oops, filing I-751 late! help!

[l123 0]

Hi,

I'm filing the I-751 late, as in 1 month after my wife's green card expired

Can anyone give me any advice on what to expect?

Most importantly, what should I say! : /

I don't want to lie of course but... I don't want to get my wife deported, or unable to leave the country for a while or anything either.

I don't have a good excuse, we just forgot. I didn't know she was 'conditional' since the card says 'permanent resident'. I thought it was no big deal. Also they told me in Chile that we would get a mail notice before we had to reapply for anything which we didn't.

We are scared, any advice/predictions are very appreciated.

Thanks

[YuAndDan 153]

Best case, they process it, I have read of many cases of late filing by about a month with out problems. File ASAP, overnight it if you have to.

Worst case, denial, and having to deal with it in immigrations court.

[l123 0]

Best case, they process it, I have read of many cases of late filing by about a month with out problems. File ASAP, overnight it if you have to.

Worst case, denial, and having to deal with it in immigrations court.

have you read of any cases of it being denied just for being late? And what happened to them?

Thanks

[YuAndDan 153]

Best case, they process it, I have read of many cases of late filing by about a month with out problems. File ASAP, overnight it if you have to.

Worst case, denial, and having to deal with it in immigrations court.

have you read of any cases of it being denied just for being late? And what happened to them?

Thanks

An appeal to re-open the case needs to be filed.

[jsnearline 2]

You'll need to include a letter to the director of the service center with your filing explaining why the filing is late and asking them to accept it.

[jsnearline 2]

Here's what the I-751 instructions say about late filings (see page 1):

3. Effect of not filing. If this petition is not filed, you will automatically lose your permanent resident status as of the second anniversary of the date on which you were granted conditional status. You will then become removable from the United States.

If your failure to file was through no fault of your own, you may file your petition late with a written explanation and request that USCIS excuse the late filing. Failure to file before the expiration date may be excused if you demonstrate when you submit the application that the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond your control and that the length of the delay was reasonable.

Edited December 21, 2007 by jsnearline

[*JG* 2]

Write that letter and beg politely. It's probably more trouble for them to try and remove then to just process the darn thing.

[l123 0]

I sent it with a nice letter and now am waiting. I'll post again when I have an answer.

They haven't cashed the check yet, do they cash the check whether the application is accepted or not? I assume so...

By the way if anyone is wondering I asked lily007 who posted with the same problem a while ago and was 2 months late I think and she said it was accepted with no problem and she received the green card about 5 months later.