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Conditional permanent residence
As part of
immigration reform under the Immigration
Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), as
well as further reform enacted in the
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA),
persons who are eligible and properly apply
for permanent residence based on either a
recent marriage to a US citizen or as an
investor are granted permanent residence on
a conditional basis for two years. An
exception to this rule is the case of a US
citizen legally sponsoring a spouse in which
the marriage at the time of the adjustment
of status (I-485) is more than two years
old. In this case, the conditional status is
waived and a 10-year Permanent Resident Card
is issued upon USCIS approval of the case. A
permanent resident under the conditional
clause may receive an I-551 stamp as well as
a Permanent Resident Card. The expiration
date of the conditional period is two years
from the approval date. The immigrant visa
category is CR (conditional resident).
When this
2-year conditional period is over, the
permanent residence automatically expires
and the applicant is subject to deportation
and removal. To avoid this, 90 days or less
before the conditional residence expires,
the applicant has to file form I-751
Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence
(if conditional permanent residence was
obtained through marriage) or form I-829
Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove
Conditions (if conditional permanent
residence was obtained through investment)
with USCIS to have the conditions removed.
Once the application is received, permanent
residence is extended for 1-year intervals
until the request to remove conditions is
approved or denied.
The USCIS
requires that the application provide both
general and specific supporting evidence
that the basis on which the applicant
obtained conditional permanent residence was
not fraudulent. For an application based on
marriage, birth certificates of children,
joint financial statements, and letters from
employers, friends and relatives are some
types of evidence that are accepted. A
follow-up interview with an immigration
inspector is sometimes required but usually
waived if the evidence is sufficient. This
is to ensure that the marriage was in good
faith and not one of fraudulent means with a
sole intention of obtaining a green card.
Both
husband and wife must attend both interviews
under most circumstances. The applicant
receives an I-551 stamp in their foreign
passport upon approval of their case. The
applicant is then free from the conditional
requirement once the application is
approved. The applicant's new Permanent
Resident Card arrives via mail to their
residence several weeks to several months
later and replaces the old 2-year
conditional residence card. This new card
must be renewed after 10 years, however
permanent resident status is now granted for
an indefinite term provided that residence
conditions are satisfied at all times. USCIS
may request to renew the card earlier due to
security enhancements of the card or as a
part of a revalidation campaign to exclude
counterfeit green cards from circulation.
It is
important to note that this 2-year
conditional residence period counts towards
time as a permanent resident for all
purposes including naturalization. However,
the application for the removal of
conditions must be adjudicated before
naturalization can be granted to the
applicant.
Maintaining permanent resident status
The card
must be in the possession of the US
permanent resident at all times. This means
that the permanent resident must have a
currently valid card on the person at all
times and be able to show it to a USCIS
officer, if requested. Though aliens with
permanent resident status are required to
carry these identification cards, American
citizens are not required to carry any
citizenship identification. Before September
11, 2001, while status was checked when the
permanent resident returned from foreign
travel, the requirement to carry the green
card was practically never enforced when the
resident traveled domestically. After that,
officials from the DOS began occasionally
asking people if they were US citizens or
not, and in the latter case require that the
person present their Permanent Resident Card
or other proof of legal status.
Under certain conditions, permanent
residence status can be lost
This
includes committing a criminal act that
makes a person removable from the United
States. A person might also be found to have
abandoned their status if he or she moves to
another country to live there permanently,
stays outside the USA for more than 365 days
(without getting a re-entry permit before
leaving), or does not file an income tax
return. Permanent resident status can also
be lost if it is found that the application
or grounds for obtaining permanent residence
was fraudulent. The failure to renew the
permanent resident card does not result in
the loss of status, except in the case of
conditional permanent residents as noted
above.
A person
who loses permanent residence status is
immediately removable from the United States
and must leave the country as soon as
possible or face deportation and removal. In
some cases the person may be banned from
entering the country for 3 or 7 years, or
even permanently.
10 Year Expiration Date
In August
1989, the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS - now USCIS) began issuing
"Green Cards" with a 10-year expiration date
and required permanent residents to renew
their Green Cards every 10 years. In
addition, a "Green Card" that is too old,
with out-of-date photographs or is damaged,
cannot effectively serve as evidence of
current immigration status, registration,
identity, and employment authorization or
re-entry documents. Current Green Cards have
an expiration date stated on the front of
the card and expire every ten (10) years.
The USCIS puts a 10-year expiration date on
"Green Cards" for Permanent Residents, not
Conditional Residents (2-year expiration
date), to protect against counterfeiting and
tampering and to ensure that those
individuals who may now be inadmissible,
removable or deportable are brought to the
attention of USCIS.
Renew Your Green Card
To renew
your Green Card, you must complete and
submit a Form I-90 "Application to Replace a
Permanent Resident Card." Form I-90
applications to renew "Green Cards" may be
submitted by mail or online at the USCIS
website (www.usicis.gov).
All applicants are required to provide
current biographic and biometric
(photographs and fingerprint) information.
If an applicant cannot afford the necessary
USCIS filing fee, he or she may request a
fee waiver according to standard procedures.
The specific requirements and procedures for
applying to renew an expiring permanent
resident card are set forth in the Code of
Federal Regulations [CFR] at 8 CFR § 264.5
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