sfonyc

Ok here is the deal...

My marriage based I-485 was approved in Nov 2003 but I got a 10-year card. Our wedding month is May 2002. We were never told of any conditions and stuff as our interview didn't quite go well and the interviewer wanted more evidence, which we subsequently provided. We just got the approval notice followed by a 10-year GC within 3 weeks of the approval notice.

I actually called USCIS and told what happened and the gentleman said as far they are concerned I am a unconditional permanent resident. I don't need to worry about filing I-751, but I said hey look I don't want to get in trouble later (naturalization) for not filing I-751 and he said no, we wouldn’t be. He said that even if something comes up it's USCIS fault and we can't be held responsible. Then he asked if we were still married and I said yes and we are expecting a baby in 10 weeks and he said well then you don't need to worry about anything, your marriage is a valid marriage. But he did confess that he personally hasn’t heard of anything like our case before.

But I still not fully convinced. Your input will be precious.

Kind regards.

nettlebed

From what I have heard and read, if you receive an unconditional green card in error, instead of a conditional one, it is YOUR responsibility to correct the mistake with the USCIS. If you have no written documentation from the USCIS indicating that you don't need to correct the error, you are potentially on very shaky ground if it all turns pear-shaped. If I were you I would be visiting an attorney and/or the USCIS in person.

Noorah101

It is NOT true that you are off the hook. You WILL be held responsible for not removing conditions, even if USCIS gave you wrong information.

If you were married less than 2 years at the time of approval, you need to remove conditions in 2 years minus 90 days of the date she became a PR. Ignore what the card says about 10 years....remove conditions anyway.

Do a search for posts by Secret Garden. The same thing happened to her husband.

Best Wishes,
Rene

query

Dear All,

My GC was approved in 2004 and they stamped on my passport and i was told by immigration officer that you will be recieving physical GC in mail.

When i have not recieved anything, i went to INS and they said your GC was issued by us cause of an error and he cancled my GC and said your name is still in pending from Name Check FBI division.

I called my lawyer, she advised me to stay there and she called INS office. In short, they re-stamped on my passport again for next six months. I sent an email to FBI name check division, faxed them and wrote a letter to them. But I have not recieved any response yet. I still have valid I-551 stamp on my passort which is going to be expire soon and cause of this i can not have 5 yrs driving license.

Kindly give me any advice or any suggestion.

Thanks alot

-Querry

nettlebed

You have an attorney: my advice is get advice from her, not this forum.

query

Yeah, I am in touch with my attorney. Just wanted to know did it happen with someone else ? or is it a normal thing ?

Thanks
-Query

ian-mstm

I'll give you three suggestions: 1) Next time, start your own thread instead of hijacking someone else's. 2) You never actually asked a question... you've just given information. It's hard to help when you don't say what you want. 3) You have a lawyer, use her.

Ian

SecretGarden

heh.......we seem to be the "poster children" of errant 10 year cards!

To the OP:
Our situation is as follows: we were married just under a year when my K-1 husband had his AOS interview. We were approved at the interview, and given instructions on how to file for removal of conditions when the time came. He was asked to sign a paper that explained this process and we were given a copy.

Twelve days later (I think) his PR card arrived in the mail. It was a 10 year card rather than a 2 year. I posted here and after considering the responses, we decided that we would keep the ten year card, file for removal of conditions when the time came, and explain the discovered error in a cover letter with our I-751 application. At NO TIME did we ever consider not applying for the removal of conditions.

We'll be visiting the UK in ten days time and are hoping that the 10 year card won't cause a problem for my husband's re-entry to the US. We're bringing all related documentation with us just in case.

To the OP: If I were you, #1: I'd never trust ANYTHING the 1-800 misinformation line says. They are contract workers and know nothing about immigration, other than what is written on their call script.

#2: I'd absolutely file the I-751 for removal (since you know that is what your status ought to be) and explain the apparent error in your cover letter. Then, cross your fingers and hope for the best.

#3: you could make an infopass appointment and explain the error. You'd then fill out the application for a replacement card (which should be done without charge since it was administrative error) and hopefully, things would go smoothly from there on in.

We are opting for #2, but there are days when I do question our decision.

~SecretGarden
~and Mr. Pink
(10? Noo....2!)

icantthink

Secret Garden and OP:

Out of curiosity, what was the approval date on the card? Was it less than two years from your marriage? For the OP, I image it was less than the 2.

SecretGarden

Hi,
Yes, as I said above, his interview was about 11 months after we married. Should have gotten the 2 year card.

~SecretGarden

Rete

Hmmmm ... reading comprehension is a problem ...

OP said

Wedding May 2002 approved November 2003

SC said

A little under a year from applying. thus married less than one year.

icantthink

Here's a post of mine from a couple of years ago, which is the reason I asked about the dates on the card vs date of the approval.

I had three sets of dates to contend with:
October 28, 2001 -- date on the approval letter (though I received the letter in Jan of 2002)
January 12, 2002 -- "Approved on" date on the approval letter
January 23, 2002 -- "Resident since" date on the card


My original post from July 2003:
-------------------------------------------
Actually brings up an interesting point...

I was married on December 27, 1999. Had my interview on December 17, 2001. The security clearance was fortunately not ready, so we were approved on January 12, 2002. The officer suggested that he will keep the file open for a few days anyway considering we were so close to the second anniversary (10 days). Very nice guy, BTW. Officer Kirby.

When I got my approval letter, it was dated October 28, 2001. Yes, dated a couple of months before the interview. It listed the approval date as Jan 12, 2002, but the classification as CR-6.

I went to the Newark INS offce and got my passport stamped with CR-6. I was pretty unhappy though, and despite my arguments about approval dates etc, I got the CR-6.

I wrote to the INS officer, and in his reply (I got a hand-written note back, much to my surprise) he expressed his apologies and
suggested that the best thing would be to file a I-90.

When I did receive the plastic greencard, I had the correct classification of IR-6, with the 10-year expiration. Approval date on the card was 1/23/02 (about a month after our 2nd anniversary).

So....according to Matthew and Folinskyinla, the rule of thumb is "if it's my fault, it's my fault, and if it's their fault, it's still my fault"....

My passport stamp says CR-6, and my card says IR-6. What am I and how do I find out? I don't want to be in the situation that I was to file a removal of conditions and didn't.

----------------------------------------

Of course, being the lazy bugger that I am, I didn't check what the date in the BCIS computers is, and as I go for my Natz, I suppose I have a pretty good case to make in case there are issues.

BTW, here's the thread, with a couple of posts from the resident attorneys:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164352

john_t_05

By "just got the approval notice", do you mean you got it recently, or did you get it back in 2003? Could it be that you were actually approved recently, at which point you would have been married for more than 2 years (i.e. no need for conditional card)?

sfonyc

Sorry for the confusion.... We received approval notice in Nov 2003 with no instructions about removing the conditions. Our interview was in Aril 2003. We filed our case in June 2002.