Can a Chinese citizen in U.S. with Green Card return to China w/o a Chinese passport?

[Buckaroo]

Ok, I know this is a tough one but here it goes.

My wife is a Chinese citizen, has a U.S. green card but her Chinese passport has expired and she is waiting for a new one which the Chinese consulate in San Francisco says will take 4-12 months to rec. it's been 4 months now. Her father is in Xian, China and is very ill and his doctors have said he may only have a few months to live if that and my wife wants to return as soon as possible to see him.

So my question is this. What happens if my wife shows up in China without a passport? ( the Consulate in S.F. took her old one when she applied for the new one)

#1. Will the authorities admit her into China? And once there....

#2. Can't she just apply for a new passport in China?

Thank you one and all for any information or suggestions.

[fanglu]

She won't be allowed on a plane without a passport.

She should talk to the consulate and explain the situation - tears would probably help - they might be able to expedite things.

To be honest 4-12 months sounds like an insanely long period. Is it even legal under US law for her to be in the US with an expired passport?

[gato]

Have your wife ask the SF Chinese Consulate about applying for a 旅行证 for the interim period. This is what Chinese tourists who lose their passports while abroad get to be able to return to China.

See below.

http://www.fmcoprc.g...rzj/t215207.htm

中华人民共和国旅行证

http://jingyan.baidu...482d1b824c.html

持丢失证明和护照复印件尽快去目前所在国的中国大使馆或者领事馆办理护照或者旅行证，办理护照的时间较长，如果是旅游短期要回国的话，建议办理旅行证。

旅行证是替代护照的证件，具有护照的完全等同效力。正常情况下正常大使馆办理旅行证需要4个工作日，加急只需要2个工作日，即在你提交资料的第二天就能领 到。旅行证是和护照等同大小的蓝本，除个人信息外都是空白签证页，所以，用旅行证申请签证后旅行证就具有了完全等同于护照的作用，可以自由完成签证上规定 的旅行。一般情况下，不做特别说明，旅行证有效期是两年。

[jkhsu]

She can file for a US reentry permit and then get a China tourist visa. Do a search for reentry permit.

It's absolutely legal for her to stay in the US; she has a green card.

[gato]

She can file for a US reentry permit and then get a China tourist visa. Do a search for reentry permit.

It's absolutely legal for her to stay in the US; she has a green card.

Note that the "reentry permit" is for returning to the US. The 旅行证 is for returning to China. She needs both probably.

[大肚男]

she doesn't need a US reentry permit if she's gonna be gone for less than six months

because getting a reentry permit will reset the continuous residence period,

[roddy]

I went back to a couple of old topics to see if there was anything useful, but all the cases are US passport, rather than green card, holders. I'll link them anyway, just in case you want reassured that you are not the only person to be frustrated by the SF Consulate. Are other consulates known to be any better?

Lost Chinese passport and Visas for naturalized citizens.

[yialanliu]

About the green card to citizen thing. I thought the rule was 5 years of 180 days per year total minimum. So if you left July 5th 2012. Came back June 15th 2013. You should still be okay right? assuming the rest of the time, you're in the US and you'd meet the requirements for 2012 and 2013?

Continuous doesn't seem right since my path to citizenship had many vacations to Canada (within the same year) and I didn't have a problem getting my 5 years.

[studychinese]

It is a moot issue as another poster said, she won't be allowed on the plane.

[animal world]

This is unbelievable! When your wife came to the US, did she know that it might take this long to have her passport renewed? Anyway, i agree with fanglu that she won't get on a plane without a passport.

She definitely should visit the consulate to explain the matter. I Is it possible for her to show a letter from a doctor/hospital or something as evidence that her father's health condition is indeed extremely serious so that the consulate doesn't think she's making up a sad story to get a passport sooner? I am wondering whether there is also a US agency (passport renewal, immigration, whatever) that might help her to put some pressure on the Chinese consulate or provide helpful information (yeah, i know, good luck finding the right person who can/is willing to help but since the situation is dire you might as well try other sources).

Buckaroo, best of luck in resolving this issue shortly. I also hope the health of your father-in-law will make a turn for the better.

[gato]

See my post above. She should apply for the 旅行证 that's normally available to Chinese tourists who have lost their passports. It's not that uncommon of a situation.

[Buckaroo]

Thank you all for your speedy responses and suggestions. My wife has been to the S.F. consulate twice now and she did break down in tears the last time because even after explaining the situation regarding her father's declining health, she was told she'd have to wait. At least the young woman who assisted us at the window was not rude or short with my wife which was the case with one of the persons who responded here. And we have just rec. by email, a copy of a hospital statement re: her father's poor health.

My wife came to the U.S. 10 years ago and of course did not know then how things would transpire 10 years later in regards to renewing an expired passport or that she would marry me as far as that goes.

Thanks to Roddy for the links and to Baba321-we will try your suggestion of contacting Chinese Internal Affairs icasf.com

And thanks to everyone else for the timely, helpful responses. We did find all of your comments helpful in one way or another, however time restraints prohibit me from thanking each of you individually as I did with Roddy and Baba.

[jkhsu]

To set the facts straight, you do not need a passport to travel Internationally if you have a US Green Card. You will just need to obtain proper travel documentation (e.g. Reentry Permit) and visas to certain countries (e.g. China). There are a lot of immigrants in the USA with only Green Cards and no passports (mostly expired) from the countries that they came from.

Let's look at the requirements for traveling to China in this case:

First, here's an excerpt from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the topic of "Traveling outside of the U.S. - Documents needed for Lawful Permanent Residents(LPR)/Green Card holders"

https://help.cbp.gov...en%20card/sno/1

"Lawful Permanent Residents of the U.S. must present a Permanent Resident Card ("Green Card", INS Form I-551), a Reentry Permit (if gone for more than 1 year), or a Returning Resident Visa (if gone for 2 years or more) to reenter the United States. U.S. LPRs do not need a passport to enter the United States as per (8 CFR 211.1(a)), however, they may need a passport to enter another country. Please contact the embassy of the foreign country you will be traveling to for their requirements. While CBP does not require the passport as noted above, the airlines may have their own requirements, please check with your airlines prior to travel. Also, travel documents for LPRs do not need to be valid for any certain amount of time. Your LPR card only needs to be valid on the day that you are entering the US."

Second, here's an excerpt from the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in San Francisco:

http://www.chinacons...cjwd/t42280.htm

"4. Q: I have lost my passport long time ago; can I use my American Re-entry Permit to go back to China?

A: It depends. If your American Re-entry Permit specifies your country as "China", you need to apply for a new Chinese passport before you go back to China. Otherwise you may use your Re-entry Permit to apply for a Chinese visa."

Third, here are the International travel document requirements from United Airlines:

http://pss.united.co...l/passport.aspx

Note, that only a Green Card (Permanent Resident Card) is required for departure.

So, if you put all of this info together, the only thing that the OP's wife needs to make sure is that the country in her Reentry Permit is not "China". Ok, so let's take a look at the application for the Reentry Permit:

http://www.uscis.gov.../form/i-131.pdf

If you look at Part 5 (the specific questions for the Reentry Permit), you see these 2 questions:

1. Since becoming a permanent resident of the United States (or during the past five years, whichever is less) how much total time have you spent outside of the United States?

2. Since you became a permanent resident of the United States, have you ever filed a Federal income tax return as a nonresident or failed to file a Federal income tax return because you considered yourself to be a nonresident?

My assumption is that the answers to these two questions will establish the "country" status in the Reentry Permit. Also, in this case the Reentry Permit is needed to attach necessary visas and place entry / exit stamps. See this link:

http://www.uscis.gov...ources/B5en.pdf

"You may also want to get a reentry permit if you plan on traveling outside the United States and cannot or do not wish to get a passport from your home country. Many countries throughout the world may allow you to use a reentry permit much like you would use a passport—placing necessary visas and entry and exit stamps in the permit—so you may use it as your main travel document. Be sure to check with any country you plan to visit about specific requirements before you travel."

@Buckaroo: Your post came in after mine for some reason. Now that I've read your situation, you should go with what I suggested, especially if your wife has been in the US for 10 years already.