APPROVED--fifteen year journey over finally

P

phil-NYC

Registered Users (C)
I received my green card approval today. I have a very long story to tell. I first applied for asylum in July 1989. The Board of Immigration Appeals granted the case in June 1996--seven years later.

Then I made a mistake by not filing for my green card as an asylee. I was (and am) married to an American citizen. So she filed a green card application for me. But the INS denied the application because of entry/visa intent issues.

So I filed my asylum-green card application in April 1999, almost two years late.

I received my fingerprint notice in January 2004.

On March 6 I received a RFE for an I-602 waiver. We had already prepared the application since we had anticipated that.

We sent that out on 3/8. The approval notice was dated 3/15.
 
Congratulations.

To make you feel even better, I think you can become a citizen in two years, unlike most of us.
 
As you probably know, the LPR status of all asylees is back-dated one year. So they are eligible for naturalization in four, rather than five, years.

The spouses of citizens are eligible for naturalization after three years in LPR status (as long as they were married for those three years and the spouse was a citizen during the three years). Given the one-year "roll back" for asylees, the actual waiting period is two years for those married to citizens.
 
Gilbert,

How common are such denials? It seems to be a pretty stupid policy to deny a green card because someone might have entered the country via fraud. Do they realize that people fleeing persecution have no choices?

Why force people to wait for ten years for an asylee greencard when they are already married to a citizen?
 
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