From_CAN_2_US

Well demonstrated. one is allowed to file 90 days early to completing the 3 years of being LPR, PROVIDED one has met ALL other eligibility requirements. One of the requirements is to have lived with their US citizen spouse for over 3 years. If one only started living with spouse only for 2 years and 9 months, they have not met that eligibility criteria and hence cannot qualify for early filing.

This is a very comprehensive answer. I was wondering this for a while as well. My understanding of the law is the same as @OldUser. However, I also understand that many people who come in as CR1/ IR1 and only lived with their spouse for 2 years 9 months, file at the 2 year 9 month mark and successfully get through. So it looks like many officers do take the lenient interpretation. In my opinion if you can afford waiting the additional 3 months, better to do so. In the off chance the stricter interpretation is applied to your case, you save losing the $710 and the several months wait leading up to the denial.

Yeah, most of us will be here for a while. However, there is a decent chance, depending on the service center, that some June 2025 filers will get interview schedule date by early July. That's the trend I am seeing from other monthly thread, a small percentage get processed very quickly. So you never know, you could get lucky

Joining the club I filed online on June 5 under the 3 year rule. i751 already approved. I filed N400 at the 3 year, 4 months mark. Biometrics waived immediately after submitting, and status is now "Interview Scheduled" which I guess means that's the next step. Good luck everyone. Here's to speedy and smooth processing for all.

In the absence of vaccination records, what you need is a titre test which will tell you what vaccines you have been administered. You can use this as proof of vaccinations. If report shows you don’t have any of them, you can arrange to take those. That is what I did coming from Canada. It was covered by provincial healthcare, so didn’t have to pay a dime. Those vaccinations that require multiple doses, proof of first dose is sufficient. My advice would be to take any vaccines that comes up negative on the report even if you don’t need it for immigration, as it would likely be covered by NHS and may not be free / covered by insurance in US. Take the advice of your doctor of course…

When it comes to citizenship the entire immigration journey of the applicant is renewed. So if the person obtained LPR through marriage, they may ask questions about the marriage to verify it was entered in good faith. It’s ok even if the marriage is no more, the check is more for fraud or misrepresentation through the immigration process, which is found, would make someone ineligible for citizenship even under the 5 year rule.

Yes

Please refer to my response from earlier. It answers this.

Do you have a valid Canadian PR card? Safest to use that plus Indian passport to travel to Canada. LPRs are technically allowed to travel to Canada without a visa to Canada, but there is a slight chance the airline would want to see a PR card for a Canadian PR. Otherwise your plan is fine. Your Indian passport wont be stamped when entering US, so India wouldn’t know that you used it for travel when you surrender it. Besides that there is a grace period of 3 months where you can use your Indian passport after acquiring other citizenship.

Yes I did. This is what I learned: Technically a US border agent could have detained for for not having proper documentation for entry (my conditional greencard was no longer valid as i am not a conditional resident anymore). They could have charged me $700 for not having the new 10 year greencard while still granting me you entry based on 10 year green card approval letter. However in practice, in most cases, they just let you enter. To improve my chances, I chose a friendly, smaller border crossing, and calked them in advance describing my situation and asked if they will allow me to enter with the old green card, extension letter and 10 year green card approval letter. I didn’t face any issues.

Not sure if this post is allowed as it is tangentially related to my US immigration. Please feel free to remove if found to be irrelevant. This is a question to former Indian citizens who moved to US from Canada as greencard holders, gained Canadian citizenship after moving to US, and then surrendered their Indian passports in US through VFS - Could you please advise what the stamp that CGI put in your passport says? I surrendered mine to CGI NY through VFS and they put a stamp that states “as holder acquired USA citizenship.” I of course never claimed this, but this appears to have been done in error by CGI. The word USA is part of the stamp and so it maybe that it is not an error, and they have no other stamp so they put that for everyone. Anyway only realised this error 9 months after I got that stamp. I contacted VFS and they asked to contact CGI NY which I have also done, but a week has passed with no response. Could you please advise what your stamp says? It’s kind of scary because it looks like I claim to be a US citizen. I am also worried about how this will affect my OCI application.

OP, if you end up calling Jim Hacking, please update here when you do. I would love to hear his opinion and watch that particular show when you call.

There was a recent case in Canada where a person who was granted Canadian citizenship and given a Canadian citizenship certificate on the basis of their mother being a Canadian citizen when they were born. 32 years later, IRCC (USCIS’s counterpart in Canada) revoked their citizenship because they realised the mother had not taken her oath before this person was born. Although unlikely, I am worried something similar could happen to OP in the future. The error in both cases is by the body determining citizenship. Yet despite issuing certificate, in that case in Canada, the same issuing body revoked the citizenship status. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7196530 Luckily in the Canadian’s case, all she had to do was reapply for citizenship and it was reinstated. Took a couple of months though.

For sure, yeah. Well, at least the end is in sight. Wish you all the best.

Yes my interview was waived. 40 months is crazy. Have you applied for citizenship?

Yeah they won’t deny entry, but it could be a long wait in secondary and/ or a i193 fine for not showing the correct documentation. Willing to bet, this rarely done though…. I agree, it doesn’t make sense…

I called USCIS and they asked me to reach out to CBP. They said sometimes CBP officers do not recognise the extension letter when the permanent has been ordered to be produced and would need to see the I-551 stamp on the passport. So I called CBP and got the number (with extension) to the precise port of entry I will be crossing when returning to the US. Talked to the CBP officer there and they asked to bring the expired green card, extension letter and approval notice, along with my Canadian passport. Hopefully the guy I spoke to will be around on the day I cross 😅 I think my conclusion is - entry is to the CBP officers discretion and they can possibly fine you, but I think majority don’t. I have decided to give it a shot. Will report back!

Thank you @Crazy Cat I think you may be right; I am worrying for no reason. Thanks. That makes sense.

Thank you. I have read a number of opinions by lawyers online that say when i751 is approved while abroad, the extension letter with expired green card is enough to travel. I wonder if anything is different when you leave after it is approved… the wording on the approval is just so scary…

Thanks @Dashinka I am worried that once the I751 is approved the extension is no longer valid, as the extension is for the conditional status and not the permanent status. I don't have proof of the permanent status... I am concerned because of these posts I am seeing on reddit and visajourney....

Happiness was short-lived. Read the approval letter and found out I may have difficulty travelling before receiving Green Card. Please see post below and anyone with advice please send it my way:

My I751 got approved much much earlier than expected yesterday. I had planned to travel by land to Canada this weekend, leaving tomorrow and returning on Tuesday. My approval letter says, "You should not travel outside the United States until you receive your new Green Card, as you may have difficulty reentering the United States. If an emergency arises and you have a need to travel outside the United States before you receive your Green Card, you may make an appointment at your local USCIS office to request an I-551 stamp in your passport that shows temporary evidence of status as a lawful permanent resident." If I return to the border with my extension letter and expired green card, will CBP allow me to enter. I have no idea if I will be able to get the stamp today. We have hotels booked and my mother in law is travelling to us today from NYC, and then we drive together tomorrow to Canada. So I really don't want to cancel the trip... Would really like to hear from people in similar situation who successfully managed to return without the stamp...

In case it helps anyone, this is what I submitted (copy-pasted from my cover letter): 1. Duly filled and signed Form G-1450 authorizing $680 Credit Card Payment towards Filing fees (Form + Biometric). 2. This Cover Letter. 3. Duly filled and signed Form G-1145 requesting e-notification for acceptance of application. 4. Duly filled and signed Form I-751 5. Copy (Front and Back) of Permanent Residence Card 6. Copy of marriage certificate 7. Evidence of the Relationship: i. Exhibit A – Joint Occupancy of Communal Residence. This includes Lease documents, copies of IDs showing same address, examples of mail to both being received at same address and preparations for future joint home ownership (mortgage preapproval, buyer agency agreement and communication with realtors). ii. Exhibit B – Financial – Joint Bank Account Statements. We submitted all monthly statements for all joint bank accounts. iii. Exhibit C – Financial – Tax Returns. iv. Exhibit D – Financial – Retirement and Insurance. This includes Retirement, Life Insurance and Disability Insurance plans showing each other as beneficiary, and joint health insurance v. Exhibit E – Other Evidence of Union. This includes Nabeela and Greg listing each other as their emergency contacts, bill showing joint mobile family plan, joint amazon household and health documents providing evidence of plans to have a child together. vi. Exhibit F – Evidence Related to Wedding Day and Personal and Family Interaction. (This was over 200 pages, but very well organised description of events, trips etc over the last 3 years, and supported by photos, hotel bookings, flight tickets, family zoom calls, snapshots of family group chats etc.) vii. Exhibit G – Affidavits from Spouse's mother and Petitioner's sister.

I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to an approval email for my 1-751 submission this morning. I was totally not expecting it as the average timeline is currently around 2 years. Just wanted to share the happy news 🙂 and thank everyone here for the support through this immigration journey. Next stop - Citizenship!

Really? I came across this post yesterday where someone was denied for filing within the 90 day period, but not https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/781869-n400-case-denied-for-3-years-marital-union-after-evidence-submitted/ From this it looks like the early filing allows 90 fewer days of being an LPR, but you still have to satisfy 3 years of living together with your USC spouse. Thanks for your kind words. I think I lean towards waiting in that case. I don't really have an urgency to become a US Citizen. Only minor reason is there are a number of jobs I could apply to that requires US citizenship, but I guess it can wait.