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I-751 - Confused about what to do next

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Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Canada
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I am very new to this site and have found a lot of information that I have been looking for but I would like to see if anyone has been in my situation before and how everything ended up in the end.

I entered the US with a K1 Visa and married my husband in 2008 and got approved for my Conditional 2 year Permanent Resident Card in 2009. We entered the marriage in good faith and everything was great until we got close to our two year anniversary. We both care very much about each other but as of right now, we are separated and my husband is living with his parents.

I'm starting to look into things now because I don't know where to go from here. We have put off filing for a divorce because we are both very confused at this stage but come March, I will need to file to Remove Conditions. My husband and I don't want to commit fraud in anyway but he did offer to sign the I-751 to help me with the Removing Conditions process. But looking on here, either way, I'm going to have issues come up if we file for divorce. If we do file I-751 jointly, we have plenty of proof to show an ongoing marriage with my husbands name still on our lease, we still share our health and car insurance, we filed our taxes jointly last year and may do so again this year and all of his mail still comes to our apartment. If we do things this way and decide to file for a divorce sometime down the road after I receive my ten year green card, would I have to complete any forms to show the divorce? I also saw on here that If we get divorced before our three year anniversary, I would have to wait 5 years from the date on my Conditional 2 year Permanent Resident Card before being able to apply for Naturalization. If we get divorced after three years of marriage, could I file for Naturalization right away or would I have to wait longer?

Or would it just be easier to file for a divorce now, have it finalized and then file I-751 right after? We just don't want to rush into a divorce if what we need is time. I have plenty of proof to show that we both entered the marriage in good faith. Again, my question comes up if I go this route: I file I-751 solely after the divorce and get approved, I have to wait 5 years from the date on my Conditional 2 year Permanent Resident Card before being able to apply for Naturalization.

Sorry for all of the questions but I feel so lost as to what to do next. It has been a long process of emotions and I have plenty of friends here but none that have even come close to making the type of sacrifices and decisions that I made to come here to be with my husband. At least with this site, we all know what it takes and it has taken a lot to get to this point. So please, be nice, I'm not looking to commit fraud, I just want to do the right thing and not rush into a divorce if in the end we decide that we want to be together.

Thank you in advance for you help and advice!

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Filed: Other Timeline

The default for the I-751 is that both file. After all, it's about removing the conditions, and the conditions are that both are still happily married and live together.

If you file jointly, and hubby signs the petition, it may be approved without as much as a hiccup, but it would be fraud, strictly speaking.

If you are not living together anymore, you need to file with a waiver. If you are not divorced yet, USCIS will send you an NOA1 and, a few weeks later, once they look at your file, an RFE for the missing divorce decree.

Until the divorce is final, your I-751 cannot be adjudicated. Usually, they give you about 88 days to provide the divorce decree in response to the RFE; if you haven't send it by then, the brainless drones will automatically initiate deportation proceedings. For a Green Card holder to lose her status, the decision of an Immigration judge is required, meaning you will get your day in court.

If by the time you have your day in court you still don't have a divorce decree, your attorney -- and at that point it's attorney time -- will ask the judge to keep the case on hold until you are divorced. Usually, such a request will be granted. Once you have the divorce decree, you send it to USCIS and they can adjudicate your I-751.

If you have understood the procedure, you've also understood the importance of timing. As long as you are not divorced, you need as much time as possible. Whereas "normal" practice is to send the I-751 as early as possible (90 days before the 2nd GC anniversary), you will want to wait as long as possible, probably until just a few days before your GC expires.

The most important thing here is however, to understand that you need to either be happily married together, or need to be divorced. USCIS has no way to finish you off until you fit in one of the two drawers they have at hand.

Edited by Just Bob

There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all . . . . The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic . . . . There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.

President Teddy Roosevelt on Columbus Day 1915

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Canada
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Just Bob has explained it quite succinctly. To answer your other question regarding Naturalization - you can only qualify for the 3 year Naturalization option if you are still married and living together with your husband when you file, when you have your interview and when you receive your oath. Once you divorce - whether you have been married 2 years, 3 years or 4 years, you need to wait until you have been a green card holder for 5 years before you are eligible to apply for Naturalization. The 3 year option only applies if you are still married by the time you take your oath.

Good luck. I hope you are able to sort our the various challenges you are facing and find the solution that is right for both of you. (btw - have you considered marriage counseling at all? )

“...Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?”

. Lucy Maude Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

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Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Canada
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Thanks Just Bob for the reply! I don't want to commit fraud at all! I guess at this time my husband and I will need to really see what we want to do before March comes.

And thanks Kathryn41 as well! One question that I have about Naturalization is when does the three or even five year waiting start? From the date on my Conditional 2 year Permanent Resident Card or on my ten year Green Card?

Also, we have considered marriage counseling and plan on going to speak with someone withing the next month or so. I really hope that it is exactly what we need.

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Canada
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Thanks Just Bob for the reply! I don't want to commit fraud at all! I guess at this time my husband and I will need to really see what we want to do before March comes.

And thanks Kathryn41 as well! One question that I have about Naturalization is when does the three or even five year waiting start? From the date on my Conditional 2 year Permanent Resident Card or on my ten year Green Card?

Also, we have considered marriage counseling and plan on going to speak with someone withing the next month or so. I really hope that it is exactly what we need.

The three year/five year qualifying time for Naturalization starts from the date you got your first, 2 year conditional green card.

Good luck to you - I hope you are able to work through whatever challenges you are facing right now and move on with your marriage. It sounds like you really are just going through some problems right now but that the relationship itself is certainly real. I hope you can work things out.

“...Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?”

. Lucy Maude Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

5892822976_477b1a77f7_z.jpg

Another Member of the VJ Fluffy Kitty Posse!

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