Sending items back to the US

Posted in another thread:

hiya!

Ive got Martin's Visa in front of me. Its a multi-colour watermarked paper that clearly states the validity of this visa.

Issued 21 Oct 2003, Expires midnight at the end of 20 April 2004

The brown envelope, btw, contains all the photocopies of evidence they take from you at the interview. The visa paper is stapled to the front. You cant open the envelope or you invalidate the visa. Its opened at your POE by an immigration officer.

People who apply for spousal visas are granted green cards as soon as they enter the country and should arrive at your selected contact address in the US in approx 3 weeks (last I heard). The green card entitles the holder to unlimited travel into and out of the united states. A green card holder is a legal permanent resident.

Addition: K-1 visa holders are not able to leave the US until they have sucsessfully applied for adjustment of status. Theyre rules & regs are very different to those who have applied for visas based on an already existing marriage to a US citizen.

The green card entitles the holder to unlimited travel into and out of the united states. A green card holder is a legal permanent resident.

For two years, then an I 751 must be filed ( Petition to Remove  Conditions ) you then receive  extensions in 1 year increments until that is approved. Waiting times on that vary. The Vermont Processing Center is over two years behind and most of the others in the country are'nt much faster. Cost, $145, extensions are free and obtained from your nearest immigration office.

Spouses are unconditional permanent residents as long as they enter the US after their second anniversary or have successfully adjusted their statues from conditional to unconditional. As far as I was aware they dont need to do any more paperwork after their green card is granted.

Spouses are unconditional permanent residents as long as they enter the US after their second anniversary or have successfully adjusted their statues from conditional to unconditional. As far as I was aware they dont need to do any more paperwork after their green card is granted.

All spouses are conditional permanent residents until the conditions are removed and issued green cards that expire two years from the date of issuance. An I 751 (Petition to Remove Conditions) must be filed 90 days before said expiration. That process can take anywhere from 2-3 years at the current rate. In the meantime, after the I 751 has been filed with a fee of $145 the green card holder is issued 2 copies of a Notice of Action receipt that the Petition to Remove Conditions is pending. This receipt is good for 1 year. If at that time the Petition to Remove Conditions has still not been granted the green card holder must get an extension (free of charge) at their nearest I.N.S office. In order to travel during this period the green card holder MUST have in his possesion this water-marked receipt showing pending action otherwise theyre SOOL, so yes..there is more paperwork involved once the conditional green card is issued. There's enough of us here on the board going through this at the very moment.

*..the word permanent on the initial resident card is a bit of a misnomer, its not REALLY permanent until the conditions have been removed, there's a HUGE difference between conditionally permanent and unconditionally permanent.

so yes..there is more paperwork involved once the conditional green card is issued.

OH MAN!!! Will there EVER be an end to this paperwork

Right now the I-751 seems to be amongst the looonnngggeeessstttt to be approved. Evidence of the marraige still intact ( bills,mortgage papers, bank statements etc.) are submitted along with it. If they feel the information is adequate they won't require an interview to substantiate, if they don't.....they'll send the petition to the nearest I.N.S office and then call both parties in for an interview. Does it end?......sometimes it does seem like the never-ending story and its even more convoluted now that I.N.S falls under the Department of Homeland Security, all you can do is go with the flow. My wife has been here since March of 2000 and is STILL a conditional resident and at the rate in which theyre processing them it looks like she won't become unconditional until well into 2005.

Ooooh, this is making my head spin.....  Can't think about this know but will file it for future use.  I just want our police certificate so we can mail in our I-864 and DC-230 and let them know we are ready.

I have to add my woe to Celtics.  You do have to wait to have the conditions removed. My UK hubby and I are in the process right now as well.  Bascially you are called a conditional permanent resident for two years (or until they decide to approve you) and then you can apply to be a permanent resident with that lovely 10 year renewable green card.

Though if you have been married for more than two years already and living together as man and wife out of the USA I think they CAN grant permanent residence without conditions.  They do not have to though.

right - as far as I know they said Martin was granted permanent unconditional residence - 10 year green card and the whole kitten kaboodle.

celtic, what type of visa did your wife get to enter the US? did you apply through DCF and when she entered had you been married for more than 2 years and living with her?

Gleened from the BCIS Homepage:

Background :
"A lawful permanent resident is given the privilege of living and working in the United States permanently. Your permanent residence status will be conditional if it is based on a marriage that was less than two years old on the day you were given permanent residence. You are given conditional resident status on the day you are lawfully admitted to the United States on an immigrant visa or receive adjustment of status. Your permanent resident status is conditional, because you must prove that you did not get married to evade the immigration laws of the United States."

Another ambiguous statement by the BCIS which I've made 3 calls in the past year to clarify. In all 3 instances it was pointed out to me that while it states " Your permanent residence status will be conditional if it is based on a marriage that was less than two years old on the day you were given permanent residence", nowhere does it state that if it is over 2 years it is unconditional. I was told that this is a determination made by the BCIS here in the States, not by the Embassy in London. I don't doubt that this is what's being told to applicants by certain embassy personall, but it's not "written in stone" anywhere from any source that I can find. With the constant changes and updates to BCIS policies and procedures post 9/11 (another standard answer one receives if theyre fortunate enough to actually speak to someone) I'd suggest waiting until the I-551 arrives to actually see that the residence was granted unconditionally.

Ive hauled out the letter that came with martin's visa.

"Conditional Status: If at the time of admission to the United States you will not have celebrated the second anniversary of your marriage, which is the basis of your immigrant status, you are subject to the provisions of section 216 of the Immigrantion and Nationality Act. Under this provision, you will be granted conditional permanent residence by an officer of the US Department of Homeland Security, BCIS at the time of your admission to the United States. As a result, you and your spouse must file a joint petition with the BCIS to have the conditional basis of your status removed. The petition must be filed within a ninety-day period immediately preceding the second anniversary of the date you were granted conditional resident status."

I think its pretty clear, simply by the fact that they dont mention unconditional residence, even in the Imm & Nat Act, that unconditional is considered the absolute default status and only the exception (conditional status) needs be mentioned. Should AOS apply to unconditional residents it would clearly state that.

The rules and regs regarding obtaining conditional status seem pretty clear to me. Just because the BCIS has a tendancy to provide misinformation doesnt mean that because they seem to have "left something out" that you should expect foul play. Take it at face value - that paragraph is telling you what you need to know and you only need to know further information if you have to do more paperwork later on. They arent going to bother going on about unconditional residence when those people granted it dont have to do anything more.

Posted by: CeltictotheCore       Posted on: Jan 17th, 2004, 12:37pm

I was told that this is a determination made by the BCIS here in the States, not by the Embassy in London.

The Embassy in London has just as much jurisdiction over the processing of applications as the BSIC in the states does. They are exact branches of eachother and must adhere to the same provisioning laws. The final word rests with the people who admit the alien into the US and thats Homeland Security.

The rules and regs regarding obtaining conditional status seem pretty clear to me.  

Thats wonderful, I'm tickled for ya but they sure as hell are'nt to a lot of other folks here.