Urgent Help Needed For Wife's Complicated I-751 Case

[ayra 2]

Dear Friends,

Currently, we are dealing with a kind of complicated I-751 case and looking forward to hear your valuable advices and suggestlons. I am the USC husband and my wife earned her conditional GC based on our marriage. I am working for a reputable, Fortune 500 American chemical company for the last 2 and a half years abroad in my native country and I believe this situation really makes our case harder and complicated.

Here is our whole story :

- I and my wife got married back on September 2009. At that time I was working as an IT tech and my wife was preparing for her medical internships in the USA.

- My wife got her conditional GC back on August 2010

- After my wife got her GC, I shared my interest to pursue my career abroad in Europe (in my native country) and asked my wife if she can accompany me. Since she was preparing for her medical internship tests, did not have a job and would like to support me, she agreed to move to Eurupe with me.

-Before we moved to the Eurupe, she applied for the I-131 travel document and had her biometrics. We have asked the travel document sent to the US consulate in my native home town.

-While we already started to live in Europe, she got her travel document which had expiration date of 1 year ( her conditional GC was about to expire around the same time)

- Before her travel document had expired, my wife went back to the states and sent her I-751 application. Application was sent on July 2012, biometrics was done and she got her 1 year extension letter till July 2013.

- We have been waiting to hear a good news from USCIS and did not hear anything till April 18th,2013.

- A RFE letter was sent to ask more evidence should be provided till July 17th,2013

- We have started to prepare a very detailed, professional package which included the following documents :

a) Married joint taxes from 2009-2010-2011 and 2012

b) Our rental apartment leases in Eurupe under both of our names from 2011-2012 and 2013

c) Health insurance cards copies of me and my wife

d) Retirement plan document showing my wife as a beneficiary

e) 401K plan from my company showing my wife as a beneficiary

f) Utility bill copies, showing both of our names

g) Pictures from different events

h) Affidavits from friends and family

i) Bank of America mutual credit card statements for one year

j) One joint savings, one joint debit account books

k) Misc. examples such as letters, postcards

-After we have sent the below RFE documents, we were really hoping to be approved. I was thinking if USCIS is just looking for evidence, we are giving them more than enough to satisfy and proof our marriage is real a1nd legit. However, we have received another letter from USCIS to our US address just couple days ago and asking the following :

USCIS records show that you filled your petition to remove conditions on form I-751 within the required time period prior to the expiration date of your conditional resident status. A further review of your petition shows you listed an overseas address as your place of residence.

You must still establish your reason for being outside the USA Review the information below and submit evidence accordingly.

GOVERNEMT BUSINESS ( Not our case so I am not writing other details)

NON GOVERNEMT BUSINESS

If you and your spouse are outside the USA on non governemt business, you are required to return to the United States within one year of the date you left the USA. if you have an approved Authorization of Parole of an Alien into the USA (Form I-512), you must still return to the USA within one year of the time you left. Submit the following :

- Provide an explanation of why you are residing outside of the USA

- Provide an actual date of when you plan to return to the USA

Present regulations do not allow for you and your spouse to be interviewed at a US Embassy or Consulate abroad. Therefore, if you and your spouse are outside of the USA on non government business you may be required to comply with the interview requirement of Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 216.4(a)(4) when you return to the USA.

If you return within one year of the date you left, you must provide your new residential U.S residential address. You may be scheduled for a biometrc appointment at an Application Support Center (ASC).

Documentary Evidence

If sufficient documentary evidence is submitted to establish your good faith marriage, the service director may waive the interview requirement.

Response Required

If you do not respond within the allowable time period, USCIS will deny your petition. A denial of your petition may result in the termination of your conditional resident status and your possible removal from the USA.

Ok dear friends, so this is the mail we have received after the RFE. Let me also summarize a little bit about current situation, I (USC husband) am located in Europe at the moment and have been working for an American Fortune 500 reputable chemical company for the last two years. I have an intetion to move back to the USA asap and currently looking for an opportunity to be transferred back to any of their locations in the USA. However, it is not certain when I can be transferred.

On the other hand, my wife is in the USA and already registered to take her first medical test on August. She is working hard and has a desire to be a medical doctor in the USA. When she had her extension letter, she was travelling back and forth between the USA and where I am located. We still have a perfect marriage life and this hard life circumstances make our relationship more stronger.

Our problem is, we have sent all evidence from our address in Eurupe which probably freaked out USCIS. When her conditional GC had expired, we could not apply for the I-131 travel book and decided that we can travel back and forth to each other. This situation does not bother us and we still keep a good marriage life.

As I said I am working for an American firm and looking for an opportunity to be transferred back to the USA but do not know when it can happen. I really can not really understand the fact as an American citizen, why I need to be located in the USA while my wife has a conditional GC case. We have provideded around 100 pages of supportive documents to the USCIS but still received the above second letter.

Please kindly advise what can be done ? Should I quit my dream job and move back to the USA ? Or, write an informatiove letter exlaining that I am working for an American firm and looking an opportunity to be transferred back to the USA which is the truth. My wife is in the states working for her medical test at the moment, I do not know if this can prove anything to USCIS but we are working on our careers to have a good future.

I have been looking for info on other forums and the internet but could not find anything useful. My wife will consult with an attorney next week and I am planning to write an e-mail to our congressman - obdusman to be involved. I am not sure if they can help and get things be more clear from the USCIS side.

Sorry for my long post , please kindly suggest what else can be done or what type of route should be followed on this specific case ? I really appreciate any input from vj friends.

Regards,

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

What exactly is complicated about it? They want a reason why you live abroad and an outline of your plans to move back to the US. Sounds reasonable. Why not just tell them the story?

Edited July 20, 2013 by Harpa Timsah

[Darnell 8,478]

focus on this:

You must still establish your reason for being outside the USA Review the information below and submit evidence accordingly.

[Hypnos 6,576]

This is a little complicated.

The long and the short of it is that a green card is for living in the US. If someone is not going to be living in the US in the long run then they are not entitled to a green card.

You, as a US citizen, are of course free to live and work where you please. The same does not apply to your wife, who, as a green card holder, is expected to live in the US for at least six months out of the year (if not longer) under normal circumstances.

If you indicated that you were both living abroad at the time you submitted the I-751 petition then this is likely the reason that USCIS sent you the nastygram informing your wife that she must return to the US. You should have included her permanent US address on your paperwork, if that is her principal residence.

You should submit a detailed letter stating exactly why you have been overseas, but emphasising that your wife has not abandoned her residency and still resides within the US.

I'd strongly suggest that you at least have a consultation with a reputable immigration attorney before submitting any further documents to USCIS.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Hypnos

[ayra 2]

Thank you very much for your prompt answers. Yes, my wife will definately contact an attorney and will consult our case.

After the consultation, we will write an informative letter explaining why I am outside of the country and my wife was travelling back and forth. I will also get an employment letter from my company's HR and my boss will write a letter , I do not know if these letters can help and support the case but will give a try.

[BigDaddy28 228]

From what I see you gave them the reason for red flags on your wife. I'm sorry if I sound mean but this is the truth. If I was the officer examining your wife's case and seen she is living in europe while she us trying to get a green card, I wouldn't approve her. One requirement is YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN THE USA to get the green card. Sending the european lease even with the intention to prove that you live together proved that you actually not complying with the rules made for green card holders. My advice is not going to be different from the other people. First Contact A GOOD lawyer: your case is serious because you have to prove to them that it was not your intention to abandon the US as a permanent residence place. If the lawyer tells you to write a paper to explain your intention and to request a waiver of the interview and to prove that you are worthy of keeping your green card. I don't know if you did naturalize but if you have done so you should've known that you are supposed to stay here in the US more than another country.

I hope I didn't depress you because that was not my intention, but I wish that your situation gets cleared and you hear the good news soon.

[Christi85 86]

I don't know if you did naturalize but if you have done so you should've known that you are supposed to stay here in the US more than another country.

Sounds like OP is a US citizen by naturalization. As a US citizen he has no restrictions on where he can reside and how long he stays outside the US. His LPR wife is required to have the USA as her primary residence though.

The case is complicated because it's a bit of a double edge sword. The purpose of a green card by marriage is basically for the foreign spouse to be allowed to live in the US to be with their USC spouse (who is assumed to be living in the US - otherwise why request a green card in the first place?). So on the one hand they have to prove that their marriage is in good standing, and in order to establish that, they need to prove joint financial responsibility, common residence etc. The fact that the USC spouse actually resides abroad complicates things quite a bit, because it's impossible to prove common residence without lying and much harder to prove joint financial responsibility, and leads to what they did - provide leases in both names from Europe for 3 consecutive years!!! Which of course backfired because it cancels out the purpose of the green card in the first place, and made USCIS think that the foreign spouse is actually not in the USA primarily (otherwise why sign a lease abroad with her name on it?), thus she's not entitled to a green card in the first place.

I agree that the OP and wife shot themselves in the foot by providing proof of an overseas common address, though they would still have had the burden of proving they share a common life even if they hadn't done that. So they'd have a case with red flags either way. The only way to have avoided that would have been if the OP hadn't opted to take on a career in Europe, at least not until his wife was eligible to naturalize as a US citizen, and have been a bit more mindful of the ROC process they had ahead and its requirements. But no use crying over spilled milk now.

I do agree that a competent immigration attorney should be consulted asap. Hopefully you will be able to get out of this situation and have a successful outcome, ultimately. Just in case, it may good to devise a Plan B for the future. Best of luck and keep us posted!