Form OS-155A, the Immigrant Data Summary, is a one-page document a U.S. embassy or consulate hands you when your immigrant visa is approved. It carries the two identifiers you’ll need next: your Alien Registration Number (A-Number) and your Department of State (DOS) Case ID. You don’t fill it out or file it. You use it to pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee online, present it to a Customs and Border Protection officer at your first U.S. port of entry, and reference it while tracking your Green Card.1USCIS. Tips on Finding Your A-Number and DOS Case ID
What the Form Contains and What Comes With It
When the consulate approves your immigrant visa, you leave with several items together: the Immigrant Data Summary, instructions for paying the USCIS Immigrant Fee, a sealed immigrant visa packet (for paper-based cases), and your passport with the visa stamp inside.2USCIS. USCIS Immigrant Fee The A-Number and DOS Case ID appear on the OS-155A itself, on the fee instruction handout, and on the visa stamp in your passport, so you have more than one place to find them.1USCIS. Tips on Finding Your A-Number and DOS Case ID
If your case was paper-based, the sealed envelope stays sealed. Only a CBP officer at your first U.S. port of entry is authorized to open it.3U.S. Embassy in Argentina. What to Expect After Your Visa is Approved and Issued If your case was processed electronically, the Immigrant Data Summary is the main physical record tying you to your digital file.
Check It Before You Leave the Consulate
Read every field on the OS-155A against your passport before you walk out of the interview. Name spelling, date of birth, visa category, and A-Number should all match. Whatever appears on this form can end up printed on your Green Card, and correcting a mistake later means a separate service request with USCIS. If something looks wrong, raise it with the consular officer while you’re still there.
Using the Form to Pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee
The main thing you do with the OS-155A is pay the $220 USCIS Immigrant Fee. The fee covers processing of your immigrant visa packet and production of the Permanent Resident Card. USCIS asks you to pay before you travel, but skipping payment won’t stop CBP from admitting you at the border.4GovInfo. 8 CFR 103.7 – Fees It will stop USCIS from producing your Green Card. No payment, no card.
To pay, go to my.uscis.gov and enter the A-Number and DOS Case ID from your OS-155A. Payments run through Pay.gov by credit card or ACH bank transfer.5USCIS. Immigrant Fee – Start Payment A relative, attorney, or anyone you authorize can pay for you. Save the confirmation. The 13-character receipt number on it (three letters, then 10 digits, no dashes) is what you’ll use later to check on your card.
Who Doesn’t Have to Pay
Some immigrants are exempt from the $220 fee:
- Children entering under orphan or Hague adoption programs
- Iraqi and Afghan special immigrants
- Returning lawful permanent residents on SB-1 visas
- K nonimmigrants (fiancé(e)s and their children)
A separate exemption for certain other Afghan nationals expired on September 30, 2024.2USCIS. USCIS Immigrant Fee
Presenting the Form at the Port of Entry
When you land in the United States for the first time as an immigrant, hand the CBP officer your passport with the visa stamp, the Immigrant Data Summary, and any sealed envelope you received. The officer sends you to a secondary inspection area used for admitting new permanent residents, reviews everything, records your date of entry, and admits you.
The officer then endorses the machine-readable immigrant visa (MRIV) in your passport with an admission stamp. That endorsed visa is your temporary proof of permanent resident status for one year from the date of admission, while your physical Green Card is produced.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary I-551 Stamps and MRIVs It lets you work and re-enter the country during that window. Your OS-155A and the sealed packet stay with CBP; they are forwarded to a USCIS service center that starts card production.
If You Need to Travel Before Your Card Arrives
You can leave and return using your passport with the endorsed immigrant visa stamp during that one-year period. Keep trips short. Long stays abroad can prompt CBP questions about whether you’re maintaining permanent residence. If the stamp is close to expiring and your Green Card still hasn’t arrived, call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 for temporary evidence of status. A USCIS officer will verify your identity and either schedule a field office appointment or mail you a Form I-94 with an ADIT stamp.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Status Documentation for Lawful Permanent Residents
Tracking Your Green Card
Your Permanent Resident Card typically arrives by mail within 90 days. The count starts from whichever comes later: your date of entry, or the date you paid the immigrant fee.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. When to Expect Your Green Card Once it arrives, it replaces the I-551 stamp as your primary proof of status for employment, identification, and travel.
Track production at egov.uscis.gov using the 13-character receipt number from your fee payment.9U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Case Status Online – Case Status Search Once the card ships, a USPS tracking number may appear in the same tool. If 90 days pass with nothing in the mail, file a non-delivery request at egov.uscis.gov/e-request/ndc. You’ll need your receipt number, A-Number, and the date you entered. Check case status first: if a USPS tracking number is already there, the card may still be in transit or was returned as undeliverable.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Non-Delivery of Card
Fixing Errors That Traced Back to the OS-155A
If a mistake on the Immigrant Data Summary carried through to your Green Card, the correction path depends on who caused it. For USCIS-caused typographic errors, submit a service request at egov.uscis.gov/e-request/typo with your receipt number, A-Number, the specific field with the error, and your filing date. USCIS doesn’t charge for correcting its own mistakes.11USCIS. Typographic Error For errors that didn’t originate with USCIS (say, a misspelling on your original visa application that traveled to the OS-155A and onto the card), you may need to file Form I-90 to replace the card, which carries its own filing fee. This is why the pre-departure check at the consulate matters so much: catching a mistake on the OS-155A while the consular officer can still fix it is far easier than correcting it after your card is printed.