AILA Opposes USCIS Rule Invalidating Earlier I-551 Cards
Posted Oct 05, 2007
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The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has issued a comment opposing a USCIS proposal to invalidate older "green cards," or I-551 cards, issued without any expiration dates. This proposed regulation was first reported to MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers in our August 31, 2007 article, Proposed Replacement of Older I-551 Green Card. AILA’s opposition is based upon a number of factors. Among these are: (1) the fact that the USCIS has conceded that the older cards comply with all legal requirements (2) and the fact that the USCIS has failed to provide adequate notification to long-term permanent residents, while making noncompliance a crime. This pertains only to green cards issued before 1989. Expiration dates were included on the I-551 cards after that time, so that renewals would be required about once every ten years.
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Inadequate Notice and Other Problems
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AILA objects to the proposal to invalidate the pre-1989 cards because of inadequate procedures and the too-narrow window of 120 days for notifying those affected by this change. They also note that invalidating the cards will force long-term permanent residents to spend money and undergo potentially lengthy security checks, will interfere with their travel, and will subject them to prosecution for noncompliance.
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AILA suggests a longer timeframe for filing, in the range of several years, if the USCIS does implement this proposed regulation. Further, AILA suggests a fee waiver or reduction, in light of the fact that this proposal was issued shortly after the filing fees were substantially increased. AILA suggest a widespread publicity campaign and individualized notification by mail to each person’s last-known address on file with the USCIS or updated through the AR-11 process. Finally, and importantly, they urge that failure to obtain a new card should not become a crime, as it would under the proposal, and that any prior criminal conviction records should not be required as a condition of processing the request for a new green card.
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Conclusion
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Some valid points are raised by AILA regarding this proposal to protect long-term permanent residents. We at the Murthy Law Firm agree that this class of long-term permanent residents should not be criminalized if they are unaware of the need to replace their green cards. We also believe that this is imposing a substantial cost on these individuals without providing them with any additional benefit, since it would simply impose an expiration date to their permanent green cards. If the USCIS is concerned about the cards that Legacy INS validly issued years ago, then they should replace these at their own expense. They should not transfer this cost to green card holders; especially after having increased the USCIS filing fees so recently and so disproportionately to the amount of work required on the part of the USCIS.