Permanent Residents Returning to the US

[chang2007]

Dear all,

My wife and I are from Malaysia. We received our US permanent residency two months ago and we moved to the United States last month for the very time.

We would like to go back to Malaysia for two weeks in December to sell our house. We have valid Malaysian passports that don't expire until 2012 and our US green cards don't expire until 2017.

Do we need permission from US Immigration or the US Consulate in Malaysia to get back into the US? My brother (who has been a naturalized US citizen for 30 years) thinks that we need some sort of document to return to the US.

Thank you very much in advance for the information.

[chang2007]

Dear all,

My wife and I are from Malaysia. We received our US permanent residency two months ago and we moved to the United States last month for the very time.

We would like to go back to Malaysia for two weeks in December to sell our house. We have valid Malaysian passports that don't expire until 2012 and our US green cards don't expire until 2017.

Do we need permission from US Immigration or the US Consulate in Malaysia to get back into the US? My brother (who has been a naturalized US citizen for 30 years) thinks that we need some sort of document to return to the US.

Thank you very much in advance for the information.

[Caribbeanman]

Once you have your green which you said don't expire until 2017 you would be able to come back to the US without a problem.

[chang2007]

Thank you very much for the reply.

Do we need some kind of approval stamp on our passports? When we went to the US consulate in Malaysia, we were just given our green cards. They didn't stamp our passports or give us any other documents.

When we arrived at the JFK airport in New York City, the immigration officer just looked at our green cards and stamped the date of entry on our passports.

Thanks again.

[Caribbeanman]

No you do not need any stamp in your passports as the green card replaces that stamp...the stamp is given when you haven't received your green card and if in the event that you might wanna travel.

[Caribbeanman]

Yes you do have to show your green card to the immigration officer...you'll be fine.

[aneri]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chang2007:
When we went to the US consulate in Malaysia, we were just given our green cards. They didn't stamp our passports or give us any other documents.

When we arrived at the JFK airport in New York City, the immigration officer just looked at our green cards and stamped the date of entry on our passports. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Are you sure you were given "green cards"? Small, plastic card that's not green? I am sorry I am asking this way but I have never heard that the consulate is issuing a green card (maybe it is something new?). Normaly, the consulate gives a visa, and then a few weeks after arrival to the USA, a person gets green card in the mail (would be ordered by the immigration officer who processed you as an immigrant at JFK).