Travelling with a Green Card (what is your experience?)

[True Blue]

Hopefully, one day soon the good folks at USCIS will end our 18 month (pick one) journey/learning experience/private hell and determine that we have now jumped through enough hoops to become worthy of a two year green card. At that time, she will still be a Chinese citizen.

 

Assuming my wife can eventually receive her green card, how does this impact her ability to travel?

 

Specifically,

(1) Can she travel to Mexico or the Caribbean on a cruise ship with me and visit each of the countries that a cruise ship may dock at on the cruise without obtaining a Chinese visa to visit each country?

 

(2) Can she enter Canada or Mexico with me by air flight or driving across the border with a Green Card or does she need to obtain a Chinese visa to enter Canada and a Chinese visa to enter Mexico?

 

(3) Can she travel to the major countries in Europe (England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Netherlands, etc) without obtaining a Chinese visa to each country?

 

Are the answers to (1) through (3) above different if she has her 10 year green card? If she becomes a US Citizen then I presume that no special Visa is needed but then she will need a US Visa to travel to China. Is my understanding correct?

 

Thanks for your help,

Edited March 3, 2010 by True Blue (see edit history)

[a2784]

Hopefully, one day soon the good folks at USCIS will end our 18 month (pick one) blessing/ordeal/journey/learning experience/private hell and determine that we have now jumped through enough hoops to merit a two year green card. At that time, she will still be a Chinese citizen.

 

Assuming my wife can eventually receive her green card, how does this impact her ability to travel?

 

Specifically,

(1) Can she travel to Mexico and the Caribbean on a cruise with me without obtaining a Chinese visa to visit each of the countries that a cruise ship may dock at? -- YES

 

(2) Can she enter Canada or Mexico with me with a Green Card or does she need to obtain a Chinese visa for Canada and a Chinese visa for Mexico to cross the border? -- ENTER w/ GC

 

(3) Can she travel to the major countries in Europe (England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Netherlands, etc) without obtaining a Chinese visa to each country. -- NO

 

(4) Are the answers to (1) through (3) above different once she has her 10 year green card? -- NO

 

(5) If she becomes a US Citizen then I presume the answers to (1) through (3) are that no special Visa is needed. I understand that if she becomes a US Citizen then she will need a US Visa to travel to China. Is my understanding correct? YES but she will need a Chinese visa to trave to China.

 

Thanks for your help,

[Randy W]

A minor point that you probably don't care about, but a visa is for the specific country being traveled to - NOT China or the US (unless you're talking about going to those countries). She would need a European visa for the specific countries (and/or Schengen), NOT one from hina.

 

Check with the cruise line about which countries will be visited and whether a Chinese passport holder will need a visa or if the green card is enough. In general, however, a2784 is correct.

 

Delta Airlines' visa and passport information

 

Keep in mind that "staying on the boat" may not be good enough - that is, she may be required to have a visa for a country that the cruise will visit, whether or not she actually disembarks.

Edited March 3, 2010 by Randy W (see edit history)

[C4Racer]

Hopefully, one day soon the good folks at USCIS will end our 18 month (pick one) blessing/ordeal/journey/learning experience/private hell and determine that we have now jumped through enough hoops to merit a two year green card. At that time, she will still be a Chinese citizen.

 

Assuming my wife can eventually receive her green card, how does this impact her ability to travel?

 

Specifically,

(1) Can she travel to Mexico and the Caribbean on a cruise with me without obtaining a Chinese visa to visit each of the countries that a cruise ship may dock at?

 

(2) Can she enter Canada or Mexico with me with a Green Card or does she need to obtain a Chinese visa for Canada and a Chinese visa for Mexico to cross the border?

 

(3) Can she travel to the major countries in Europe (England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Netherlands, etc) without obtaining a Chinese visa to each country.

 

(4) Are the answers to (1) through (3) above different once she has her 10 year green card?

 

(5) If she becomes a US Citizen then I presume the answers to (1) through (3) are that no special Visa is needed. I understand that if she becomes a US Citizen then she will need a US Visa to travel to China. Is my understanding correct?

 

Thanks for your help,

 

 

She can travel to Canada and Mexico without getting a visa if she has a green card, So the answers to each question are:

 

1) She can travel to Mexico, but may need a visa depending upon other ports of call. Each country is different. You will need to check the requirement for that country. US has an agreement with Canada and Mexico that citizens and legal residences may travel between these countries for short stays.

 

2) Travel between Canada and Mexico are no problem with green card and passport. No visa is needed.

 

3) Europe she will need to get a visa for any country you wish to visit.

 

4) No. a legal permanent resident is a legal permanent resident no matter the type of document issued. The only difference between the two is how long you have before you must file to renew status.

 

5) Answers 1-3 change to no different than any other US citizen. So yes, she will need to have a visa to travel back to China.

[b.c]

In regards to Eurpoean travel, you can visit most EU countries by obtaining just one visa. It applies for most of them. I dont believe it covers UK though.

[Daviation]

In regards to Eurpoean travel, you can visit most EU countries by obtaining just one visa. It applies for most of them. I dont believe it covers UK though.

 

Correct. In fact most EU countries now issue ONLY what is called Schengen Visa. While you do obtain it directly from the country where you first enter (and you are supposed to exit from same country), the visa is good for travel in all EU countries that are part of the Schengen agreement.

 

Also correct that UK is NOT part of the Schengen agreement. US permanent residents can transit through UK with actual GC (but NOT with just equivalent stamp in passport).

[amberjack1234]

Something that some people do not know/think about is that if you wife ever intends to apply for US Citizenship she will have to provide dates, times and countries that she had visited for the last five years of application for each trip out of the US that was over 24 hours.

 

The only reason that I mention it is so that you can keep track of this information to make things easier in the event that she wants to become a US Citizen.

 

Larry