When to pay Green Card fee?

[Sunnybanana1913 11]

Ok so me and my wife moved to USA about 2 months ago  from Philippines. We did the Spouse Visa (DCF).  I recently saw a letter from USCIS saying its the final notice or something like that for paying the GreenCard fee of $220. I didnt see the first letter long story. My question is how long do we have to pay for the Green Card fee of $220 ?

[geowrian 22,337]

This lists all the steps:

https://www.uscis.gov/file-online/uscis-immigrant-fee

As for "when", she won't get the green card until it's paid. Her I-551 stamp is valid for 1 year.

 

Failure to Pay

• USCIS will not send you a Green Card until we receive your USCIS Immigrant Fee payment. If you fail to pay your fee, USCIS will send you a notice requesting payment.
• If you do not pay the fee within the time listed in the notice, you will not receive your Green Card.  Failure to pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee will not affect your status as a lawful permanent resident but you will only have evidence of your lawful permanent status for one year from the date of your admission, as evidenced by the temporary I-551 stamp placed in your passport by CBP at the time of your admission.

Edited September 2, 2017 by geowrian

[Crazy Cat 41,985]

Good question.  However, they will NOT send the Green Card until the fee is paid.

[millefleur 5,047]

We paid the GC fee way in advance of our POE (see my timeline in my signature). We ended up getting the GC very quickly. Not sure if there's a connection between paying in advance and faster processing for everyone, but this was the case with us.

[Crazy Cat 41,985]

It seems that there may be no absolute time limit, however, If you have not paid the immigrant visa fee by the end of the one year, the stamp will expire and you will no longer have any proof that you are lawfully residing in the United States.  That could be problematic in many cases since a physical GC is required for a number of legal purposes, financial transactions, etc.