Biometric fee required or not?

[motox 1]

I'm a US citizen, my wife is on a conditional green card. I'm looking to file the form soon as her GC expires in 2 weeks. I can't figure out if I need to include the biometrics fee or not. Form instructions are not clear to me and the USCIS agent I talked to was of no help whatsoever and pointed me towards pro bono immigration attorneys.

Biometric Services Fee.
1. Conditional Resident. Each conditional resident and conditional resident dependent included in the principal
petitioner’s Form I-751 is required to submit a biometric services fee with this petition, in addition to the required
filing fee. (See the What Is the Filing Fee section of these Instructions.)
2. U.S. Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident Spouse. If you are the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
spouse, you do not need to include a biometric services fee at the time this petition is submitted. If USCIS later
notifies you that you must submit your biometrics, you will receive a biometric services appointment notice with
instructions on how to submit the additional fee.

Based on 1), you might think that we have to pay the fee but then 2) says we shouldn't pay it.

Thank you

[Mollie09 1,543]

Yes, you need a biometric fee.

Also, you need to apply before the GC expires.

[Cheezees 1,514]

Where did you find that information? Page 7 of the instructions for the I-751 form lists something quite different. Check it out at uscis.gov/forms.

[arken 4,197]

I'm a US citizen, my wife is on a conditional green card. I'm looking to file the form soon as her GC expires in 2 weeks. I can't figure out if I need to include the biometrics fee or not. Form instructions are not clear to me and the USCIS agent I talked to was of no help whatsoever and pointed me towards pro bono immigration attorneys.

Biometric Services Fee.

1. Conditional Resident. Each conditional resident and conditional resident dependent included in the principal

petitioner’s Form I-751 is required to submit a biometric services fee with this petition, in addition to the required

filing fee. (See the What Is the Filing Fee section of these Instructions.)

2. U.S. Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident Spouse. If you are the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident

spouse, you do not need to include a biometric services fee at the time this petition is submitted. If USCIS later

notifies you that you must submit your biometrics, you will receive a biometric services appointment notice with

instructions on how to submit the additional fee.

Based on 1), you might think that we have to pay the fee but then 2) says we shouldn't pay it.

Thank you

Condition 1 is for you wife's (conditional resident) biometric, so the fee should be included.

Condition 2 is for your biometric. Since USCIS does not require your biometric in general, no fee is required for you. But, in rare cases, during processing if they feel like they need your Biometric for some reason, they they will send you the biometric notice with payment options for the fee.

In conclusion, your joint application must include the Biometric fee of $85 along with the filing fee at this time.

[motox 1]

The 2nd paragraph says "If you are the U.S. citizen (..) spouse you do not need to include a biometric services fee at the time this petition is submitted". My wife is the spouse of a US citizen so the way I read it she doesn't need to include the biometric fee.

I'm curious to know if any one of you did not include the biometric fee or paid it and got a notification that it wasn't necessary. As you might know, USCIS won't return the biometric fee if you paid it and it's not needed.

Edited May 10, 2016 by motox

[Mollie09 1,543]

Your wife is the applicant. You are the US citizen spouse. If you were a LPR, you'd be the LPR spouse. Therefore, "U.S. Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident Spouse" refers to you, not your applicant wife.

If your interpretation was correct, no one would pay the biometric fee, which makes no sense either.

Edited May 10, 2016 by F1H1I130

[NikLR 13,227]

Biometric fee must be included. They will reject the petition if it's not.

Also make sure you send this BEFORE the card expires!!!! Like they need to receive before the card expires or else the LPR could be in immigration court trying to explain why they didn't file on time.

[arken 4,197]

The 2nd paragraph says "If you are the U.S. citizen (..) spouse you do not need to include a biometric services fee at the time this petition is submitted". My wife is the spouse of a US citizen so the way I read it she doesn't need to include the biometric fee.

I'm curious to know if any one of you did not include the biometric fee or paid it and got a notification that it wasn't necessary. As you might know, USCIS won't return the biometric fee if you paid it and it's not needed.

Even after expalining above you are asking the same question again. Your interpretation of the 2nd paragraph is wrong. The second paragraph is not for the spouse of a USC/LPR. It is for USC/LPR spouse (you)of the consitional resident. The 2nd paragraph is for you while the first paragraph is for your wife. It's saying biometric fee for you wife should be submitted along with the petition while it's not needed for you.

[motox 1]

Thanks for clearing this up for me.