A white passport can refer to a permit for US permanent residents to re-enter the country after an extended trip abroad. It can also refer to a passport with a white cover issued by some countries for specific types of travel. To obtain a re-entry permit, a completed Form I-131 must be submitted to USCIS. The permit extends the time limit for legal travel out of the country to two years. If the application is refused, residency may be lost. Other countries, such as India, issue passports with a white cover for official representatives.
More commonly, the term white passport refers to a permit that allows immigrant residents of the United States to re-enter the country after an extended trip abroad. Applying for this permit is, essentially, a statement that, while a person may be away for an extended period of time, they wish to continue living in the U.S. When taken literally, however, a blank passport may actually refer to a passport with white cover. These rare documents can be issued by some countries for very specific types of travel.
Under US law, a legal permanent resident can travel legally out of the country for periods of up to one year without risking loss of resident status. A blank passport, or re-entry permit, extends that time limit to two years. Because a re-entry permit cannot be renewed, residents who wish to re-enter the United States after two years must apply for a return residency visa or, in the worst-case scenario, start the green card application process all over again.
Individuals wishing to obtain a blank passport must return a completed Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, to the offices of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). These forms can be obtained from the USCIS website or by visiting the office nearest you. Simple re-entry applications can take up to 90 days to process. If possible, departure dates should be timed accordingly.
While not recommended, a permanent resident can leave the United States while an application for a white passport is being processed. The application and associated fingerprints, however, must originate in the United States. This option carries some risks, as refusal of the application could result in the loss of residency. If approved, your re-entry permit will be sent to the nearest US consulate or embassy in the country you are visiting.
A blank passport is appropriate in some other specific circumstances, even if the time away is expected to be less than a year. For example, for a resident who cannot receive a passport from the United States or the country of birth, a re-entry permit may be the only documentation available for travel abroad. Those who need to establish temporary residence in another country can, on occasion, use the permit to demonstrate that their intentions were not to permanently renounce their US citizenship.
Despite the name, a US-issued white passport is generally neither white nor in the form of a passport. Other countries, however, issue such documents. In India, for example, passports with a white cover are issued to travelers who will be acting as official representatives of their government abroad.
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