TN to Green Card - Overdue Check-in!

[AdamNewfoundland 0]

Hello, everyone!

I came here early this year (in February), wondering what I was supposed to do, since I was here in the States on a TN status and getting married in Newfoundland in August.

Several helpful VJers steered me away from my initial "plan" (getting a K-3 visa, which, as it turns out, would have led me directly to unwitting immigration fraud - yikes!). I was advised to get married here in New York, set in motion my green card process, and hopefully have everything settled before the family wedding in August.

Long story short, everything worked out, my application was accepted and processed with no problems, I got my green card, we had a fantastic wedding in Newfoundland (with a lovely second reception in Iowa for her family that couldn't make it), and we're happily slogging away at life here in New York.

Long story long....

After getting some much-needed nuts-and-bolts advice from SoCal-Canuck on how to actually assemble my application package, I filled a large envelope with an I-130, 4 copies of G-325A, an I-693, I-765, I-131, copies of our passports and birth certificates, photos, affidavits, proof of joint savings, marriage certificate, and a load of money. Phew!

A few weeks later, I received several notices in the mail, one for each of my applications. (Permanent Residency, Employment Authorization Document, Travel Document.) I made an Infopass appointment to get Emergency Parole for a trip home to Newfoundland, both to settle certain details regarding our family wedding, and also to visit my grandmother, who had recently been moved into a retirement community after breaking her hip and suffering a minor stroke. After jumping through some more hoops (it turns out the birth certificate I've been carrying around, which got me my TN status, as well as my passport and visa for Taiwan in 2003, is not suitable for proving blood relations, so I had to get my mother to get the "long-form" birth certificates from the Department of Health in Newfoundland.), I was granted advance parole. (And thank God for that; I spent 8 days in Newfoundland on that trip in March and April, and got to see my grandmother every day. She passed away at the end of April, so the wedding in August would have been far too late for me to visit.)

I received my EAD and Travel Document in the mail soon after coming back from Newfoundland. On June 2nd, Katie and I went in for our interview. It was smooth and easy; we brought several photos of our travels in Asia together, as well as of our life in New York. We also brought all our supporting documents (indeed, the entire file I'd been accumulating since we began this mission). The lady we spoke with was lovely. She took a look at our photos, asked us where we met, asked to see our savings account papers. Then she asked if she could keep one particular picture (the umbrella hats picture here: http://www.adamfirefist.com/2010/06/cards-green-and-birthday.html) for our file, and sent us back out to the waiting room. Five minutes later, she called my name, and handed me my passport with my Green Card (err... rather, Red Stamp) in it. I got the welcome letter a week later, and my actual card a week after that.

So, I believe the only thing I have left to do is apply in a year and a half to remove the restrictions on the card, yes? (Basically, proving that we're still married.) There was no indication in either the welcome letter or the papers that accompanied the card that I needed to do any such thing, but I've noticed people here mention it repeatedly.

Sorry for taking so long to check in, update, and thank everyone here for their help! Immediately after we got "paper married" and I got my work authorization, things got very busy at Oxford University Press (where I've been doing editorial work), then we had the wedding in Newfoundland and the reception in Iowa to take care of! So, busyness and procrastination make great friends!

Again, THANKS SO SO MUCH! If it weren't for these VisaJourney forums, I would, very literally, not be where I am today, and my life would be considerably more stressful than it is (and that's saying something, given the summer we just had!). If anyone has any insight into this issue of removing conditions, I'd be further indebted for any advice. (Although, I see now that the card has an expiry date in 2012. I imagine that's the point before which I'll have to inform USCIS that Katie and I are still together.)

Thank you so very much, folks! My wife and I owe you big time!

Adam

(Cross-posted with the "Canada" forum.)

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

The welcome letter does mention the requirement to remove conditions:

"Your new card will expire two years from when you became a permanent resident. By law your resident status is conditional, and you must apply to remove those conditions before your card expires. We recommend you apply several months before your card expires."

The process involves filing an I-751 form within 90 days of the expiration of your card. Don't file before that window of time unless you're asking for a waiver of the joint filing requirements. The VJ guide for filing the I-751 is here:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/751guide

There's also a separate forum for removing conditions here:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/86-removing-conditions-on-residency-general-discussion/

[AdamNewfoundland 0]

Thank you! I completely overlooked that paragraph!

Thanks for the information!

Adam

The welcome letter does mention the requirement to remove conditions:

"Your new card will expire two years from when you became a permanent resident. By law your resident status is conditional, and you must apply to remove those conditions before your card expires. We recommend you apply several months before your card expires."

The process involves filing an I-751 form within 90 days of the expiration of your card. Don't file before that window of time unless you're asking for a waiver of the joint filing requirements. The VJ guide for filing the I-751 is here:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/751guide

There's also a separate forum for removing conditions here:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/86-removing-conditions-on-residency-general-discussion/