Skipping conditional green card

[arken 4,197]

58 minutes ago, javadown2 said:

. Just mad that if you follow the rules they make you pay more..

Not exactly right. Your wife chose to stay at home. Had she been working for say 1.5 years after getting EAD, she could have earned over  25K even at the minimum wage. Spending around 1K on ROC is nothing then. So in your case it was a choice.

 

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The more I think about this the more I wonder if they made a mistake for her?? Should she be worried? I'm thinking she meets the married for 2 years but how can they allow them to bypass the AOS process? And now they they have the green card doesn't she still have to wait 3 years before becoming US citizen (3 years and married to US citizen rule)?

They didn’t make any mistake. I believe you meant skip ROC process. If one is married for more than 2 years at the time they are approved for GC, they get 10 year GC and so no ROC involved. She stayed with the risk of deportation just in case she had run-ins with the law, so she was at risk  all the time. 

She has to wait 3 years after getting GC to apply for citizenship. 

[javadown2 308]

2 minutes ago, arken said:

Not exactly right. Your wife chose to stay at home. Had she been working for say 1.5 years after getting EAD, she could have earned over  25K even at the minimum wage. Spending around 1K on ROC is nothing then. So in your case it was a choice.

 

They didn’t make any mistake. I believe you meant skip ROC process. If one is married for more than 2 years at the time they are approved for GC, they get 10 year GC and so no ROC involved. She stayed with the risk of deportation just in case she had run-ins with the law, so she was at risk  all the time. 

She has to wait 3 years after getting GC to apply for citizenship. 

Yeah, ROC....yep we just did what we believed the process was suppose to be. Honestly happy for her and ok yeah my wife or she could have worked and easily made that money. I guess its more about the whole process/interview/paperwork then money/costs. 

 

Anyways, thanks for the response. IT was a choice and we just did what we thought she was suppose to do. 

[geowrian 22,336]

Good points raised about being out of status and not able to travel and such. But I would also add that by delaying to file for AOS, if something did happen and the relationship fell apart, she would have been up the creek with no paddle, and facing a 10 year ban upon exit from the US. If she had a child with her spouse as well, she could be separated from her child by leaving (including if she got deported). It’s really a bad situation to be in all around. While ROC is a PITA, the benefits of waiting to file AOS versus the risks just doesn’t sound like a wise decision.

Edited April 26, 2019 by geowrian

[millefleur 5,039]

1 hour ago, javadown2 said:

Yeah, ROC....yep we just did what we believed the process was suppose to be. Honestly happy for her and ok yeah my wife or she could have worked and easily made that money. I guess its more about the whole process/interview/paperwork then money/costs. 

 

Anyways, thanks for the response. IT was a choice and we just did what we thought she was suppose to do. 

The majority of us are in the same boat here on VJ so you are in good company. You won't find too many people on VJ singing their praises about how the skirted around the system and found loopholes....that person would probably not last very long around here...lol. And good on you for following the rules, it is the proper way to do it! 

[AnJay 137]

Sounds like you are jealous because she skipped roc 🙄 My friend applied for GC right away after marriage, but because uscis lost her documents, she was approved way past her 2 years of marriage. Does that mean she did something wrong? she didnt expect that at all and received 10 year GC. 

[Crazy Cat 39,692]

In my humble opinion, the 2 year Green Card and ROC should be abolished........the latest I-751 statistics show that, for the 1st quarter of FY 2019, denial rate of adjudicated cases was about 3% at USCIS.  If you assume that 75% of all denied cases are successfully appealed, the denial rate drops to less than 1%......per my math.

[NikLR 13,220]

1 hour ago, missileman said:

In my humble opinion, the 2 year Green Card and ROC should be abolished........the latest I-751 statistics show that, for the 1st quarter of FY 2019, denial rate of adjudicated cases was about 3% at USCIS.  If you assume that 75% of all denied cases are successfully appealed, the denial rate drops to less than 1%......per my math.

It's not the process it's supposed to be.  Ive seen people approved that should have been denied. They really do need to scrutinize it more. 

[junkmart 320]

12 hours ago, javadown2 said:

Yeah, true our timeline will be ahead when it comes to citizenship. I know, but it's just annoying that you follow the directions and you end up behind...just frustrating. 

They followed the directions, too, just like you. Not sure what you are bent out of shape about. You could have also CHOSEN to wait and file at a later date, and maybe gotten a 10 year GC if you had been married for more than two years upon your approval. In fact, your interview date may take so long that you may be married more than two years buy that time, and you may get the 10 year GC too.

[junkmart 320]

10 hours ago, millefleur said:

The majority of us are in the same boat here on VJ so you are in good company. You won't find too many people on VJ singing their praises about how the skirted around the system and found loopholes....that person would probably not last very long around here...lol. And good on you for following the rules, it is the proper way to do it! 

How did the person that OP is jealous of skirt the system? By the time they got approved, they had been married for more than two years, hence the 10 year GC. Am I missing something?

[payxibka 10,044]

1 minute ago, junkmart said:

How did the person that OP is jealous of skirt the system? By the time they got approved, they had been married for more than two years, hence the 10 year GC. Am I missing something?

Only because they delayed filing the i485 beyond the expiry of the i94 for such a period of time that by the time they got around to granting the interview it was past 2 years 

[junkmart 320]

5 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Only because they delayed filing the i485 beyond the expiry of the i94 for such a period of time that by the time they got around to granting the interview it was past 2 years 

OK, but that's not skirting the system. One can choose to file at ANYTIME if they are eligible. They could have filed before I-94 expiration, USCIS could have still taken more than two years to process, and they could have still gotten a 10 year GC. There is no requirement to file AOS before I-94 expires. To me, this is just a case of someone being jealous, period.

Edited April 26, 2019 by junkmart

[Dashinka 23,390]

48 minutes ago, missileman said:

In my humble opinion, the 2 year Green Card and ROC should be abolished........the latest I-751 statistics show that, for the 1st quarter of FY 2019, denial rate of adjudicated cases was about 3% at USCIS.  If you assume that 75% of all denied cases are successfully appealed, the denial rate drops to less than 1%......per my math.

I never researched the history of the ROC, but I assume it was created due to excessive fraud related to K1s and K3s.  I agree, it should be abolished, and based on the priority that USCIS seems to be giving it, maybe at some point it will be.

 

As to the OP, there are always stories of folks putting off AOS from a K1 for a period of time (weeks, months, years, etc.), I guess I take a longer-term view of things, and if Naturalization is  the ultimate goal, then why wait.

[RedroseMT 37]

A little off topic ( I am sorry but no need to make a new topic I think). 

A lot of you have mentioned the time when it is allowed to fill for a citizenship . Is that so much better then stay a LPR? I don’t plan to become an USC as I might be a perfectly fine as a permanent resident . Is that bad plan ? 

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

11 hours ago, javadown2 said:

Yeah, ROC....yep we just did what we believed the process was suppose to be. Honestly happy for her and ok yeah my wife or she could have worked and easily made that money. I guess its more about the whole process/interview/paperwork then money/costs. 

 

Anyways, thanks for the response. IT was a choice and we just did what we thought she was suppose to do. 

Totally get where you’re coming from - I’ve been seeing posts about people not going through the visa process and just applying for AOS after getting married in tourist visas...and it is a little disappointing to feel that by following the rules and applying for the visas, we’ve had to wait much longer to be together and spend more on the different fees...like, why aren’t there penalties for abusing the system?

 

However! 

 

Having said that, I think that by following the rules, I won’t have to live in fear, or in worry of being ‘caught’...I won’t feel trapped and unable to travel (or certainly for much less time than if we weren't following process)...I’ll be able to legally work much quicker (I imagine some who don’t follow the visa process possibly also work cash in hand, which again, very dangerous path to tread)...and I feel like when it comes to my GC, or even naturalisation interview (waaaay in the future), they’ll have my record and see that I followed all the rules, so I’ll feel much more comfortable and confident. If I hadn’t followed the rules, I feel like there would be some awkward questions answered...?

 

So yeah, for me, that’s the benefit for following the correct process and it definitely outweighs the alternative if not doing so 🙂.

[Crazy Cat 39,692]

3 minutes ago, RedroseMT said:

A little off topic ( I am sorry but no need to make a new topic I think). 

A lot of you have mentioned the time when it is allowed to fill for a citizenship . Is that so much better then stay a LPR? I don’t plan to become an USC as I might be a perfectly fine as a permanent resident . Is that bad plan ? 

1.  A US citizen can not be deported. 

2.  Over time, renewing the Green Card becomes more expensive than N-400 costs.

3.  US passport allows travel to more places than most.

Edited April 26, 2019 by missileman