Brother Hesekiel

Merlion,

your English skills are excellent, and as a psychologist you might agree with me about the importance of a cover letter. There is this immigration officer in his or her cubicle, opening an unknown amount of I-751 files a day. How nice to have a cover letter, giving a brief overview of the relationship, before digging through the paperwork

Here's an exerp from my letter:

Dear USCIS Examiner:

Please find enclosed a JOINT I-751 petition for removal of conditions of permanent resident status of xxx xxxx (A# xxx-xxx-xxx).

We, xxx and xxx, first met in 2002 and have been a couple since. We moved in together in 2004, got engaged November 25, 2005 while on a trip in San Francisco, and married in Santa Barbara on August 25, 2006.

Permanent residence status in form of an I-551 was granted to xxx on September 14, 2007.

We are happily married, still living together with our daughter xxx in the same house in Ventura. xxx graduated from Ventura High School in June of 2008 and has been attending UCSB since Fall 2008. She commutes to and from Santa Barbara daily. We plan on celebrating our upcoming 3rd wedding anniversary on St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands), and respectfully request that this I-751 be granted.

Aside from the I-751, we have enclosed the following:

LIST

I also believe that a photo tells more than a thousand words. I've added 14 photos, glued on to 7 pages, showing us on vacation, spending Christmas in Wyoming, attending a family wedding, and traveling through Utah, all together, all happy, all smiling and waving. No affidavid can give such an impression. "Me thinks."

Update:

- Mailed I-751 on Friday afternoon via Priority Mail to Service Center.

- Package was delivered on Monday around noon.

- To this day the green "Return Receipt" hasn't made it back to me.

- Today, Thursday, bank account shows checks ($465 + $80) have been cashed.

I'll keep you posted

It means that they have received your package and it looks okay. If they have any doubts that your marriage is real or in case they need more evidence, they'll let you know when they find the time to actually handle your file. In either case you'd probably invited to an interview. Not bad per se, but great if one can avoid it. Next step: biometrics, again.

Please forgive me for highjacking this thread. I just briefly read the questions and since I'm a smart guy, interested in politics, could answer most of them correctly. Then at night, I asked my wife, who is at least as smart as I am, the same questions, and she did extremely well. Then I asked our teenage daughter, who is studying political science, and she didn't do quite as well.

If we have to pass the test in order to become US citizens, and I have no problems with that, I think that every US citizen who wants to excercise his right to vote, should pass the same test, in order to prove that he or she knows what they are doing. Just the basics. What's your guess, what percentage of USC would be able to answer all of the questions correctly?

Ken 86!

Yes, you can file for an I-751 alone, but try for once to view your own case with the eyes of an Immigration Officer, getting your file at hand.

If I were the officer, I'd probably conclude that you entered a marriage either too early or under wrong expectations. You are in the US for a very short time, your English skills are not that great yet, and I don't know if you have work or can find work in your field.

Now that the marriage is failing/has failed, I wonder why the Immigration Officer should let you stay in the US. You're alone, in a different world, and the base of your permission to come here no longer exists. Basically you just got here, have nothing, and don't know what to do. I'd say: sorry, friend, but it doesn't look good for your case.

There are cases where I-751 applications are approved if only the applicant files, but most likely these are cases where the person has strong ties to the US, owns property, has a great job, friends, owns a business, and is very American in the traditional way, maybe even the responsible parent of a US citizen child.

Other than that, the conditional Green Card espressly is based on a happy marriage that works for at least two years, in order to sort out people who got married only to get a Green Card. I'd say that your chances to stay or close to zero.

Sorry!

They are wrong. Keep in mind DMV people, for the most part, are drones, stupid as stupid goes. Ask to see a supervisor, better yet the director of that DMV, and tell him or her that you have been mistreated by an ignorant employee and would like that to be resolved right away.

Bring a written statement and have him or her sign that you requested action in your case. Make sure you know what you're talking about but be polite and look the part.

I know that dealing with the INS can be a traumatic experience, but keep in mind that the affidavits are optional. I didn't even use them. If your marriage is real, you live together, you are buying a house together (the credit application is proof in itself), you have nothing to worry about. I would use them dated as they are, and I would file NOW, not in two months.

They way I understand it, and by all means please correct me if I'm wrong, if a "permanent" resident with a 2 yr. GC has filed his or her I-751, received a NOA and a 1 year extension, and it happens that the process takes long enough (90 days before 3rd. anniversary of 2 yr. GC) for the N-400 to be filed . . . this person is still not eligible for naturalization as long as the I-751 application is APPROVED.

So in this case, everything is still on track, albeit with a very unfortunate delay, but as long as she doesn't get her approval letter, there's no point in filing the N-400, is there?

Can't think of a better day than July 4th . . . independence day. It's like winning the lottery!

There are many things wrong with the US Immigration system, and often officials, or medical examiners, as it is the case here, make mistakes that warrant slapping them left and right. But that won't help a bit. Although I was an attorney in another lifetime, I like to approach problems from a more practical perspective in this lifetime where I'm at the mercy of people with questionable qualification and motivation.

Before I start, let me tell you that I have high blood pressure myself. Especially after gulping down a bunch of caffeine, which ultimately created a reading that caused me to fail a medical and eventually, when reviewing my case, was reason enough for my health insurance provider to double my premium from $540 to $1,080 per month. So now I don't have health insurance at all.

When taking my medical, they wanted to check me for about every sickness known to mankind, then pump me full of vaccines. Now . . . legally speaking, one can refuse such dramatic approach, but that wouldn't make things smoother. On the contrary. So here's my thoughts to you:

Have hubby go to "his doctor." Have him or her prescribe medicine that lowers the blood pressure. Go to the medical exam again. Pass. Stop taking medications and go on with the plan A.

That said, it is paramount for your husband to be able to show the good doctor that hypertension (except for life-threatening cases, I presume), is no reason to fail a medical.

Many important things have been said here.

Know that you can't change the past. Now it's time to assess whether or not your hubby is interested in staying married to you and whether or not you want to stay married to him and stay in this country.

If you want to stay, focus on getting evidence together showing that you are really living as husband and wife together. If he's such a grumpy person, you're probably better off hoping that your file is going through smoothly, without an interview where he can say stupid things that potentially can hurt your case.

You want to file the I-751 now, the earlier the better. Gather all the evidence you can, definitely get at least two affadavids from citizens who can confirm that your marriage is real, and hope for the best.

After you get your 10-year GC, it's time to confront your husband and request more consideration for you. But, again, there's a time and a place for everything, and now's not the time to start a big confrontation.

Good luck!

New member here.

Met my wife in 2002, moved in together in 2004, got engaged in 2005, married in 2006. Got conditional GC on 9/14/2007, meaning I should file the I-751 now.

I'm very articulate, organized, and a great writer. I have my package, including 14 photos, ready to be mailed via Priority Mail, registered, with signature receipt and return receipt.

The attorney who helped me so far along the way wants a $500 retainer, if she were to handle the case. Since I had to gather all the documents anyway, I wonder if YOU would avise me to use her services, or do you feel filing an I-751 without the assistence of an attorney in a clear cut case would be alright?

Thanks,

Bob