Renew or Replace Your Green Card (Form I-90)

A green card expires every ten years, gets lost, gets damaged, or arrives with a wrong detail. For any of those cases the process is the same: Form I-90. We prepare it in full, with the documents that go with it and the dates under control.

The most common mistake with this process is filing it when it did not apply. If your residency is conditional for two years, the form is a different one. We review your card before starting and tell you at the first appointment.

What the preparation of your Form I-90 includes

• Application to renew or replace your card (Form I-90)
• Review of the reason that applies to your case
• Confirmation that the I-90 is the right form for you
• Organization of supporting documents
• Follow-up on the biometrics appointment and on delivery

What is Form I-90 and what is it for?

The I-90 is the application a permanent resident uses to ask USCIS for a new card. It does not change your status or renew it: your residency stays exactly the same. What is renewed or replaced is the document that proves it.

That distinction, which sounds like a technicality, is what settles most of the panic: the card expires, the residency does not.

Renew or replace? When each one applies

The form is the same, but the correct reason has to be selected, and the documents you attach depend on it.

Your card is expiring or has expired

This is the most common case. The ten-year card is renewed as the expiration date approaches; USCIS accepts filing within the six months before that date. If it already expired, you file anyway: there is nothing to wait for, and no reason to keep putting it off.

It was lost, stolen, or damaged

Here the card is not renewed but replaced, and the reason selected is a different one. If it was stolen, it helps to have the police report at hand. If it is broken, unreadable, or worn to the point where it cannot be used as identification, it goes down the same path.

It shows wrong information or you changed your name

A wrong date of birth or a misspelled last name is corrected through this process, and who made the error changes what has to be attached. If you legally changed your name —through marriage, divorce, or a court order—, the new card is requested with the document that supports that change.

When the I-90 is NOT the right form for you

If your card is a two-year card, you are a conditional resident and the I-90 is not yours: it is the removal of conditions (Form I-751), filed within the 90 days before it expires. Filing an I-90 in that situation fixes nothing while the clock keeps running.

And if you are outside the United States and lost your card, this is not the path either: there is a specific process at the consulate to be able to board your flight back. Look into it before booking.

If your green card expired, did you lose your residency?

No. Permanent residency is not lost because the card expires; what expires is the document. You are still a resident and you still have your rights.

That said, without a valid card the practical problems begin: proving you can work, re-entering the country after a trip, renewing your driver license. That is why it is worth not letting the expiration date slide, even though your status is untouched.

While the new card arrives, the receipt notice USCIS sends usually extends the validity of the expired card temporarily when both are presented together. The notice itself states for how long: keep it.

How the process moves forward

After filing comes the receipt notice, which confirms the filing date and is usually what backs you up while you wait. Then the biometrics appointment: fingerprints and photograph at a nearby office.

From there USCIS reviews the case and, if something is missing, asks for it in writing with a deadline. In the end, the card arrives by mail at the address on file, so keeping it up to date is no small detail.

Mistakes that delay a renewal

Selecting the wrong reason, which drags the wrong documents along with it. Sending an unreadable copy of the card being replaced. Filing an I-90 when the I-751 was what applied. Moving without updating your address and receiving neither the biometrics appointment nor the card.

None of them is serious on its own, but each one costs weeks or months, and with a document that has already expired, that time shows up in your daily life.

How we work your case

We start by looking at your card: how many years it is for, what date it carries, and what exactly it says. With that we confirm whether the I-90 is your process and, if it is not, which one is. From there comes a written quote before we start.

Then we prepare the full application, attach what corresponds to the reason in your case, file it, and follow the dates until the card is in your hands. We have attorneys licensed in Colombia, and service is available in Spanish and English.