Conditional Green Card

As a portion of reforms in immigration under ‘Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, i.e. IRCA’, along with further reform ratified in ‘Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, i.e. IIRAIRA’, people eligible can move further with application for Green Card on the basis of either a fresh matrimony to a citizen of the United States or in the form of an investor get green Card granted for a time-span of 2 years on conditional basis. Of Course, there’s an exception with regards to this rule. This exception is case of a citizen of the US who legally sponsors a spouse wherein matrimony during adaptation of status happens to be > 2 years old.

In the above-mentioned case, conditional status gets waived and ten-year Green Card gets issued upon USCIS approving the case. Any of the permanent residents under conditional clause might receive an I-551 stamp, apart from a Green Card. The date of expiry of conditional period is 2 years from date of approval. The category in to which this immigrant visa falls is “CR”, i.e. conditional resident.

When this conditional period of 2 years is over, permanent residence expires (automatically) and applicant becomes subject to removal and deportation. To avert this, ninety days prior to expiry of conditional residence, applicant should file form ‘I-751’, i.e. ‘Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence (if conditional green card was obtained via marriage) or form I-829, i.e. Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions (if conditional green card was obtained via investment) with USCIS for having removed the conditions.

After having received the applications, conditional green card gets extended for a time-span of 1 year till request of removal of conditions is denied or approved. USCIS has made something compulsory. It asks for evidence stating that conditional permanent residence obtained by the immigrant is not fraudulent. In case of applications based on matrimony, joint monetary statements, children’s certificates, and the letters from relatives, friends, and employers are certain kinds of evidences which are accepted.

The above-mentioned submissions are accompanied with a ‘follow-up interview’, that too, with the immigration inspector. This interview is, however, conducted only if the given evidence doesn’t convince the authorities fully. The main objective behind the follow-up interview is of ensuring that marriage had taken place legally and not in fraudulent manner. Both the spouses are supposed to attend the interview in such circumstances.

The applicant gets an I-551’ stamp in his/her foreign transport after the case’s approval. Once the application gets approved, applicant becomes free from conditional requirement. The applicant’s novel Green Card arrives through mail towards their residence, that too, several months or several weeks later. As such, the old 2-year conditional green card gets replaced. This novel card should be renewed 10 years later. The present scenario is such that ‘permanent resident status’ gets granted for an ‘indefinite period’, provided that the conditions of residence get satisfied every time. USCIS might request to have the conditional green card renewed at the earliest owing to security enhancements on the part of card.

For more information on how to get your Green Card Status, Click Here.