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Say you have for example, a German passport, but you have US residency - so one of these:

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You're going to fly from, say, Asia back to the US. You reach the airport and the airline is about to decide if you are allowed to board or not for the flight to the US. ("Docs OK!") Can you use a photo of the card on your phone to board, per the Timatic rules airlines use?

(Note that it's well-known that in the US, they'll let you enter after some fuss - they just look up that you have one. This question is strictly about whether the airline will let you board).

There was once a question about a woman in this situation, BUT she actually boarded using an old tourist visa in per passport, which was just lucky. So as yet there's no real-life example here.)

I'm wondering whether the actual Timatic "rule" is that you need the plastic original? (Just as with driver's licenses, many folks just carry around only a copy of these, leaving the original safe somewhere.)

Maybe someone here does this all the time, answering the question.

Fattie
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1 Answers1

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All documents mentioned in TIMATIC must be originals, unless it's explicitly stated that a copy is accepted. There's no such statement regarding green cards.

So no, a copy of a green card will not do. And the German passport will be useless, as firstly it's not needed for a US permanent resident, and secondly entering on the basis of it requires a visa or ESTA, which a permanent resident cannot get.

Crazydre
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