How to Get a New Green Card: Form I-90, Fees, and ADIT Stamps

To get a new green card, you file Form I-90 with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The fee is $415 online or $465 by mail, there is no separate biometrics charge, and the median processing time in fiscal year 2025 was 4.1 months. Learning how to get a new green card comes down to picking the right filing reason, sending the right documents, and knowing how to prove your status during the wait.

When You Need to File Form I-90

USCIS wants a new Form I-90 any time your current card is expiring, already expired, lost, stolen, damaged, contains outdated information, or never arrived in the mail. Those situations split into two categories.

Renewal applies when your card’s expiration date is within six months or has already passed.¹ If you still hold one of the older cards with no expiration date, you can also file to trade up for a modern version.

Replacement covers a card that is gone or wrong. File I-90 if the card was lost, stolen, or mutilated, if your legal name changed by marriage or court order, if the biographical information is incorrect, or if USCIS approved your card but you never received it.¹

Two-Year Cards Do Not Renew With Form I-90

If your green card has a two-year validity period because you got permanent residence through marriage, you are a conditional resident. Do not file I-90. You file Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, jointly with your petitioning spouse during the 90 days before your card’s second anniversary. Filing the wrong form wastes the fee and delays everything. Miss the I-751 deadline and USCIS can terminate your status and start removal proceedings.² Check the validity period on your card before doing anything else.

What It Costs

The Form I-90 fee is $415 filed online and $465 filed on paper. That $50 difference is built into USCIS regulations to encourage electronic filing.³ The old $85 biometrics fee was eliminated in 2024 and rolled into the base fee.⁴

Three situations let you file with no fee at all:³

USCIS mailed your card and it never arrived.
The card was printed with wrong information because of a USCIS error.
You have turned 14 and your current card does not expire until after your 16th birthday.

If you cannot afford the fee, you can request a discretionary waiver by filing Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, with your I-90. USCIS may grant it if your household income is at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or you can otherwise document financial hardship.

What You Need to Send

The form itself asks for your Alien Registration Number (the “A-number” on your current or previous card), the date you became a permanent resident, and your current address.¹ Include a copy of a government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport.

Supporting documents depend on why you are filing:

Name change: a copy of the marriage certificate or court order.
Stolen card: a copy of the police report.
Damaged card: the mutilated card itself.
Card never received: the address where USCIS originally mailed it.

Fill every field. USCIS rejects incomplete packages and mails them back without processing, which costs weeks before you can refile.

Filing Online or by Mail

Online

Filing electronically is the faster and cheaper route. Create an account at myUSCIS, complete the form on screen, upload your scanned documents, and pay through Pay.gov with a credit card or bank withdrawal.⁵ The same account lets you track the case later. The fee is $415.

By Mail

To file on paper, print Form I-90 from the USCIS website and mail it, along with your supporting documents, to the USCIS Lockbox address listed in the current form instructions. Include a check or money order for $465 made out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Lockbox addresses change, so verify the address on uscis.gov right before mailing. Wrong address or wrong amount, and USCIS rejects the entire package.

What Happens After You File

USCIS sends a Form I-797, Notice of Action, once your application is accepted. Keep that receipt notice: it confirms your case is in the system and serves as temporary proof of your status.

Next, USCIS schedules a biometrics appointment at a local Application Support Center for fingerprints and a photo. Missing the appointment without rescheduling stalls the case, so treat the notice like a court date.

You can check the status online at any time using the receipt number on your I-797. The median processing time for Form I-90 was 4.1 months in fiscal year 2025. Your case may run faster or slower depending on office workload and whether USCIS asks for more evidence.

Proving You Are a Permanent Resident During the Wait

Four months without a valid card can cause real friction at work, at airports, and anywhere else you need to show ID. USCIS gives you several ways to bridge that gap.

The 36-Month Automatic Extension

When you file I-90 to renew an expiring or expired card, the receipt notice automatically extends the card’s validity by 36 months past the printed expiration date. Carry the expired card and the I-797 together.⁶ This applies to renewals only. If you filed because the card was lost or stolen, there is no card to extend.

Starting a New Job

For Form I-9, an expired green card presented with the I-797 receipt notice counts as a List A document for the full 36-month extension window.⁶ If your filing was for a lost, stolen, or damaged card, the receipt notice by itself works as a List A receipt for 90 days, and you must then present the new card or other acceptable documents.⁷ Employers cannot reverify current employees who already completed I-9 with the card and receipt combination.

International Travel

To re-enter the United States, you can show the expired card with the I-797 receipt notice, or a valid passport carrying a USCIS ADIT stamp.⁸ CBP warns that these documents may not satisfy other countries. Some airlines and foreign border agencies will refuse to board or admit travelers holding an expired card, receipt notice or not. If you have travel planned, get the ADIT stamp in your passport before you leave.

Getting an ADIT Stamp

If your card and extension notice have both run out, or you have no card at all, you can request a temporary ADIT stamp by calling the USCIS Contact Center. An officer verifies your identity and, in many cases, mails you a Form I-94 with the ADIT stamp, a DHS seal, and a printed photo, no in-person visit required. The stamp is valid for up to one year. Some applicants still need to appear at a field office, particularly those with urgent travel or no photo on file.⁹

If You Move While Your Case Is Pending

Federal law requires every non-citizen to notify USCIS in writing within 10 days of any address change.¹⁰ If you move while your I-90 is pending, update your address with the office handling your case. Skip that step and you may miss the biometrics notice or the card itself, and you may violate the reporting rule. Update your address in your myUSCIS account or by calling the USCIS Contact Center.

If USCIS Denies Your Application

USCIS denies I-90 applications when the applicant is not eligible, submits incorrect information, or files the wrong form. The denial notice states the reason. You have 30 calendar days from the decision date to file an appeal using Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, with the Administrative Appeals Office. If the decision was mailed to you, that becomes 33 days.¹¹

The appeal must include a statement identifying the specific legal or factual error in the denial. You cannot file I-290B without that statement, even if you plan a longer brief later. The office that denied the case reviews the appeal first, then forwards it to the AAO, and a late filing is rejected outright.¹¹ When the denial came from a simple error on your part, such as the wrong A-number, refiling a corrected I-90 is often faster than appealing.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 2 – Replacement of Permanent Resident Card
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Conditional Permanent Resident Spouses and Naturalization
3
eCFR. 8 CFR 106.2 – Fees
4
Federal Register. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Fees
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. myUSCIS Home Page
6
E-Verify. USCIS Extends Validity of Expired Permanent Resident Cards from 24 Months to 36 Months for Renewals
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Receipts
8
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. For U.S. Citizens/Lawful Permanent Residents – Travel
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Announces Additional Mail Delivery Process for Receiving ADIT Stamp
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1305 – Notices of Change of Address
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Notice of Appeal or Motion