Careless Immigrant Forfeits Green Card

How else can anyone explain carelessness than for any immigrant to forfeit permanent residence status on the ground that he or she forgot to file the application to remove the condition on his or her permanent residency? Wonders shall never end!  Anytime, I see anyone make one costly mistake, I want to write with the hope that someone will read the article and not make the same pricey mistake. Having dealt with immigrants for the past 14years, the pain and suffering immigrants endure before finally obtaining permanent resident status in the United States is enough reason for any immigrant to treasure the day they are liberated from“slavery”.  On the average, about 80% of immigrants who are issued permanent resident status in the United States yearly obtain such status through marriage to U.S. citizen spouses. In recent years most of these immigrants are issued the green cards within few months of their marriage. The United States immigration law provides that any immigrant whose application for adjustment of status is approved before the second anniversary of the marriage which formed the basis of the resident status should only be issued a card which is valid for only two years.  The recipients of these conditional permanent resident cards are advised to apply by filing form I-751 Petition to Remove the Conditions on Residence within 90days preceding the expiration of the two year card. Generally, the makers of the law believe that any marriage entered into for immigration purposes only will likely breakdown before the second year anniversary. The law is very strict in requiring adherence to the requirement of filing a timely application to remove the condition. The status of any immigrant who failed to timely file the form I-751 application is deemed automatically expired by operation of law. Such an immigrant becomes an illegal alien again in the United States. The usual trend is that the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services will refer the immigrant’s case to the immigration court for deportation proceedings.  This is the case of a young immigrant who was given the permanent resident status few years ago. My office represented him and we did everything right. The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services issued him a permanent resident status within three months of marriage and he went to work as it is typical with most immigrants.  At the interview, as required by law, the immigration examiner told this immigrant of the importance of removing the condition within 90days preceding the two year anniversary of the issuance of the card. My office also reiterated this point and the immigrant agreed with us. Alas! this immigrant walked into my office two weeks after the expiration of his permanent resident card. He claimed to have forgotten to check. I was shocked that anyone could forget such an important date. We tried to file to obtain the usual one year extension at least to keep him working, but the result was expected, it was denied. Now we are waiting for issuance of Notice to Appear before the immigration Court for removal proceedings. What a careless immigrant!  It is true that my office can still obtain permanent resident card for this immigrant, but it will now be at a huge cost that could have been avoided if care was taken to do the right thing timely.  If you were issued a green card that is valid for two years, whether or not you are the child of the principal beneficiary, you are required to apply to remove the condition on your permanent resident status within 90 days preceding the second year anniversary of the issuance otherwise you will forfeit the status.  The purpose of I-751 application to remove conditions on residence is to establish that your marriage was entered into at the onset in good faith. The best and the easiest way to remove the condition is for the husband and wife to sign the form and include extensive documents establishing that the marriage was entered into in good faith. Usually, such cases are approved without the need for interview. But any sloppy immigrant that failed to properly document the marriage after the issuance of the conditional permanent resident card will be sent for an interview. The immigrant could win and get the green card back or lose and be thrown before the Judge for removal proceedings. Another way to remove the condition especially where things are not working in the marriage is for both parties to be divorced before it is  time to file. In this case the immigrant could file to remove the condition alone. The immigrant will be the only one to sign the application which must include extensive documentation to show that the marriage was bona fide. In over 90% of cases where the immigrant files alone, the cases are referred for interview. If the documentation is right, the immigrant will get the permanent green card back, but if the documents are not right, the immigrant will be referred to the Judge for removal proceedings.  It is important that all immigrants in the U.S. treat their matters with all seriousness and take the steps needed timely to avoid untold hardship and expense.  This article is for your information only, it should not be substituted for legal advise which can only be given by your attorney after evaluating your case. If you need legal advice, please feel free to contact Attorney Joseph Famuyide at 718-647-6767 or send email to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .                                                                                      USI News