6.1 Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR)

You must allow employees to choose which document(s) they will present from the Lists of Acceptable Documents. In Section 2, an LPR may choose to present a List A document (such as Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card (PRC), commonly referred to as a Green Card) or a List B and C document combination (such as a state-issued driver’s license and unrestricted Social Security card). You are not required to reverify the employment eligibility of a lawful permanent resident who presented these documents and should not reverify their employment authorization.

Forms I-551 may have:

• No expiration date. We issued these cards from January 1977 to August 1989.
• A 10-year expiration date.
• A two-year expiration date.

Note: Through January 2021, USCIS issued extension stickers affixed to PRCs that extended the validity of the PRC through the month and year indicated on the sticker.

LPRs may also present an expired or expiring PRC in combination with either of these receipt notices as a List A document:

• Form I-797C, Notice of Action, receipt notice for Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card
• Form I-797C, Notice of Action, receipt notice for Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, that contains an automatic extension of the PRC

These I-797C receipt notices extend the PRC’s validity beyond the date on the front of the card. The receipt notice will specify the length of the automatic extension.

Reverification is never required when any of the documents listed above in this section expire.

Temporary Form I-551 Requires Reverification

If an LPR or conditional resident presents one of the temporary Forms I-551 listed below, you must reverify their employment authorization:

• List A receipt: The arrival portion of Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, containing an unexpired temporary I-551 stamp and a photograph of the employee. They must present their Form I-551 to you no later than when the stamp expires, or one year after U.S. Customs and Border Protection issues the Form I-94 if the stamp does not contain an expiration date.
• List A document: A foreign passport with either a temporary I-551 stamp or I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa (MRIV). They must present a List A or List C document showing continued employment authorization to you when the stamp expires, or one year after the admission date if the stamp does not contain an expiration date.
  • Most MRIVs contain the following language on the visa: “UPON ENDORSEMENT SERVES AS TEMPORARY I-551 EVIDENCING PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR 1 YEAR.” The one-year time period begins on the date of admission. If the employee receives an MRIV without the statement “FOR 1 YEAR,” you should treat the MRIV as evidence of permanent residence status for one year from the date of admission.
  • If the stamp in the passport is endorsed “CR-1” and is near but not on the MRIV, it is still a valid endorsement.
  • Enter the number in red font under the MRIV “Expires On” date as the document number.
• List C document: An expired PRC with a Form I-797, Notice of Action, receipt notice for either a Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions, or a Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, that indicates USCIS has extended the card’s validity. You must reverify the employee’s employment authorization in Section 3 before their extension ends.