New green card holders: your first 90 days

Step 1 — Get your green card, check it, and keep it with you

How it arrives. If you came with an immigrant visa, “You will not receive your Green Card until you have paid” the USCIS Immigrant Fee (USCIS — Immigrant Fee). USCIS mails the card to the U.S. address you gave at your visa interview, or to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer when you arrived (USCIS — Immigrant Fee). Until then, USCIS describes the temporary I-551 stamp in your passport as evidence of your status for 1 year from the date you were admitted (USCIS — Immigrant Fee). If you got your green card while living in the U.S., it is mailed to the address on your application (USCIS — Track delivery).

USCIS suggests tracking it in your USCIS online account or with Case Status Online, putting your name on your mailbox, and using USPS Informed Delivery (USCIS — Track delivery). If the card hasn’t arrived within 90 days of paying the fee (or of entering the U.S., if you paid before you came), USCIS asks you to use its online help form or e-Request tool (USCIS — Immigrant Fee).

Check it the day it comes. Your card shows your full legal name, date of birth, country of birth, sex and A-Number (USCIS — Immigration documents), and an expiration date under “Card Expires” (USCIS — When to file). A card with wrong information must be replaced with Form I-90 (USCIS — Replace your card). If the mistake was USCIS’s, you generally file a new form but don’t pay a new fee (USCIS — Immigration documents).

Carry it. In USCIS’s words: “If you are a permanent resident age 18 or older, you are required to have a valid Green Card in your possession at all times” (USCIS — After we grant your card). Keep a copy at home.

If you have children. A child who got a green card before age 14 must replace it after turning 14, unless the card expires before age 16 (USCIS — Replace your card). USCIS’s Alien Registration Requirement page (updated September 4, 2026) says a permanent resident who turns 14 in the U.S. must register and be fingerprinted by filing Form I-90, within 30 days after the birthday (USCIS — Alien Registration Requirement).

Step 2 — Use your card for the first practical steps

USCIS says you can use your green card to prove you can work when you fill in Form I-9 for a new job, and to apply for a Social Security card and a state driver’s license (USCIS — After we grant your card). Our guides take you through each one:

• Social Security number, including what happens if you already asked for one in your visa or green card application;
• Driver’s license or state ID;
• Opening a bank account;
• Finding a job, including Form I-9.

Step 3 — Know your rights

According to USCIS, as a permanent resident you have the right to (USCIS — Rights and responsibilities):

• “Live permanently in the United States provided you do not commit any actions that would make you removable under immigration law”;
• work at any legal job you qualify for and choose, although “some jobs will be limited to U.S. citizens for security reasons”;
• be protected by all the laws of the United States, your state and your local area.

You keep this status until you become a U.S. citizen through naturalization, or until you lose or abandon it (USCIS — Maintaining permanent residence).

Step 4 — Know your responsibilities

USCIS lists four. As a permanent resident, you are (USCIS — Rights and responsibilities):

1. required to obey all laws of the United States and of the places where you live;
2. required to file income tax returns and report your income to the IRS and to state tax authorities. See our guide to tax residency for newcomers. USCIS lists “Declaring yourself a ‘nonimmigrant’ on your U.S. tax returns” among the ways of abandoning permanent resident status (USCIS — Maintaining permanent residence);
3. expected to support the democratic form of government, but “‘support’ does not include voting”;
4. required to register with the Selective Service if you are a man age 18 through 25 (see Step 6).

About voting. Non-citizens, including permanent residents, cannot vote in federal, state and most local elections; a few areas allow non-citizens to vote in local elections only (USA.gov — Who can vote). USCIS’s welcome guide warns of “serious consequences for you as a permanent resident” if you “Say you are a U.S. citizen if you are not” or “Vote in a federal election or in a state or local election open only to U.S. citizens” (USCIS — Welcome guide). The current USCIS Policy Manual adds that a false claim to U.S. citizenship can be made in an interview, on a written or online application, or even to an employer (USCIS — Policy Manual). So read every form, at the DMV, at work or anywhere else, before you check a box about citizenship.

Step 5 — Tell USCIS every time you move

USCIS says non-citizens in the United States must report a change of address to USCIS within 10 days of moving (USCIS — Change of address). You can do it online in your USCIS online account, which USCIS strongly encourages, or on paper Form AR-11 by mail (USCIS — Change of address). Changing your address with the U.S. Postal Service does not change it with USCIS, and the Postal Service won’t forward your USCIS mail, so update both (USCIS — Change of address). USCIS’s registration page has a section titled “Criminal and Immigration Penalties for Failure to Update Your Address with USCIS” (USCIS — Alien Registration Requirement).

Step 6 — Men 18 through 25: register with Selective Service

Selective Service keeps a registry it would use in a national emergency, if the President and Congress authorize it, and registering is not the same as enlisting in the armed forces (SSS). The U.S. has not had a draft since 1973 (USA.gov — Selective Service). Selective Service’s chart lists “Permanent resident immigrants (USCIS Form I-551)” among those who must register (SSS — Who needs to register).

• How: online or by mail (USA.gov). The online form asks for your Social Security number; without one, Selective Service asks you to contact it during business hours (SSS — Register).
• Why it matters: registering keeps a young man eligible for things such as government jobs, state-based student aid and “U.S. citizenship for immigrant men”; at 26 or older, “it’s too late to register.” You can check online whether you’re already registered (SSS).
• More detail: our guide to Selective Service for immigrant men covers proof of registration and the change coming in December 2026.

Step 7 — If your card is valid for only 2 years

Some people receive conditional permanent residence, based on marriage or on an investment, with a green card that is valid for two years and can’t be renewed (USCIS — Conditional residence). To remove the conditions, you must file a petition within the 90-day period before the card expires: Form I-751 for marriage, or Form I-829 for entrepreneurs (USCIS — Conditional residence). USCIS’s filing calculator shows the first day you may file; a petition filed too early may be rejected (USCIS — When to file). Timing is different in some situations, for example if the marriage has ended (USCIS — I-751). Write the date in your calendar today. For questions about your case, see free immigration legal help.

Step 8 — Before you travel abroad

According to USCIS, your green card lets you return to the U.S. after a trip abroad of no longer than 1 year; for a longer trip, you need a reentry permit (USCIS — After we grant your card). Temporary or brief travel usually does not affect your status, but officers may look at whether you meant to make the U.S. your permanent home (USCIS — International travel). Before a long visit home, read our guide to traveling abroad as a green card holder.