What Does “Upon Endorsement Serves as Temporary I-551” Mean?

The line “Upon Endorsement Serves as Temporary I-551 Evidencing Permanent Residence for 1 Year” printed on your immigrant visa means that as soon as a Customs and Border Protection officer stamps your passport when you arrive in the United States, that visa becomes your temporary green card for one year. Form I-551 is the official name for the Permanent Resident Card,¹ and during that one-year window the endorsed passport works the same way the plastic card does: it proves you are a lawful permanent resident for employment, travel, and any other purpose where you need to show your status.²

The machine-readable immigrant visa (MRIV) is the foil the consulate prints into your foreign passport after your immigrant visa interview is approved. The printed statement about serving as a temporary I-551 is what makes it usable as evidence of permanent residence after you’re admitted. Even if that specific sentence is missing from a particular visa foil, employers and government agencies should still treat the MRIV as valid temporary evidence of permanent residence for one year from the date of admission.²

What the Endorsement Is and How It Happens

The “endorsement” is the admission stamp the CBP officer applies at the airport or land border when you enter the country with your immigrant visa. You present your foreign passport containing the MRIV; the officer reviews your documents, confirms your eligibility, and stamps your passport with the date of admission.² Immigrant visa holders must present a valid, unexpired immigrant visa to be admitted for lawful permanent residence.³ The moment that stamp goes in your passport, your status becomes lawful permanent resident.

The stamp doesn’t need to be placed directly on top of the visa foil. If the officer stamps a different page in your passport near the visa, the endorsement is still valid.² That’s worth knowing, because it sometimes causes worry for new residents or confusion for HR staff reviewing documents later.

What You Can Do With the Endorsed Passport

The stamped MRIV is a serious document. For employment, your foreign passport with the MRIV and admission stamp is a List A document on Form I-9, which means it proves both your identity and your work authorization on its own.⁴ You don’t need an Employment Authorization Document or a Social Security card to start working. An employer who insists on extra documents beyond what List A calls for is running afoul of the anti-discrimination rules built into the I-9 process.

The endorsed passport also functions as your travel document. During the one-year period, you can leave the United States and come back by presenting the stamped passport at the border. A re-entry permit isn’t required for short trips, though absences of more than six months can raise questions about whether you’re maintaining your permanent residence.

Your employer is required to re-verify your work authorization when the one-year period ends. At that point you show a new List A or List C document, typically the physical green card once it arrives.⁵

How Long the One Year Runs

The one-year clock starts on the date of admission stamped by the CBP officer, not the date the consulate issued the visa.² During those twelve months the endorsed passport is your primary proof of permanent resident status for everything: work, travel, banking, driver’s license applications.

Expiration of the endorsement does not cancel your status. You remain a lawful permanent resident whether or not the temporary document is still valid. What you lose is the ability to easily prove it. If the year runs out and you still have no physical card, ordinary tasks like starting a job or coming back from a trip abroad get much harder.

Pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee So the Card Actually Ships

This is the step that trips people up. USCIS will not produce and mail your plastic green card until you pay the USCIS immigrant fee online. USCIS encourages paying this fee after you pick up your immigrant visa from the consulate and before you leave for the United States, though paying after arrival is also allowed. You pay through your USCIS online account with a credit card, debit card, or U.S. bank account. Fees for family members traveling with you can be combined in one transaction.⁶

Skip the fee and no card is coming. Your status is still intact, but the only proof you’ll have is the endorsed MRIV, which stops working after a year. Pay it as early as you can.

If the Green Card Doesn’t Arrive in Time

Most cards show up within a few months of entry, but production delays and mail problems do happen. Keep your U.S. mailing address current with USCIS. Federal law requires you to report a change of address within 10 days of moving, either online through your USCIS account or with a paper Form AR-11.⁷ An outdated address is one of the most common reasons cards go missing.

If 90 days have passed since your fee was processed and no card has arrived, submit a non-delivery inquiry through the USCIS e-Request system.⁸ Your online case status page will also show a USPS tracking number once the card has been mailed.

Request an ADIT Stamp Before the Year Runs Out

If the one-year MRIV period is about to expire and you still have no physical card, you can get an ADIT stamp (Alien Documentation, Identification, and Telecommunication stamp) at a USCIS field office. It’s a separate ink stamp placed in your passport that acts as another temporary I-551, typically valid for another year. Schedule an appointment through the “My Appointment” tool at my.uscis.gov and select “ADIT Stamp” as the reason, or call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283. Bring your passport, any USCIS notices you’ve received, and a government-issued photo ID.

A Note for Marriage-Based Conditional Residents

Not every immigrant visa holder gets the same green card. If you got your immigrant visa through marriage and had been married for less than two years when you were admitted, you enter as a conditional permanent resident. Your card will be valid for two years instead of ten, and before it expires you have to file a petition to remove the conditions on your residence. Missing that filing costs you your status and makes you removable.⁹ The endorsed MRIV works the same way during the first year regardless, but conditional residents need to keep the later filing on the calendar.

1
Federal Register. Changing the Name of the Alien Registration Receipt Card to the Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551)
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary I-551 Stamps and MRIVs
3
eCFR. 8 CFR 211.1 – Documentary Requirements for Immigrants
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9 Acceptable Documents
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR)
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. AR-11, Alien’s Change of Address Card
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. e-Request – Non-Delivery of Card
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Conditional Permanent Residence