What Is a PRC? Permanent Resident Card Rights, Taxes, Renewal

A Permanent Resident Card, commonly called a Green Card, is the identity document U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issues to anyone granted lawful permanent resident status, and it serves as proof you can live and work anywhere in the United States on a permanent basis.¹ Permanent residence is not citizenship. It gives you most of the same daily freedoms a citizen has, but it carries obligations you cannot ignore and can be lost in ways citizenship cannot.

What the Card Lets You Do

As a permanent resident, you can live and work permanently anywhere in the United States, own property, attend public schools, and apply for federal benefits such as Social Security once you meet the eligibility rules. You can also travel internationally, subject to the limits described further down.²

Two things a card does not give you. You cannot vote in federal, state, or local elections, and voting as a non-citizen can itself be grounds for deportation.² You also cannot hold certain government positions that require U.S. citizenship for security clearance. Both restrictions lift only if you naturalize.

What the Card Requires of You

Holding a Green Card is not just a status you own. It comes with legal duties, and skipping them can put your status at risk or create criminal exposure.

Federal Taxes on Worldwide Income

The IRS treats permanent residents as U.S. tax residents. That means filing a federal return and reporting your worldwide income, not only what you earn inside the country.³ The obligation continues even if you live and work abroad, unless you formally give up your status by filing Form I-407 with USCIS. State returns may also apply depending on where you live.

Selective Service for Men 18 to 25

Male permanent residents between 18 and 25 must register with the Selective Service System. The deadline is 30 days after your 18th birthday or 30 days after entering the United States, whichever comes later.⁴ Failing to register can block naturalization and certain federal benefits later.

Carrying the Card

Federal law requires every permanent resident age 18 or older to carry the card at all times.⁵ Not having it on you is technically a misdemeanor.

Reporting Address Changes Within 10 Days

Whenever you move, you must notify USCIS of the new address within 10 days by filing Form AR-11.⁶ This is a statutory requirement, and deliberately ignoring it is a misdemeanor that can also affect future immigration benefits.⁷ The online filing takes only a few minutes.

Traveling Abroad Without Losing Status

You can travel internationally as a permanent resident, but long or frequent absences can raise questions about whether you’ve abandoned your residence. No single number of days automatically ends your status, but two thresholds matter in practice.

An absence of more than 180 consecutive days means you’re treated as seeking readmission when you return, which brings more scrutiny at the border. An absence of more than one year continuously creates a presumption that you’ve abandoned your status, and you carry the burden of proving otherwise.

If you know you’ll be gone a long time, file Form I-131 for a reentry permit before you leave. The permit is generally valid for two years and keeps USCIS from using the length of your absence alone as evidence of abandonment.⁸ If you’ve already spent more than four of the last five years outside the United States, the permit is valid for only one year. USCIS will not extend a reentry permit once it’s issued.

Even with a permit, keep ties to the country. A U.S. address, tax returns filed on time, and bank accounts or property here all help show you haven’t moved away for good.

Renewing or Replacing the Card

A standard Green Card is valid for 10 years. When yours is close to expiring, or if it has been lost, stolen, or damaged, file Form I-90 (Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card) with USCIS.⁹ You can file online or by mail. The fee is $465 for paper filings or $415 online, with no separate biometrics fee.¹⁰

Since September 2024, USCIS automatically extends the validity of an expiring Green Card for 36 months from the printed expiration date once you file Form I-90 for renewal. The I-90 receipt notice, presented with the expired card, serves as proof of status and work authorization during that window.¹¹ That should keep employment verification and travel from becoming problems while USCIS processes the renewal.

If the card is lost or stolen, report the loss to police and include a copy of the report with your I-90. If you need proof of status faster than the receipt notice, request an ADIT stamp (also known as an I-551 stamp) through the USCIS Contact Center or by scheduling a field office appointment. Some applicants can now receive the stamp by mail instead of in person.¹²

Conditional Green Cards From Marriage

If you got your Green Card through marriage to a U.S. citizen and the marriage was less than two years old on the day you became a permanent resident, USCIS issues a conditional card valid for two years instead of ten.¹³ The two-year card is how the government checks that the marriage is real.

To convert it into a full 10-year card, you and your spouse jointly file Form I-751 (Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence) during the 90-day window immediately before the card expires.¹⁴ Missing that window is one of the more common ways people accidentally fall out of status, so mark the date well ahead.

If the marriage ended in divorce before you can file jointly, you still have options. You can request a waiver of the joint filing requirement and file Form I-751 on your own at any point before the conditional status expires. You’ll need evidence the marriage was entered in good faith: joint financial records, shared leases, photographs, and similar documentation.¹⁴

How You Can Lose the Card

Permanent residence is not guaranteed for life. Several situations can strip you of the card, some through your own choices and some through enforcement.

Deportable Criminal Convictions

Certain convictions make a permanent resident deportable. The most serious category is aggravated felonies, which include violent crimes, drug trafficking, money laundering, and firearms trafficking, among others. Crimes involving moral turpitude such as fraud, theft, and perjury can also trigger removal, as can domestic violence offenses, stalking, firearms violations, and most controlled substance convictions.¹⁵ An aggravated felony conviction is especially serious because it bars nearly all forms of relief from removal.

Abandonment

Staying outside the country for extended stretches without a reentry permit can lead USCIS to conclude you’ve abandoned your residence. Moving to another country for good, failing to file U.S. tax returns, or otherwise cutting ties all support an abandonment finding.⁸

Fraud or Voluntary Surrender

If USCIS finds the Green Card was obtained through fraud, such as a sham marriage, the agency can start removal proceedings.¹⁵ You can also give up the status yourself at any time by filing Form I-407. That choice is essentially irreversible and has tax consequences.

Moving From Green Card to Citizenship

For most people, the card is a stepping stone to naturalization rather than an end in itself. You generally need to have been a permanent resident for at least five years with continuous residence during that time, and to have been physically present in the United States for at least 30 months of those five years.¹⁶

If you’re married to a U.S. citizen, the timeline is shorter. You can apply after three years as a permanent resident if you’ve lived with your citizen spouse throughout that period and been physically present for at least 18 months.¹⁶

All naturalization applicants must be at least 18, show good moral character, and pass English language and U.S. civics tests. An absence of one year or more generally breaks continuous residence and can reset the clock.⁸ The application is Form N-400, and you can file it up to 90 days before you meet the residence requirement.

How People Get a Green Card in the First Place

If you’re reading this because someone in your family holds a card and you’re wondering how they got there, the main paths are family sponsorship by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident,¹⁷ employment sponsorship across five preference categories,¹⁸ the annual Diversity Visa Lottery for nationals of countries with historically low immigration to the United States,¹⁹ and adjustment from asylum or refugee status after a qualifying period. Each pathway has its own petition, forms, wait times, and eligibility rules, and the process typically runs in two stages: an underlying petition, then the application for permanent residence itself using Form I-485 if you’re already inside the United States.²⁰

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Rights and Responsibilities of a Green Card Holder
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Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions About International Individual Tax Matters
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Selective Service System. Who Needs to Register
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1304 – Forms for Registration and Fingerprinting
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. AR-11, Alien’s Change of Address Card
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1305 – Notices of Change of Address
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-131
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Form G-1055 Fee Schedule
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Extends Green Card Validity Extension to 36 Months for Green Card Renewals
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Announces Additional Mail Delivery Process for Receiving ADIT Stamp
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Replace Your Green Card
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1227 – Deportable Aliens
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Naturalization Eligibility Guide
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants
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USAGov. Diversity Visa Lottery Eligibility
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. About Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status