Green Card Renewal and Replacement: A Complete Guide to Form I-90
Your green card is approaching its expiration date — or maybe it already expired, and you just realized it when the DMV refused to renew your driver’s license. Perhaps you lost your card years ago and have been getting by with your Social Security card and a driver’s license that is itself now expiring. Or maybe you received your green card through marriage less than two years ago, and you are not sure whether you are supposed to “renew” it or do something else entirely.
Each of these situations requires a different response, and confusing them can cost you months of delay and hundreds of dollars in wasted filing fees. This guide — part of our guide to the green card process — explains how green card renewal actually works, which form you need, and when the process is straightforward enough to handle yourself — and when it is not.
Which Card Do You Have? The Question That Determines Everything
Before you do anything else, look at your green card. The answer to one question determines your entire path forward: Is your card valid for ten years or two years?
A ten-year permanent resident card is the standard green card issued to most lawful permanent residents. When this card expires, you renew or replace it using Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card. Your underlying status as a lawful permanent resident does not expire when the card does — you remain a permanent resident. What expires is the document that proves it.
A two-year conditional resident card is issued to people who obtained permanent residence through marriage when they had been married for less than two years at the time of approval. This card cannot be “renewed.” Instead, you must file Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, to convert your conditional status to permanent status. The process, the evidence requirements, and the consequences of getting it wrong are all different from a standard renewal.
This distinction matters more than most people realize. We regularly see clients who filed the wrong form — typically an I-90 when they should have filed an I-751 — and only discovered the mistake months later when USCIS denied the application. By that point, critical filing deadlines may have passed. We will cover that scenario in detail below.
Renewing or Replacing a Ten-Year Green Card (Form I-90)
When to File
USCIS will accept a Form I-90 application when your green card will expire within six months. Since it takes time to assemble documentation and complete the form, we recommend starting the process about seven months before your card’s expiration date. This way, you have a completed application ready to submit the moment you enter the six-month filing window.
Do not wait until your card has already expired. While an expired green card does not mean your permanent resident status has expired, it does mean you lack proof of that status — and the practical consequences are immediate. Many states tie your driver’s license expiration to the expiration date on your green card. Without a valid card or a pending renewal receipt, you may not be able to renew your license, board a domestic flight, or complete employment verification under Form I-9.
What Form I-90 Covers
Form I-90 is not only for expiring cards. You use the same form to replace a green card that was lost, stolen, or damaged, to update your name after a legal name change, or to replace a card that was issued with incorrect information. If you never received your card after USCIS approved your case, Form I-90 is also the appropriate filing.
Current Filing Fees
As of the April 2024 USCIS fee schedule, the filing fee for Form I-90 is $415 for online filing or $465 for paper filing. The biometrics fee is included — there is no separate charge. If you are unable to afford the fee, you may request a fee waiver using Form I-912, available to applicants at or below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines.
The fee difference between online and paper filing is worth noting. USCIS has introduced a $50 price incentive to push applicants toward electronic filing. Whether that incentive is worth it depends on your circumstances, which brings us to an important practical consideration.
Paper Filing vs. Online Filing: A Practitioner’s Perspective
USCIS now offers both online filing through a myUSCIS account and traditional paper filing by mail. The agency clearly prefers online filing and has priced it accordingly. Many immigration attorneys, however, still recommend paper filing — and there is a reason for that.
In over two decades of practice, we cannot count the number of times clients have come to us with problems and, when asked whether they have a copy of what they filed, the answer is no. This happens with electronic filing more than you might expect. Yes, USCIS electronic systems have improved. But people remain the same. A paper filing naturally creates a structured record: you complete the form, photocopy or scan everything including your payment, and mail the package with proof of delivery through the Postal Service. When something goes wrong — and with USCIS, something regularly goes wrong — you have a complete paper trail proving what you filed, when you filed it, and that the agency received it.
We have heard troubling stories from clients who filed electronically only to have USCIS claim it never received the form, while simultaneously having deducted the filing fee from the applicant’s bank account. With a paper filing, a delivery confirmation receipt and a scanned copy of your application package eliminates that dispute entirely.
We recognize that electronic filing is the direction USCIS is moving, and at some point the agency may require everyone to create an account and file online. Until then, the additional $50 for paper filing buys something valuable: proof.
What Happens After You File
Once USCIS accepts your Form I-90, you will receive a receipt notice (Form I-797C) with a case receipt number. This receipt is important for two reasons.
First, you can use the receipt number to track your case online through the USCIS Case Status page.
Second, and critically, your I-90 receipt notice automatically extends the validity of your expired or expiring green card for 36 months from the card’s expiration date. This extension, expanded from 24 months to 36 months by USCIS in September 2024, reflects the reality of long processing times. You present the receipt notice together with your expired green card as proof of your continued lawful permanent resident status. This combination is accepted for Form I-9 employment verification, driver’s license renewal, and domestic travel identification.
After receiving the receipt, USCIS will schedule you for a biometrics appointment at your nearest Application Support Center, where your fingerprints and photograph will be taken. Following biometrics, you wait for USCIS to process your application and mail your new card.
Processing Times: Expect a Long Wait
Green card renewal has historically been one of the more frustrating USCIS processing experiences. As of early 2026, USCIS has consolidated I-90 processing under “Service Center Operations” (SCOPS) rather than assigning cases to specific service centers like Nebraska or Potomac. Check current processing times on the USCIS Case Processing Times page — times fluctuate, but waits of many months are typical.
The 36-month receipt extension exists precisely because USCIS knows its own processing times are unreasonable. If you filed at the six-month mark as recommended, your receipt extension should carry you through even the longest processing delays. This is one of the strongest arguments for filing on time rather than letting your card expire without action.
When You Need an Attorney for Green Card Renewal
For many people, Form I-90 is a straightforward application. If your ten-year card is expiring, you have no criminal history, and your immigration file is in order, this is something you can handle yourself. But several situations make legal counsel worth the investment.
Scam Websites That Charge for “Green Card Renewal”
A pattern we see repeatedly: a client searches online for “renew my green card,” lands on a professional-looking website that is not USCIS.gov, pays a fee — sometimes a few hundred dollars — and nothing happens. The website either did nothing at all or submitted something that USCIS does not recognize as a valid filing.
The only legitimate place to file Form I-90 is directly with USCIS through its official website at uscis.gov or by mailing the paper form to the USCIS lockbox address listed in the form instructions. No third-party website can file your I-90 for you. If a website other than uscis.gov is asking you for money to “renew your green card,” stop and verify what you are actually paying for.
Criminal Convictions and the Fingerprint Background Check
As part of every I-90 application, USCIS takes your fingerprints and runs an FBI background check. For most applicants, this is a non-event. But if you have criminal convictions — even old ones — this is where the renewal process intersects with enforcement.
Certain criminal convictions can make a lawful permanent resident deportable under the Immigration and Nationality Act, even if no one has acted on those grounds in years. Filing an I-90 puts your fingerprints in front of the government at a moment when the government is specifically looking at your immigration file.
If you have any criminal history, consult with an immigration attorney before filing your I-90 renewal. An attorney can review your convictions, assess your exposure under current immigration law, and help you understand your options. This is one area where the cost of an initial consultation is trivial compared to the cost of being unprepared.
It is worth noting that for permanent residents who are eligible for naturalization — generally those who have held their green card for five years or more — applying for U.S. citizenship is often the better path forward. Naturalization has statutory processing timelines that are far more reasonable than the I-90 process. However, we would not recommend naturalization for anyone with criminal convictions, as the naturalization process involves a far more thorough review of criminal history than a green card renewal.
Long-Lost Green Cards and the FOIA Process
Some of our most complex I-90 cases involve clients who lost their green card years — sometimes decades — ago. They have been getting by with a Social Security card and a driver’s license, but now need to prove their permanent resident status. Some do not remember the details of how they originally received their green card.
When we take these cases, we often begin by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with USCIS to obtain a complete copy of the client’s alien file (A-file). The A-file contains the full history of the person’s immigration record and helps us understand the circumstances of the original grant of permanent residence before selecting the best approach to replacement.
We should note that the FOIA process has become increasingly frustrating. USCIS and other agencies are frequently reporting “no records found” even when the attorney knows records exist, including on biometric FOIA requests submitted with fingerprints. The government routinely exceeds the statutory 20-business-day response deadline by months.
For cases where a FOIA response is essential to moving forward and the government is not responding, federal litigation is an option. FOIA has its own statutory framework with provisions for attorney’s fees when the requester is the prevailing party, and federal courts tend to move these cases quickly. If a FOIA request is critical to replacing your lost permanent resident card and the government has not responded within a reasonable time, we will pursue the records aggressively — including through litigation if necessary.
Consider Naturalization: It May Be the Better Path
If you are looking at your expiring green card and have held permanent resident status for five years or more (three years if you obtained your green card through marriage to a U.S. citizen and are still married), consider whether applying for naturalization makes more sense than simply renewing your card.
Naturalization has statutory processing timelines that Congress has imposed on USCIS, and while the agency does not always meet them, the process is generally faster and more predictable than the I-90 renewal process. More importantly, U.S. citizenship eliminates the need to ever renew a green card again, protects you from deportation in most circumstances, grants you the right to vote, and allows you to sponsor certain family members more quickly.
Unless you are philosophically opposed to becoming a U.S. citizen, or you have circumstances — such as criminal convictions — that make the naturalization application risky, citizenship is often the better use of your time and filing fees. Our guide to the U.S. citizenship process explains the eligibility requirements and procedure in detail.
Conditional Green Cards: A Different Process Entirely (Form I-751)
If you hold a two-year conditional green card obtained through marriage, you do not file Form I-90. You file Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence. The purpose, the evidence requirements, and the filing timeline are all different.
The conditional green card exists because Congress wanted to deter marriage fraud. When you originally received your green card through marriage and had been married for less than two years, USCIS issued you a conditional card valid for only two years. The theory is that no one can sustain a fraudulent marriage that long. After two years, you must demonstrate the good faith of your marriage with substantial documentary evidence — joint property ownership, shared bank accounts, children’s birth certificates, insurance policies, affidavits from people who know your marriage.
The 90-Day Filing Window
You must file your I-751 petition during the 90-day window before your conditional green card expires. This deadline is critically important. If your conditional card expires without a pending I-751, you are technically out of status and USCIS can initiate removal proceedings.
We recommend beginning preparation well before the 90-day window opens — gathering evidence, organizing documents, and having the application ready to file as soon as you enter the window.
For a detailed discussion of the I-751 process, including filing after divorce, responding to Requests for Evidence, and the various waiver categories, see our comprehensive guide to conditional green card renewal.
What Happens When You File the Wrong Form
This is where the I-90 versus I-751 distinction has real consequences. We have seen clients who hold a conditional green card file Form I-90 instead of Form I-751, either because they did not understand the difference or because a well-meaning but uninformed person advised them incorrectly.
Here is how that scenario typically plays out: USCIS accepts the I-90 filing and the fee, then processes it for several months before issuing a denial. The denial letter informs the applicant that they filed the wrong form — but often not in clear, straightforward language. By the time the person understands what happened and brings the denial to an attorney, they are well past the 90-day I-751 filing deadline.
The good news is that USCIS will generally excuse a late I-751 filing in these circumstances, provided you specifically acknowledge your obligation to have filed on time and explain why the mistake occurred. But “generally” is not “always,” and the process of fixing this error adds months of delay and stress to what should have been a straightforward filing.
The simplest way to avoid this problem is to look at your green card before filing anything. If it has a two-year expiration, you need Form I-751. If it has a ten-year expiration, you need Form I-90.
How Immigration Law of Montana Can Help
Green card renewal ranges from routine to genuinely complex depending on your circumstances. For a simple ten-year card renewal with no complications, you may not need an attorney — and we will tell you that. But if your situation involves criminal convictions that need assessment, a long-lost card requiring FOIA requests, confusion about which form to file, or a conditional green card with a divorce or RFE complication, experienced counsel can save you significant time, money, and anxiety. If you have received a Request for Evidence from USCIS, our RFE response service can help.
We have handled green card renewals and replacements across the full spectrum of complexity for over two decades, serving clients throughout Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, and the Rocky Mountain West. Whether your case is simple or not, a strategy consultation can give you clarity on the right path forward.
Contact us at 406-373-9828 or schedule a consultation online.
