November 25, 2024

Application to remove conditions on your Residency (2 year card)

If you received conditional resident status through marriage to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (2 year Legal Permanent Resident card), you need to use Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, to apply for the removal of those conditions and obtain a 10 year green card. These conditional cards are issued to applicants who have been married less than two years and it’s meant to prevent marriage fraud. If you are still married, you should file Form I-751 jointly with your spouse through whom you obtained conditional status. The current fee for this application is $750 dollars.

However, you may file Form I-751 without your spouse if:

1. You entered the marriage in good faith, but your spouse passed away;
2. You entered the marriage in good faith, but the marriage was later ended through divorce or annulment;
3. You entered the marriage in good faith, but have been subjected to battery or extreme cruelty by your petitioning spouse;
4. Your conditional resident parent entered the marriage in good faith, but you have been subjected to battery or extreme cruelty by your parent’s U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or by your conditional resident parent; or
5. Terminating your status and removing you from the United States would cause extreme hardship.

USCIS may require you to attend an interview or provide biometrics (fingerprints, photograph, and/or signature) at any time to verify your identity, gather additional information, and conduct background and security checks, including a check of criminal history records maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), before deciding on your application or petition. If a biometric services appointment is necessary, we will send you a notice with the date, time, and location of your appointment.

An N-400, Application for Naturalization or Citizenship, may be filed after 33 months of U.S. residency, if you have been married to a U.S. citizen and have maintained Legal Permanent Residency for those 33 months, provided the marriage remains valid throughout the citizenship application process.

In recent years, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been slow to process I-751 applications. Consequently, a person married to a U.S. citizen may complete their 3-year residency period before their I-751 application is approved. Fortunately, applicants can file for naturalization with an N-400 petition even if their I-751 application is still pending.

For more information about asylum and work permit applications, call Bailey Immigration PC at 503-224-0950. Immigration Attorney Diana Bailey has over 25 years of experience practicing immigration law.