Conditional Residency Permit & Few Other Questions

[BAL.ANTIFA]

1st time poster here

I am an American citizen living in Italy and married to an Italian national. We were married 6 & 1/2 months ago. I contacted the American consulate in Milan to ask whether I needed to register our marriage for it to be recognized and was told no. At the point we weren't planning to apply for American citizenship for her.

Six months on and we've decided to look into the process for her obtaining American citizenship. I spoke to the American Embassy in Rome this past Friday and was told that she would have to first apply for permanent residency, have an interview at another consulate in Naples and than over the course of the next 3 years she would have to live 18 months in the U.S.

I have a few questions I'm hoping (praying!) you guys can help me with.

1. What is with this CONDITIONAL permanent residency a.k.a. green card I keep reading about. It seems like this should have been awarded her once we were married and the folks at the American Consulate in Milan didn't mention it. What do I need to do to get this for her AND is it possible they'll back date it?

OR was I supposed to know about this entire CONDITIONAL permanent residency and have applied for it immediately after the marriage took place (it was performed here in Italy). BLAH!

2. While reading "A Guide to Naturalization" I'm seeing two different things. One is that my wife must remain in the United States for 18 months of the 3 years for which she will be granted a "green card." I am also seeing that at least in some cases it is possible that the foreign spouse can leave the country for up to 364 days and return. In addition to that it says that those 364 days can be credited towards my wifes continuous physical presence going towards satisfying her permanent residency requirement of 18 months within the 3 years. This would be optimal if possilble because my wife works for the Italian state and we'd prefer to actually move to the U.S. in another year and a half at the earliest. In this case we could come over for a month, leave for 364 days and then return and already have 1 year and 1 month credited to her continuous physical presence in the U.S. I'm sure it's not possible, because it seems they want to make this so complicated especially when I compare it to my requirements for acquiring Italian citizenship. Please tell me it is possible! :unsure:

Many, many thanks guys!

 

[yandresyuk]

1. First, nothing SHOULD be awarded to her, she can apply for it, and then within a year she will get a green card.

2. With this second paragraph, you are confusing 2 things: continuous residency and physical presence. Under contionuous residency if she is not out of the United States for more than 6 months then her continuous residency is not broken, which means that the 3-year timer continuous ticking. If she does leave the US for more than 6 months her 3-year timer restarts from the day she returns. As to physical presence in the US - she needs to be physically present in the US for more than 50% of the three years AFTER she gets her green card to be eligible to become citizen.

I hope this clarifies things for you.

 

[warlord]

1st time poster here

1. What is with this CONDITIONAL permanent residency a.k.a. green card I keep reading about. It seems like this should have been awarded her once we were married and the folks at the American Consulate in Milan didn't mention it. What do I need to do to get this for her AND is it possible they'll back date it?

Back date what? A green card as mentiond is something you need to apply for, then have an interview and then a decision on if the Green Card will be granted. After the interview the officers will decide on if a GC will be warrented or not. They need proof that the marriage is legit etc.

Since you haven't even applied there's nothing to back date too. The only thing your wife got by marrying you is marriage. You still have to legally import her into the US, this means starting at the beginning as you are at the beginning of the immigration process. Once you get the Green Card then it's conditional for 2 years. Now this step might be by passed as you have been married for 6 years. Meaning she might go straight to a regular Green Card. Citizenship is a few years from there...

 

[Jackolantern]

Now this step might be by passed as you have been married for 6 years.

6 months.

 

[Jackolantern]

1. What is with this CONDITIONAL permanent residency a.k.a. green card I keep reading about. It seems like this should have been awarded her once we were married and the folks at the American Consulate in Milan didn't mention it. What do I need to do to get this for her AND is it possible they'll back date it?

No backdating. For marriage-based immigration to the US there is a progression as shown below. It is not like some other countries where you get married and can directly apply for citizenship.

Apply for permanent residence -> Conditional permanent resident -> Unconditional permanent resident -> Citizenship.

The above can be expected to take a total of 4-5 years.

If the marriage ends before transitioning to unconditional status (normally 2 years), permanent residence is revoked and the noncitizen ex-spouse must leave the US or find some other visa in order to stay. Unless there is an exception such as being a victim of domestic violence.

If already married for 2 years, the noncitizen can go straight to "unconditional", but for citizenship it is still required to spend 18 months out of 3 years physically in the US since becoming a permanent resident, while staying married for those 3 years, without any breaks outside the US of longer than 6 months during those 3 years (again there are exceptions, but that is the general rule).

This would be optimal if possilble because my wife works for the Italian state and we'd prefer to actually move to the U.S. in another year and a half at the earliest. In this case we could come over for a month, leave for 364 days and then return and already have 1 year and 1 month credited to her continuous physical presence in the U.S.

Don't expect that to work. Leaving the US for 6 months results in the presumption of breaking continuous residence, which would reset her 3 year clock. That presumption can be overcome with sufficient evidence of maintaining ties to the US, but working overseas for anybody other than a US corporation or US government makes it highly difficult to prevail. Citizenship via marriage requires being a bona fide resident of the US for 3 years, not being somebody whose life is really established in another country.

For more information, ask in the Family Based Green Cards section of this forum. You need to be concerned with obtaining a green card for your spouse first; citizenship happens years down the line.

 

[Jackolantern]

This is not necessarily true. Conditional green card is not automatically revoked when the marriage falls apart before the end of the two year conditional period.

It is standard procedure to revoke the conditional green card if the marriage ends before 2 years. Maintaining the green card despite the marriage ending before 2 years requires using one of the allowable exceptions, and I mentioned one of those exceptions. Yes, there are other exceptions, but it still requires some kind of exception to keep green card status in the event of the marriage ending before 2 years.