there was some other violation first..

I think many people that come here from politically opressed countries are blowing this out of proportion. When an officer of the law, here, in the good old US of A asks me for identification, I don't freak out. I usually try to strike a conversation with the poor shmuck that picked such a ****** job. And I'm not sure I want to be on the side of those that don't want the local law to know who they are.

And seriously, do we want everyone in Arizona to get ID'd? There are not enough hours in the day! The problem they are trying to solve, after all, is illegal immigration from the south.

not out of proportion.. it's just americans are becoming sheep and these kind of laws remind these folk from abroad why they skipped their former locations.. this is not how america is supposed to be..

Neither is it supposed to be the blame America first pseudo-socialist workers' paradise that the Messiah is trying to impose on us.

an example: when a crime is committed and a suspect at large is a white male in his 30's, you better believe the cops are going to stop every male in his 30 in the vicinity. The crime here is massive illegal work force from Mexico and central America. Are we really asking the law to check out just as many white people as latin ones? Does that make sense?

Thank you! Finally some common sense. The day we hear about some Swedish meatball mafia blowing up Absolut Vodka plants or a Norwegian Aryan Gang targeting the American salmon producers I say profile every Scandinavian looking person!

For now lets focus on following our current law - if you have a green card, keep it on you just like the law tells you to do. If you're near our border and look like the 99% of people who're smuggling drugs into our country - get used to us being suspicious toward you. The day your brother-ens stop poisoning our nation with drugs and stop kidnapping, raping and murdering our citizens we will stop viewing you with suspicion. Enough of this reverse-racist La Raza political correctness crap.

oh jeez.. that is not what is happening at all.. not even close man.. come on now.. i would think that you would know better then that.


but there are millions of legal latinos here and they will ALL be under scrutinised.. how is that fair.. do you think they'll ever ask any of the number of poles that are illegally here to show their papers??


that's just racist crap, i'm sorry but i call it how i see it. that is not AMERICA we all know and love.

Yes, it is. I understand why you think his universal health care ordeal is good and I sympathise. However, it is wrong cure for this country. Instead of improving our current system he's revamping it to what I'm used to in Sweden. Nobody should ever have to wait in line for a cancer surgery because the money for the fiscal year in the government run hospital is spent for the year but in 10-15 years it'll happen here too. There's already a thread on this subject so I won't go any further but yes, that's exactly what's happening!


If I was to travel by airplane, bus, train, subway, etc. and only a few months earlier someone had blown up an airplane and that person looked like me I WOULD WANT the government to scrutinize me. Why? Because I have nothing to hide and I want to be safe and to keep my family safe.

...and yes, I'm sure they'll target the many Poles too. Laws are to be followed by each and every nationality.


Wrong plk - I'll never agree with you here. Racism is hating someone because of his/her race. I don't hate any race and neither does our government. However I hate drugs and I hate crime. If a latino person or a Polish person has no drugs on him or hasn't committed any crimes I see no problem with showing some vigilance. That's not racism, that's common sense in a war we're losing by each and every hour because of our pansy, pro-illegal alien politicians who care more about political correctness than about the victims of violent crimes.

what is happening in the US right now is not socialism. not even close man. you know better then that. i know you do.


no they won't as you can't tell a polak from an american but all latinos will have to deal with being pulled over and interrogated and solely based on the way they look or in other words, the color of their skin.


no i am not.. see my above comment.. the other thing is that you are saying, and that is why i called it what it is, is that all latinos bring drugs into the country and that they also commit most of the crime.. for one.. drugs are coming into the USA because there is a demand for them.. it's a free market thing.. as to crime.. you know better.. most crime is not committed by latinos at all.. so, in conclusion the AZ law is unconstitutional because it is racist.. it will not stand up to the scrutiny of the courts.. that is my bet anyway.


btw. this has nothing to do with my situation as the new law has had 0 effect on it and most likely won't. so, you are familiar with the swedish system.. why do you find it wrong? there are so many reason to support this and i really can't think of many against it. just my 2 pennies.