Depserately looking for first/next fastest steps...

[skybluegeek 0]

I am an American and my Canadian wife has lived with me in the states since before we were married over 16 years ago. She was a student at the time and we've since gotten married in 1995 and had 3 children in 1996, 1998, and 2001. She works and has an SSN but her Canadian passport in her married name expired 12/12/05 and her original resident alien card expired 10/02/07 with an extension approved until 12/10/08 but was never followed-up. She has ill family members in Toronto and we wish to be up there for Christmas starting on/around the 17th-23rd. Is there anything I can do that would allow her to travel there and ensure that she would be able to return to our home in Atlanta? And what would be the right next steps to getting her appropriately visa'd (K3 I believe?). Any/all help is incredibly appreciated!

One more thing we were married in Toronto but we filed our marriage legally on return to the states in Atlanta.

Thanks in advance...

[kzielu 1,149]

Was that a conditional green card ? Then answer is no, you can't do anything - you will have to file I-130 for her and it will require a waiver since your wife has 10 year ban for entry to US.

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

***** Moving from K3 to Travelling during US Immigration *****

The K3 is obsolete, the relevant spousal visa is the IR-1, but it takes a year or so to get approved, and I am sure you don't want to stay in Canada that long!

What kind of greencard did your wife have, a conditional 2 year or a ten year? Why was it not followed up? You may need to start again by filing the I-130 and I-485, but with the odd situation, I would not have her leave the country until it is sorted out, otherwise she may find that a visa (and subsequent year long wait to re-enter) is indeed the only option.

[skybluegeek 0]

Was that a conditional green card ? Then answer is no, you can't do anything - you will have to file I-130 for her and it will require a waiver since your wife has 10 year ban for entry to US.

I don't believe it was a conditional greencard? - she was issued a temporary I-551 and has an IR6 written on it but it is temporary residency only (1 year)...

[Canadian in GA 34]

If she leaves the country, she will not be able to return, you must file the I-485 again.... i wouldnt chance it whatsoever

[Little_My 464]

This is all very confusing. If she has an I-551 stamp in her passport, that means she was once issued a greencard. The I-551 stamp is a temporary measure for the new permanent resident to prove his/her status until the physical greencard arrives. You mentioned a "resident alien card" in your first post - you mean a greencard by this, I assume? IR-6, from what I know, is the category under which the GC was issued, which would be AOS based on marriage to a US citizen.

If I am understanding you correctly, your wife applied for AOS and was granted a GC, probably in.. 1997? Based on the 2007 expiration. Then she got an extension until 2008 - which doesn't really make sense to me. Why didn't you just renew her greencard? If she had a 10-year card, she wasn't subject to removal of conditions and could have just applied to have the card renewed, that's it.

In any case, if she was issued a 10-year greencard, her permanent resident status has not expired even if the card itself has. You need to clarify whether or not she has had a GC issued to her, when, and if it was for 2 or 10 years. It will be easier to help after that information has been provided.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

If you and your wife were married less than 2 years when she received her first green card in 2005, then it would have been a conditional green card valid until 2007. You state that she then received a one year extension until December 2008. That sounds to me like she filed to remove the conditions on her green card at that time as the one year extension letter is given upon receipt of the request to remove conditions. You state that you never followed up after that?

What you need to do is to find out what your wife's legal status is in the US. If the request to remove conditions was approved she would have become an unconditional permanent resident of the US and should have received a green card good for 10 years. That may have happened and the card may have been lost in the mail. If this is the case, then your wife is still a permanent resident of the US and she needs to obtain proof of that residency before she can leave and return to the US. That would be done by filing an I-90 application to replace the green card, and she can obtain temporary proof of status that will allow her to travel when that is done.

The application to remove conditions, however, may also have been denied, in which your wife's legal residency in the US also expired at the same time - back in 2007 or 2008. That means she has been here without legal status for going on 4 years. If that is the case and she leaves the US now, she will incur an automatic 10 year ban on being allowed to return to the US. She may even have had an order of deportation filed against her. If this is the case, then she needs to remain in the US and you need to petition for another green card right away by filing an I-130 and an I-485. She cannot leave the US if she wants to be allowed to return to the US until she gets her new green card approved. She cannot use an advance parole travel document as the 10 year ban supersedes the rights of the advance parole document.

So, the first thing you need to do is to determine her status in the US. Hopefully, it is still valid and she just needs to get a replacement green card. She will need to contact USCIS in order to do this.

She also needs to update her Canadian passport. She won't be able to fly to Canada without it as she would not be allowed on the plane. If her permanent residency status is still valid (eg. 10 year card) then she can take her expired Canadian passport, 2 passport photos and make an Infopass appointment at the Atlanta USCIS office, and request an I-551 stamp placed into her passport. She will also need to file the I-90 application to replace the missing green card. This will allow her to cross at a land border into Canada and return to the US, but she would need a valid passport in order to fly across the border.

If she does not have permanent residency anymore then it is a moot point. She should still renew her Canadian passport and she can do that via mail from the US, but she cannot leave the US if she wants to return earlier than 10 years. Hopefully the processing on the new green card will go quickly enough that she will be able to visit her ill family members sometime later in 2012. She should not plan on being there for Christmas this year unless she wants to stay there for the next 10 Christmases as well.

Edited December 5, 2011 by Kathryn41