lovegirl

Hello again, this is more up to date post on my recent "Termination of Conditional Status" query.

Here are the details:

Filed K-1 visa for my UK husband in 2005.

Granted Conditional green card in 2006

Moved to UK in 2007, before green card expired BUT did not file for lifting of conditions, and did not inform USCIS of our move.

(note: i now realize this was a horribly stupid thing to do, but at the time we thought if we were out of the country, then everything would be okay. we didnt have intentions of returning, or of finishing the immigration proceeding, but didnt realize it could lead to removal and a ban)

In November 2008, my husband was ordered removed (i believe absentia, as we didnt even realize this was going on)

We currently have plans to move back and were going to file I-30, via DCF London Embassy, but as we were filling out the paperwork, realized our situation was not going to be straightforward.

My questions are:

How do i find out what ban has been placed on my husband?

How/who do i notify that we left before the green card expired? (will this even make any difference?)

If we can somehow manage to get the case reopened, what would happen next? -if we get the removal lifted, do we carry on where we left off or continue with a fresh immigrant visa?

Is there anything else that i am missing or should be asking?

I really appreciate your help. Looking forward to any advice.

Thanks- Megan

Just to post a quick update, i found the number for Immigration courts and used the automated system to find out that my husband had the "order for removal" placed on him by a judge in November 2008.

Is that the same as deportation?

Also, some have you have suggested -and i agree- to clear up this mess before we file I-30 ...but does anyone actually know who i need to contact (i.e. UK EMbassy?) or what sort of forms i need to file?

Thank you!

I am actually going to start a new post with all of the "correct" information. Thanks for being patient.

Just to post a quick update, i found the number for Immigration courts and used the automated system to find out that my husband had the "order for removal" placed on him by a judge in November 2008.

Is that the same as deportation?

Also, some have you have suggested -and i agree- to clear up this mess before we file I-30 ...but does anyone actually know who i need to contact (i.e. UK EMbassy?) or what sort of forms i need to file?

Thank you!

Thanks everyone!

No we didn't contact anyone to let them know we were moving. (stupid, i know!)

Thankfully i have already completed the British Immigration and am now a dual citizen to the US and UK!! Yeah!!

Back to the Issue...

I called the embassy and to be truthful, they weren't that helpful. The lady on the phone didnt feel well equipped to advise me fully but she thought he may have a ban on him, or be ineligible to become a permanent resident. That really scared me but she advised me to email the embassy and query them. So after she gave me a special code, i wrote the following...

"Hello, we are looking for some advice concerning our abandoned immigration process.

My husband, Philip, was granted permanent residence to the US in May 2006 after successfully completing the K-1 visa process and the Adjustment of status. In August 2007 we moved back to the UK for work purposes and did not inform the USCIS/embassy of our decision to move. To be honest we were quite stupid about it and thought since we were out of the US then it wouldn't matter.

Now we are looking to move back to the US and we thought we could just file the I-30 via DCF but when we started filling out the paperwork and looking at our old immigration papers, it occurred to us that maybe we messed up big time.

So can you give me any advice if we can fix the mistakes we made? Is my husband banned from America and if so for how long? Are we allowed to start over with the Immigrant visa process? What should be our course of action? etc.

I would appreciate any advice you can offer and am so sorry we didn't pay enough attention to the immigration process.

Looking forward to your reply,

Megan and Philip Davies"

They responded with this sort of vague email...

"Dear Ms. Davies,

Thank you for your email.

Lawful Permanent Residents (also known as "green card holders") who have been resident outside of the United States for more than one year without obtaining a reentry permit are considered to have abandoned their status. If your husband wishes to return to the United States to reside permanently, he will be required to obtain an immigrant visa. Please visit our website at http://london.usembassy.gov/immigrant-visas.html for further information on how to apply.

Sincerely,

Consular Information Unit

U.S. Embassy, London

CONS/CIU/NJ"

This seems like a generic response and does not tell me much about our case. Now i am not sure who i can talk to in detail about this because when i talked to them on the phone (for 1.23 a minute!) they couldn't really help me and the email doesn't really answer my specific questions????

I know it seems straight forward, file the i-30 via DCF and go for it, but what could be the consequences to our application be, due to our past mistakes?

Does anyone have advice on who i can actually contact to discuss our particular circumstances?? They haven't even told me what his current status is so i don't now if we need to prove that we left the US before the green card expired!!

Thanks again!

Hello everyone, I imagine I might get a bit of exasperated sighs for this post but here is the situation and any advice would be helpful.

In 2005 my British husband and I went through the K-1 process. After marriage,we applied for AOS and conditional permanent residence was granted to my husband. His resident card expired in May 2008 and during that time we had to move back to the UK and stupidly abandoned the immigration process. (Never applied for Removal of conditional status)

We received a letter in June 2008 explaining that we didn't petition for removal of conditions, so therefore, his permanent residence status was terminated. They also stated...

"in accordance with Section 216 © (2) (b) of the Act, you may request review of this determination in deportation proceedings."

At the time we didn't think anything of it because we had already left the country so he didn't technically overstay. I am not really sure how deportation works...are we still under proceedings even of we aren't in the country?

Fast forward 4 years, to the present day, and we have plans to move back to the States. I was going to file the I-30 via DCF at the Embassy here, but when I started looking at the paperwork and digging out all of our old stuff, I got the feeling that maybe we did something wrong along the line that will make it very difficult now.

Does anyone know the consequences of not applying to remove conditions even if we had left the country before expiration? Can this mishap effect our next choice to apply for the I-30?

Any advice would be great, I am not sure if we have done something wrong or unforgivable or if it would be okay to just file the I-30. I hope to get in contact with the embassy today and see if they have any advice, but it would be great to see what everyone here has to say.

Thanks for the help.

Okay, I will try and make this simple.

I did not file taxes for 2006, basically because i got it all wrong. so here are the circumstances.

-I am an American citizen, my husband is British with a conditional resident greencard.

-we were married and lived in the U.S. for all of 2006

-I worked and my husband didn't for all of 2006

-however, he did earn interest on money in his British account.

I am thinking i should file a 1040A as married filing jointly (he does have a social security number)

BUT.... what other forms are needed and what evidence? I know as employees we send in our W-2's along with any other (bank) information, but would my husband need to send proof of his income[interest]?

I am confused as to the forms and foreign exclusions.

Any advice or guidance will be greatly appreciated, in the mean time i will continue to try and comprehend the info on the irs site!

Thanks-Megan

You assume correctly!

With only 4 months outside the US you are not really at risk just yet of abandoning your status (unless you take the establishing residence overseas literal!)... should you however remain outside the US it will be inevitable that you will lose your status - an unexpired greencard will not help there either. Thus even if you should get a 10 year card, it won't allow you to stay out of the US for 9 years and then trying to return to the US hoping to still be a legal permanent resident - this is of course an extreme example.

On the letter part: I doubt USCIS sends letters abroad. You are already out of the country, so removal proceeding would be unnecessary.

I think, the part you mentioned only applies to those that reside in the US as conditional LPRs and then fail to file I751 within the 90 day window prior to greencard expiry.

Someone pls correct me if I should be wrong with any of my assumptions...

THank You So Much...

I see what you mean. Their little hearing is because if you dont file to lift whilst in the US, they deport you. And my husband cant really be deported since he isnt in the country.

I guess i will just have to abandon it and if we decide to move back, go through another application. I dont think filing from over seas would work very well. But i really am thankful for your help.

For how long have you already resided outside the US and when do you intent to return?

From what you write it looks to me as if you have already abandoned your LPR status, thus you don't even qualify to file I751 removing of conditions.

I'm not sure what kind of letter you are talking about that is supposed to reach you from USCIS....

Well, we have been outside of he US for four months, but i dont see why we wouldnt be eligible to remove conditions. His green card is still valid for 4 months, so in theory we need to file for the 751 in a month. I cant find conditions telling you what you can or can not do during the 2 year period of the inital green card.

The link to the USCIS page i am talking about is here:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...d1a/?vgnextoid=

7b6d96981298d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=4f719c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

And this is what it says

"What if I am Late in Applying to Remove the Conditions on Residence?

If you fail to properly file the Form I-751 (Petition to Remove the Conditions on Residence) within the 90-day period before your second anniversary as a conditional resident, your conditional resident status will automatically be terminated and the USCIS will order removal proceedings against you. You will receive a notice from the USCIS telling you that you have failed to remove the conditions, and you will also receive a Notice to Appear at a hearing. At the hearing you may review and rebut the evidence against you. You are responsible for proving that you complied with the requirements (the USCIS is not responsible for proving that you did not comply with the requirements).

The Form I-751 can be filed after the 90-day period if you can prove in writing to the director of the Service Center that there was good cause for failing to file the petition on time. The director has the discretion to approve the petition and restore your permanent resident status."

So i am not really sure how that works either..

Thanks though!

Hello All,

My husband has had his 2-year conditional resident green card(originally started as a K-1) and its getting close to the time to file to lift the conditions.But we have actually moved to the U.K., where he is from, in that time.

We were going to abandon the process all together because we aren't sure if we are coming back. But looking into it, if you dont file to lift conditions, you are sent a letter and expected to appear at a hearing...very Law and Order!!!

Anyways, I just am wondering if anyone has had this same situation or close to it? For starters, I am not sure which center i would need to use. Then , is it worth it to make the flights back for the biometrics and the interview? And we dont have very much evidence of the last year when we were living in the states. We lived with friends and didnt have any bills or tenancy in our names.

I was thinking if we ever decided to move back to the US we could just file for the K-3 or the Direct Consular filing. I havent fully looked into those options but i really need to weigh everything. I just dont know how they would view different/new applications since we have a history with the USCIS.

SO any advice or tips are greatly appreciated...

Thanks everyone,

Megan

i know many of you have had experience with infopass and i had some questions about when it is appropriate to use it.

this is in realtion to our AP.the 90 day limit expires soon. when it expires, does this justify making an infopass appointment? can you try to get the AP at the appointment even if your traveling is not based on urgent circumstances?

also, what are the wait times like for an appointment? i am assuming it just depends on what service center you go to but can i make an appointment now and cancel it if the AP arrives?

i hope this wasnt too confusing. Thanks for the help.