Conditional Residency Permit

[BAL.ANTIFA 0]

First post here!

I'm an American citizen living in Italy and married to an Italian national. We were married 6 & 1/2 months ago. I contacted the American consulate in Milan to ask whether I needed to register our marriage for it to be recognized and was told no. At the point we weren't planning to apply for American citizenship for her.

Six months on and we've decided to look into the process for her obtaining American citizenship. I spoke to the American Embassy in Rome this past Friday and was told that she would have to first apply for permanent residency, have an interview at another consulate in Naples and than over the course of the next 3 years she would have to live 18 months in the U.S.

I have a few questions I'm hoping (praying!) you guys can help me with.

1. What is with this CONDITIONAL permanent residency a.k.a. green card I keep reading about. It seems like this should have been awarded her once we were married and the folks at the American Consulate in Milan didn't mention it. What do I need to do to get this for her AND is it possible they'll back date it?

OR was I supposed to know about this entire CONDITIONAL permanent residency and have applied for it immediately after the marriage took place (it was performed here in Italy). BLAH!

2. While reading "A Guide to Naturalization" I'm seeing two different things. One is that my wife must remain in the United States for 18 months of the 3 years for which she will be granted a "green card." I am also seeing that at least in some cases it is possible that the foreign spouse can leave the country for up to 364 days and return. In addition to that it says that those 364 days can be credited towards my wifes continuous physical presence going towards satisfying her permanent residency requirement of 18 months within the 3 years. This would be optimal if possilble because my wife works for the Italian state and we'd prefer to actually move to the U.S. in another year and a half at the earliest. In this case we could come over for a month, leave for 364 days and then return and already have 1 year and 1 month credited to her continuous physical presence in the U.S. I'm sure it's not possible, because it seems they want to make this so complicated especially when I compare it to my requirements for acquiring Italian citizenship. Please tell me it is possible!

Many, many thanks guys!

[TayRivers 4]

First post here!

I'm an American citizen living in Italy and married to an Italian national. We were married 6 & 1/2 months ago. I contacted the American consulate in Milan to ask whether I needed to register our marriage for it to be recognized and was told no. At the point we weren't planning to apply for American citizenship for her.

Six months on and we've decided to look into the process for her obtaining American citizenship. I spoke to the American Embassy in Rome this past Friday and was told that she would have to first apply for permanent residency, have an interview at another consulate in Naples and than over the course of the next 3 years she would have to live 18 months in the U.S.

I have a few questions I'm hoping (praying!) you guys can help me with.

1. What is with this CONDITIONAL permanent residency a.k.a. green card I keep reading about. It seems like this should have been awarded her once we were married and the folks at the American Consulate in Milan didn't mention it. What do I need to do to get this for her AND is it possible they'll back date it?

OR was I supposed to know about this entire CONDITIONAL permanent residency and have applied for it immediately after the marriage took place (it was performed here in Italy). BLAH!

2. While reading "A Guide to Naturalization" I'm seeing two different things. One is that my wife must remain in the United States for 18 months of the 3 years for which she will be granted a "green card." I am also seeing that at least in some cases it is possible that the foreign spouse can leave the country for up to 364 days and return. In addition to that it says that those 364 days can be credited towards my wifes continuous physical presence going towards satisfying her permanent residency requirement of 18 months within the 3 years. This would be optimal if possilble because my wife works for the Italian state and we'd prefer to actually move to the U.S. in another year and a half at the earliest. In this case we could come over for a month, leave for 364 days and then return and already have 1 year and 1 month credited to her continuous physical presence in the U.S. I'm sure it's not possible, because it seems they want to make this so complicated especially when I compare it to my requirements for acquiring Italian citizenship. Please tell me it is possible!

Many, many thanks guys!

She can not become a citizen until she has been a perminent resident in the USA for 3 years. Tou will need to apply for a spousal visa to bring her to the USA this could be a K3 visa or a CR1 visa, you can read about the diffrent visa's here on VJ, look for the Tab at the top of the page that says GUIDES. Once she has been approved for whatever visa anc come to the USA, If she entered on a CR1 visa she will get her Greencard withing a few weeks. If she entered on a K3 the she will need to apply to Adjust her status that will take about 5 - 12 month to be approved and then she will get her Greencard. She has to apply to remove the conditions for her greencard (as you have been married for less than 2 years) where you have to prove that you are still married and the marriage is real. once that has been approved she will be able to apply for citizenship about 12 months later as long as all the conditions are met.

So its not just a case of applying for her to be a citizen. Sadly being married to a USC does not give her the right to move to the US or become a citizen until she has been approved for a visa and has moved to the USA and then removed the conditions on the greencard due to being married for under 2 years.

[NickD 202]

First post here!

I'm an American citizen living in Italy and married to an Italian national. We were married 6 & 1/2 months ago. I contacted the American consulate in Milan to ask whether I needed to register our marriage for it to be recognized and was told no. At the point we weren't planning to apply for American citizenship for her.

Six months on and we've decided to look into the process for her obtaining American citizenship. I spoke to the American Embassy in Rome this past Friday and was told that she would have to first apply for permanent residency, have an interview at another consulate in Naples and than over the course of the next 3 years she would have to live 18 months in the U.S.

I have a few questions I'm hoping (praying!) you guys can help me with.

1. What is with this CONDITIONAL permanent residency a.k.a. green card I keep reading about. It seems like this should have been awarded her once we were married and the folks at the American Consulate in Milan didn't mention it. What do I need to do to get this for her AND is it possible they'll back date it?

OR was I supposed to know about this entire CONDITIONAL permanent residency and have applied for it immediately after the marriage took place (it was performed here in Italy). BLAH!

2. While reading "A Guide to Naturalization" I'm seeing two different things. One is that my wife must remain in the United States for 18 months of the 3 years for which she will be granted a "green card." I am also seeing that at least in some cases it is possible that the foreign spouse can leave the country for up to 364 days and return. In addition to that it says that those 364 days can be credited towards my wifes continuous physical presence going towards satisfying her permanent residency requirement of 18 months within the 3 years. This would be optimal if possilble because my wife works for the Italian state and we'd prefer to actually move to the U.S. in another year and a half at the earliest. In this case we could come over for a month, leave for 364 days and then return and already have 1 year and 1 month credited to her continuous physical presence in the U.S. I'm sure it's not possible, because it seems they want to make this so complicated especially when I compare it to my requirements for acquiring Italian citizenship. Please tell me it is possible!

Many, many thanks guys!

The conditional residency applies to all of us USC's that married aliens and have been married less than two years, even one or two days less than two years, card is good for two years, then you have to go through the same old stuff all over again with the I-751. There are exceptions to living in the USA if you are in the military or have some type of government or government contractor type job with a couple of other exceptions. But if you are just hanging around in Italy, that's beyond me. And you don't state your plans, are you coming back or going to stay there? If coming back do an I-130 on your wife and she would do an I-485 with several other forms, that can be done there or here, but here, she may need a visa. Once she gets her receipt, she is here legally, but with no status whatsoever until her conditional permanent resident card is approved.

Much depends on whether you and your wife are planning to come to the USA, if not, wouldn't worry about that stuff, but would worry for you to stay in Italy.

[lucyrich 20]

First post here!

I'm an American citizen living in Italy and married to an Italian national. We were married 6 & 1/2 months ago. I contacted the American consulate in Milan to ask whether I needed to register our marriage for it to be recognized and was told no. At the point we weren't planning to apply for American citizenship for her.

Six months on and we've decided to look into the process for her obtaining American citizenship. I spoke to the American Embassy in Rome this past Friday and was told that she would have to first apply for permanent residency, have an interview at another consulate in Naples and than over the course of the next 3 years she would have to live 18 months in the U.S.

I have a few questions I'm hoping (praying!) you guys can help me with.

1. What is with this CONDITIONAL permanent residency a.k.a. green card I keep reading about. It seems like this should have been awarded her once we were married and the folks at the American Consulate in Milan didn't mention it. What do I need to do to get this for her AND is it possible they'll back date it?

OR was I supposed to know about this entire CONDITIONAL permanent residency and have applied for it immediately after the marriage took place (it was performed here in Italy). BLAH!

2. While reading "A Guide to Naturalization" I'm seeing two different things. One is that my wife must remain in the United States for 18 months of the 3 years for which she will be granted a "green card." I am also seeing that at least in some cases it is possible that the foreign spouse can leave the country for up to 364 days and return. In addition to that it says that those 364 days can be credited towards my wifes continuous physical presence going towards satisfying her permanent residency requirement of 18 months within the 3 years. This would be optimal if possilble because my wife works for the Italian state and we'd prefer to actually move to the U.S. in another year and a half at the earliest. In this case we could come over for a month, leave for 364 days and then return and already have 1 year and 1 month credited to her continuous physical presence in the U.S. I'm sure it's not possible, because it seems they want to make this so complicated especially when I compare it to my requirements for acquiring Italian citizenship. Please tell me it is possible!

Many, many thanks guys!

You may want to pay for a one hour consultation with an immigration attorney to formulate a strategy.

She shouldn't apply for permanent residency (conditional or otherwise), until she's ready to make the US her permanent home. You made no mistake by failing to register your marriage with US authorities. Everything's fine. You're legally married according to US law; it's just that your marriage hasn't yet given your wife any US immigration benefits. If you had applied for a visa before she was ready to move to the US, it would have expired or been abandoned, so it wouldn't have been a very fruitful process.

Getting US Citizenship isn't a one step process. She's got to first get a green card, and maintain her permanent resident status within the US for 3 years. During this three year time period, she must be a resident of the US, and any trips outside the US must be of a temporary and transient nature. Though individual cases may be evaluated on an individual basis, accepting employment outside the US would tend to argue that her primary residence is not in the US, and might be interpreted to mean she had abandoned her permanent resident status.

Depending on your reasons for wanting US citizenship and your wishes about where you want to live, it may be easiest to wait until about 6-9 months before you intend to move to the US, and then apply at that time for an immigrant visa to the US. She'll get a green card as soon as she enters on an immigrant visa. The green card allows her to live permanently in the US, and come and go more-or-less as she pleases (but with caveats about abandoning status if she leaves the US for an extended period). About three years after she gets the Green card, assuming the two of you are still married and she's still living in the US, she can apply for citizenship.

One minor advantage to waiting until just before you want to move is that, if she gets the green card after you've been married for two years, there's none of this messing with conditional residency. Her residency will be unconditional from the day she gets it.