{"id":27371,"date":"2017-12-20T15:11:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T23:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.us-immigration.com\/blog\/?p=27371"},"modified":"2024-11-28T04:29:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T12:29:58","slug":"how-to-read-green-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/how-to-read-green-card\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Read Green Card"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><b>Green Card Information<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Permanent Resident Cards are a primary form of identification for permanent residents. Also known as <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Green Cards<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, these official documents allow their holders to live and work in the U.S. as well as re-enter the U.S. after traveling abroad for short periods of time. Green Cards may also be <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">helpful<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in filing for a Social Security card, securing a lease on a home or apartment, gaining legal employment, and opening a bank account, for example. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Old Versus New Green Cards<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Formats and security measures for Permanent Resident Cards have changed over the years. In 2017, under the Next Generation Secure Identification Document Project, USCIS began issuing new cards that<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">display the individual\u2019s photograph on both the front and back,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">carry the image of the Statue of Liberty on a predominately green palette,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">have embedded holographic images,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">no longer display the individual\u2019s signature and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">no longer carry an optical stripe on the back.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Old cards will remain valid pending their established expiration dates.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>How To Read the Front of a Green Card<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The front of a Permanent Resident Card lists clearly labeled key personal identifiers:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Surname<\/strong>. At the top is the card holder\u2019s last name or familial name.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Given Name<\/strong>. The individual name the cardholder was given at birth is displayed separately, below the person\u2019s surname. This is often the first name and middle initial.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>USCIS Number<\/strong>. Newer cards will list the USCIS# while older cards may list the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/tools\/glossary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A-Number<\/a> or A#. The USCIS Number is the same as the individual\u2019s A-Number, which is the unique number USCIS assigns to each person\u2019s A-File when they apply to immigrate to the United States.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Category<\/strong>. Also known as <em>Class of Admission<\/em>, the Category Code is a three-digit set of letters and numbers. This code specifies the section of immigration law that USCIS applied to that individual\u2019s situation to approve the Green Card. A listing of categories can be found in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/ilink\/docView\/AFM\/HTML\/AFM\/0-0-0-1\/0-0-0-27276\/0-0-0-32908.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Appendix 23-7<\/a>, \u201cClass of Admission under the Immigrant Laws, Code,\u201d of the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s <em>Adjudicator\u2019s Field Manual<\/em>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Country of Birth<\/strong>. This should be the country where the individual was born.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Date of Birth<\/strong>. The card will list the day, abbreviated month and full year that the individual was born.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Sex<\/strong>. The card will list an F for female and an M for male.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Card Expiration Date<\/strong>. This date is usually 10 years after the issuance date, which usually is titled <em>Resident Since<\/em>. For conditional residents, the expiration date will be 2 years after the issuance date.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Resident Since<\/strong>. This is the issuance date, the date that the individual was granted the Green Card.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b>How To Read the Back of a Green Card<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The back of the card contains much of the same information but in a coded form that allows it all to be displayed in three lines. Each piece of information is separated by a less than symbol that looks like a V turned on its side:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first line displays codes indicating<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether the individual is a resident. C1 indicates the individual resides within the U.S. while C2 indicates the individual commutes from a residence in Canada or Mexico.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The country issuing the card.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The individual\u2019s nine-digit A-Number.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The immigrant case number that resulted in the Green Card\u2019s approval.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second line displays the individual\u2019s birth date and gender as well as the card\u2019s expiration date and the person\u2019s country of birth. Birth dates and expiration dates are displayed in the format YY\/MM\/DD, using two-digit abbreviations for year, month and day.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The third line displays the individual\u2019s name as well as the names of the individual\u2019s parents, space permitting.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Green Card Information Permanent Resident Cards are a primary form of identification for permanent residents. Also known as Green Cards, these official documents allow their holders to live and work in the U.S. as well as re-enter the U.S. after traveling abroad for short periods of time. Green Cards may also be helpful in filing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27371"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44797,"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27371\/revisions\/44797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.us-immigration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}