If your Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) card is lost, stolen, or damaged, you may seek temporary evidence of LPR status in the form of a Transportation Boarding Foil to return to the United States.  To qualify, you must not have been outside the United States for over a year.

Transportation Boarding Foils are only processed at the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Quito.

You do not need a Transportation Boarding Foil if you have an expired LPR card provided it was issued with 10 year’s validity and if you have been outside the United States less than a year.  However, some airlines may be reluctant to let you board with an expired card.  If you encounter this situation, you should show the airline page 36 in the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guide for carriers found in the CBP website. (PDF-7MB)

Steps to take to obtain a Transportation Boarding Foil:

• Assess whether you qualify for or need a Transportation Boarding Foil
• Complete, print and bring to the interview the Form I-131A Application for Travel Document
• Pay the required non-refundable filing fee of $575 through the USCIS online Elis payment system
• Go to the Embassy’s visa appointment website. Create an account and schedule an appointment.

On the day of your interview at the Embassy you will need to bring the following:

1. Completed form I-131A Application for Travel Document, must include your Alien number and your physical address in United States.
2. ELIS payment receipt
3. A Valid Passport
4. One passport sized photograph taken on a white background. Refer to instructions at the Department of State website
5. Expired Alien Registration Card or Police Report (if your Green Card has been lost/stolen)
6. Entry and Exit stamps in your passport showing “A” number
7. Airline tickets, boarding pass/flight itinerary

If you are a lawful permanent resident (LPR) who returned to Ecuador to give birth, your child may be able to travel to the United States without a visa.

In order to qualify, the following conditions must apply:

1. The child’s mother was a lawful permanent resident when she gave birth in Ecuador during a temporary visit;
2. The child will enter the United States before s/he turns two years old; and
3. The child will be taken to the United States by either parent on that parent’s first return to the United States after the child’s birth.

If you meet all of these requirements, you can purchase a ticket for the child without visiting the embassy.  You should travel with the child’s original birth certificate and your lawful permanent resident card which you can show to the airline to board the airplane and to Customs & Border Protection upon arrival in the United States.

8 CFR 211.1(b)(2) specifically authorizes a child who meets these criteria to travel without a visa, and states that an airline will not be fined for allowing such a child to travel to the United States.

If you or your child does not meet all of these criteria, you will need to file an I-130 petition for your child with USCIS.  Learn more at http://www.uscis.gov/.

NOTE: Although the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador has communicated this information to the airlines serving the United States from Ecuador, we recommend that you print a copy of this information on this website to present to the airline when you check-in for travel.