Should we petition to remove conditional status or go for citizenship

[Patient teacher 0]

Hi Everyone!!!

I haven't been on the site for about a year, but now with a question, it's the first place I come. I LOVE this site and the advice everyone provides. I couldn't have survived 24 months without my husband without support!!

I wanted to ask some advice:

We had an immigration attorney help us through the K Visa process, but the I751 (is that number right...)

looks fairly easy, so we wanted to do it on our own.

I do remember vaguely our attorney telling us it would be easier to just have my husband go for citizenship, rather than go through the whole adjustment of status... Is this true?

This post may have been up here before, and I'm sorry to repeat, but not having had been here for awhile I've gotten out of the loop.

thanks so much for your help!

[queendlee 1]

Hi Everyone!!!

I haven't been on the site for about a year, but now with a question, it's the first place I come. I LOVE this site and the advice everyone provides. I couldn't have survived 24 months without my husband without support!!

I wanted to ask some advice:

We had an immigration attorney help us through the K Visa process, but the I751 (is that number right...)

looks fairly easy, so we wanted to do it on our own.

I do remember vaguely our attorney telling us it would be easier to just have my husband go for citizenship, rather than go through the whole adjustment of status... Is this true?

This post may have been up here before, and I'm sorry to repeat, but not having had been here for awhile I've gotten out of the loop.

thanks so much for your help!

It is possibly an easier process... I dunno about that... cheaper yes , but you can't file for citizenship until the 3rd year of having the PR from a USC spouse.... so you basically must apply to remove conditions... no way around it if you have only been married a couple years.... then in a year you can apply for citizenship... sometimes people apply for citizenship while waiting for the I-175 to be approved to shorten that wait also... removing conditions can take a while ... but basically you can't apply for citizenship until 3rd year as a PR, which would mean you had to have filed for removing conditions also

[payxibka 10,047]

Would having a valid greencard for only two years impact the "continuous permanent residence" requirement of 3 or 5 years? I do not know for sure but my gut says yes.

[Mrs_S 0]

Your husband's green card is most likely a conditional green card with a two year validity, since you initially applied for a K-visa and he entered the country before you had been married for two years.

If that is the case you MUST file the I-751 - removal of conditions within the 90 day time frame before his card expires. If you do not, he is considered out of status and could be subject to removal proceedings.

If your husband is still married to you 3 years from the date he was first granted conditional permanent residence, he can apply for citizenship within the 90 day window before his 3-year date. But the I-751 must be filed in order to extend his permanent resident status to make him eligible to apply for citizenship.

As for applying with or without an attorney, most people on this forum have filed without immigration attorneys.

Good luck.

Edited August 8, 2008 by Mrs_S

[payxibka 10,047]

Your husband's green card is most likely a conditional green card with a two year validity, since you initially applied for a K-visa and he entered the country before you had been married for two years.

If it was not the two year green card then no removing of conditions would be required and this question would be moot.

To the OP:

Unless you are using terminology incorrectly or misunderstood what you were told, I would also hesitate using this attorney.

Edited August 8, 2008 by fwaguy

[Mrs_S 0]

The OP also mentions "rather than go through adjustment of status", which presumably has already been done. I was trying to clarify the assumptions on which my response was based.

[payxibka 10,047]

agreed we have comingled terminology that is adding to potential confusion

[NickD 203]

Your husband's green card is most likely a conditional green card with a two year validity, since you initially applied for a K-visa and he entered the country before you had been married for two years.

If it was not the two year green card then no removing of conditions would be required and this question would be moot.

To the OP:

Unless you are using terminology incorrectly or misunderstood what you were told, I would also hesitate using this attorney.

LOL, since I have to deal with a lot of attorney in my profession, some are not very good at math, with a conditional card that expires in two years, and as the time frame for USC is in USCIS time rather than marriage time, your card will already be expired a full year before you can apply with an exception that you are permitted to apply for USC with an N-400 up to 90 days before the 3rd anniversary of your permanent resident status. Well, let's call that your temporary resident status.

With the long delays of actually getting your new ten year "permanent" resident card, you have to learn to live with a one year extension that nobody seems to understand, especially your DMV and in some cases, your employer, certainly not your college if attempting to enroll your kid. And when that one year extension runs out, have to either get an I-551 stamp on your current valid foreign passport that you really had no reason to keep current or bring in two passport photos of yourself with an infopass to get a I-94 extension. Some officers are more realistic and will give you another six months, others are overly optimistic and will only give you another 30 thinking your green card will come in.

With these extension, stamps, or the I-94 you are still here legally, but another year has gone by and since you can apply for the N-400 90 days before your 3rd original green card anniversary date, it is very well possible you will receive your certificate of citizenship before receiving your ten year green card. This actually has happened to some, but if you do receive it, have to give it back. For us, looks like we get to use our brand new shiny green cards for maybe a couple of months, depending how long it takes to get our oath appointment.

I also used a good immigration attorney to bring my wife to be over here, plus her daughter that was extra complicated. When it came time for the I-751, he checked it over for me for free, but didn't want to handle it. We work on a fixed fee, and it's my guess he didn't want me calling him every five minutes, where are our green cards? The I-751 is about the most clearest form of the bunch, but make sure you send in plenty of evidence, they love full joint IRS returns with W-2's that seems to be their current bug now.

[lucyrich 20]

It's not clear to me that OP has been through adjustment of status. They may have merely gotten a K visa an entered the US.

To Patient_teacher. The first step in citizenship is getting a Green Card, in some form or another. If you came in on a K visa, the usual route to get a green card is via adjusment of status. The less common route is to go abroad and get an immigrant visa, and re-enter the US with that immigrant visa. Anyway, you've GOT to get that Green Card first. Maybe you already have it, but you didn't say.

Once you get that Green Card, if the marriage is still fairly new, it'll be a conditional green card, with an expiration date two years after the "resident since" date. You MUST apply for removal of conditions before your card expires if you get this type of green card.

The soonest you can become a citizen is after you've held the GC for three full years. That's AFTER you were already required to remove conditions.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

As others have said, if you have a conditional green card, then you MUST apply to remove the conditions. It is not an either/ or situation with applying for citizenship. Removal of conditions needs to be done no later than the 2nd anniversary of the conditional green card and you are not eligible to apply for citizenship until 3 years of permanent residency. If you don't apply to remove conditions you will not be eligible to apply for citizenship as you won't have 3 years of permanent residency. You can apply for citizenship, however, while waiting for your unconditional green card to be approved. By law USCIS must make a decision on the I-751 before they can process the N-400, but the N-400 application will force a decision on the I-751. So, even if you do want to apply for citizenship, you still have to apply to remove conditions first if you have a 2 year conditional green card.

[Patient teacher 0]

That's exactly the info I needed. You get so much lingo thrown at you you forget half of it by the time it's time to go through the paper factory again!

Thanks!!!

Hi Everyone!!!

I haven't been on the site for about a year, but now with a question, it's the first place I come. I LOVE this site and the advice everyone provides. I couldn't have survived 24 months without my husband without support!!

I wanted to ask some advice:

We had an immigration attorney help us through the K Visa process, but the I751 (is that number right...)

looks fairly easy, so we wanted to do it on our own.

I do remember vaguely our attorney telling us it would be easier to just have my husband go for citizenship, rather than go through the whole adjustment of status... Is this true?

This post may have been up here before, and I'm sorry to repeat, but not having had been here for awhile I've gotten out of the loop.

thanks so much for your help!

It is possibly an easier process... I dunno about that... cheaper yes , but you can't file for citizenship until the 3rd year of having the PR from a USC spouse.... so you basically must apply to remove conditions... no way around it if you have only been married a couple years.... then in a year you can apply for citizenship... sometimes people apply for citizenship while waiting for the I-175 to be approved to shorten that wait also... removing conditions can take a while ... but basically you can't apply for citizenship until 3rd year as a PR, which would mean you had to have filed for removing conditions also