Form I-407: Filling Out Part 1, Filing, and What You Get Back

To complete Form I-407, fill out Part 1 with your identifying information, state your reason for giving up permanent resident status, and sign the certification waiving your right to a hearing before an immigration judge. Then mail the signed form together with your physical green card, and any other USCIS-issued documents you hold, to the USCIS I-407 processing address in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. There is no filing fee.¹

Before you do any of that, understand what you’re signing. Filing Form I-407 is permanent. Once USCIS processes it, you cannot reactivate the green card or reverse the decision, and if you later want to live in the United States again you would start over with a new immigrant visa application.² Your signature also waives your right to have an immigration judge decide whether you actually abandoned your status.³ If you have any doubt, resolve it before you file.

What to Gather Before You Start

You need a small stack of items in front of you. Missing any of them will slow the filing down or invalidate it.

Your physical Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551). It must be surrendered with the form.
Your Alien Registration Number (A-Number), printed on the card.
Your full legal name exactly as it appears on the card, date and country of birth, and a current mailing address outside the United States.
Any Reentry Permit (Form I-327) or other USCIS-issued document you currently hold. Only USCIS documents go in the package. Do not include a driver’s license, Social Security card, or other non-USCIS identification.¹

If your green card has been lost or stolen, you can still file. Prepare a written explanation of the circumstances and include it with your submission. The form has a field where you certify under penalty of perjury that you no longer possess the card and explain why.⁴

Filling Out Part 1

The form is short, and you are only responsible for Part 1 and the signature block. A few fields cause most of the errors.

A-Number Formatting

Your A-Number may be seven, eight, or nine digits depending on when your record was created. The form requires exactly nine digits. If yours is shorter, pad the front with zeros until you reach nine. An A-Number like A1234567 becomes A001234567. An A-Number like A12345678 becomes A012345678.³

Name Matching

Type or print your name exactly as it appears on your Permanent Resident Card. Small discrepancies between the form and the card can cause processing problems, so match spelling, order, and any middle names or initials.

Reason for Abandonment

You need to state why you are giving up your status. It does not have to be elaborate. A sentence such as “I do not intend to reside permanently in the United States” is enough. Include the date of your last departure from the country.

Certification and Signature

The final section of Part 1 is a legal certification. By signing, you affirm under penalty of perjury that everything on the form is true, and you knowingly waive your right to a hearing before an immigration judge. USCIS will not accept the form without your signature.⁴

If a minor child is abandoning status, a parent, custodial parent, or legal guardian signs on the child’s behalf.

Where to Send the Form

Form I-407 is designed for lawful permanent residents who are outside the United States or at a U.S. port of entry.³ There is a narrower option for people physically inside the U.S. who already abandoned their status in the past and later re-entered as a nonimmigrant, which lets them formally document the earlier abandonment.

For most filers, the method is mailing the completed form, your green card, and any other USCIS documents to:

USCIS
Attn: I-407
7 Product Way
Lee’s Summit, MO 64002¹

Check the USCIS website for the current address before you mail, since processing locations do change. Use a trackable shipping service. You are mailing your physical green card and you want proof it arrived.

In limited situations where you need immediate proof of abandonment, a USCIS international field office or a U.S. embassy or consulate may accept the form in person. The most common reason is needing to apply quickly for an A or G nonimmigrant visa, where diplomatic status requires that you no longer be a permanent resident. The officer processes the form on the spot and gives you a copy.¹

What You Get Back

After USCIS processes your submission, you will receive a copy of the endorsed Form I-407. Keep it permanently. It serves as proof to border officers and future visa officers that your permanent resident status was properly terminated on a specific date. That date also matters for tax purposes, because it separates your obligations as a U.S. person from your obligations as a nonresident alien.

Retain copies of everything you sent: the completed form, your written explanation if the card was lost, and your shipping tracking receipt. If a question ever arises about when you abandoned status or whether the abandonment was voluntary, these records are your evidence.

Before You File: Consequences to Handle Separately

Completing the form is the easy part. The consequences that ride along with it are not on the form, and none of them are handled by USCIS.

If you were a lawful permanent resident in at least 8 of the last 15 tax years ending with the year you abandon your status, the IRS treats you as a long-term resident. You must file Form 8854, Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement, with your tax return for the year you expatriate, and you may owe an exit tax if you meet certain net worth, income, or tax-compliance thresholds.⁵⁶ One trap is the certification requirement: if you cannot certify that you filed all federal tax returns and paid all federal tax for the five preceding years, you become a covered expatriate automatically regardless of net worth or income. Clean up any unfiled returns or unpaid balances before you file Form I-407.

Most aliens making a long-term or permanent departure also need a departing alien clearance, commonly called a sailing permit, obtained by filing Form 1040-C or Form 2063 with the IRS and paying any tax shown due. Apply at least two weeks before departure and no earlier than 30 days out.⁷

Social Security is a separate issue. Work credits you earned do not disappear when you file Form I-407, but collecting benefits while living abroad as a non-citizen is governed by rules on totalization agreements, residency, and withholding that vary by country.⁸ If you rely on those benefits, check the rules for your country of residence before you sign.

Future travel changes too. Once your green card is gone, you enter the United States as any other foreign national, either through ESTA if you are a citizen of a Visa Waiver Program country, or on a nonimmigrant visa such as a B-1/B-2. There can be a gap between filing and processing during which databases still show you as a permanent resident, which may cause an ESTA denial. Applying for a B visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate is often the more reliable route in that window.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-407 Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status
2
U.S. Embassy and Consulate in the Netherlands. Abandoning Your Green Card
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-407 Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-407 Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status
5
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8854
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 877A – Tax Responsibilities of Expatriation
7
Internal Revenue Service. Departing Alien Clearance (Sailing Permit)
8
Social Security Administration. Your Payments While You Are Outside the United States