pure8heart

Hi everyone...and happy new year :-)

OK, so we sent in the petition to remove the conditions on my husband's green card in February last year...he did his biometrics on March 28...and then we settled in for the supposedly very long wait to hear something.

As of today we still hadn't heard anything, and he's planning to go out of the country pretty soon for a couple of months, so I decided to check on the petition status since his letter that allows him to travel/work while waiting for the conditions to be lifted would expire while he's out of the country.

I finally located the USCIS's page to check the application status, put in his number, and this is what came back:

"On July 21, 2008, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this CRI89 PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS RECEIVED. Please follow any instructions on the notice."

But we never received any such notice. (Believe me, we definitely would not have overlooked this particular piece of mail!)

So now, I'm confused...does the message about the petition status mean that we're not being required to have another interview and they've just outright approved the lifting of the conditions? (Since we never received the notice, we don't know what was included in it, of course.)

If that's what it means, then would the new green card have been included in the envelope with the notice (that we didn't receive)? If not, shouldn't it have been sent by now?

If an interview was required, the notice wouldn't have said that they had approved the petition, right?

I assume I should/can call the USCIS customer service number to verify the status and tell them we never received the notice...but am just wondering if anyone has any thoughts/insights/info on our situation in the meanwhile. My biggest worry is that there's going to be some sort of problem with my husband's status since it's been over 5 months since they supposedly sent the notice and we haven't "followed the instructions" on it...especially since we haven't received the new green card yet (though maybe that was also lost in the mail?).

Thanks for any response...

Deb

It has something to do with language. Doesn't mean that your application was approved and card was ordered. Perhaps this excerpt clarifies it better then me. Link is

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/update_i751_060508.pdf

Hi Pure8heart,

The original source of this memo (apparently the OP didn't post the link to it), is what I found here, apparently from an immigration lawyer website, and does not exist from the USCIS website itself) of this outdated 1997 memo, "INS Announces New Rules To Deal With....":

http://www.visalaw.com/97nov/

http://www.visalaw.com/97nov/8nov97.html

Hope this helps too. Good luck on your immigration journey

Ant (Still waiting at the VSC, Still waiting for Baby...)

Hi donga, I was wondering where on uscis website I can find the information you quoted in your blog. That's almost 1 year since I filed I-751, and now I am getting frustrated with the wait, and wanted to see if can request for an expedited interview. I' ll really appreciate your response.

Thanks a lot for your reply AntandD. I saw that link. You are right it's outdated, gave me a hope for a moment though. I filed at CSC 10 months ago and done with biometrics after that there is no activity on my case. I visit every month local field office, but they are no help either.

INS ANNOUNCES NEW RULES TO DEAL WITH SLOWER PROCESSING OF PETITIONS TO REMOVE CONDITIONAL RESIDENCE STATUS IN MARRIAGE CASES

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has issued a memorandum addressing the ever-increasing processing times for I-751 cases. These are cases filed by persons who gain conditional permanent residency by marrying American citizens. Those persons are issued green cards with two year expiration dates. In order to convert the two year status to unconditional permanent residency status, the alien must file the Form I-751 Petition to Remove Conditional Residence Status within 90 days of the two year anniversary of receiving conditional permanent residency. Current INS policy requires these cases to be decided within six months of applying. However, the INS blames an increase in the receipt of N-400 naturalization applications and I-485 adjustment of status petitions for a significant slowdowns in I-751 processing that are making the six month test impossible to meet. To address the slowdown, the INS is now informing applicants that the processing time on these cases is now one year. If the case is not decided within a year, each case must be expedited for interview and adjudication within five working days of the date an applicant requests an extension of the validity of their green card or the applicant requests an interview. Applicants will receive notification that there temporary green cards are extended for an additional year during which employment and travel are authorized. For those applicants with cases pending for more than six months already, interviews will be expedited to five working days if they request an extension of the validity of their green card or they request an interview.

Hi donga, I was wondering where on uscis website I can find the information you quoted in your blog. That's almost 1 year since I filed I-751, and now I am getting frustrated with the wait, and wanted to see if can request for an expedited interview. I' ll really appreciate your response.