Expired Green Card, wanting to move to the US

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doc85

New Member
I have a strange demographic. I was born in England, and my parents moved to Pakistan afterwards. They had applied for the US Green Card Lottery when I was 10, and we were lucky enough to win. Unfortunately, by the time we found out we won, we had already moved to Canada. We pursued the green cards as we thought we may one day move there. But after a few years, we were well settled in Canada & to get up and leave was not viable for my parents.

I am 27 years old now. I'm assuming the greencards we received were 'conditional'(?). They are certainly expired. I am a medical doctor and I'm interested in moving to the States to do my residency training. It would help tremendously if I could renew my green card before applying for residency next year. As that would allow me access to a wider employment opportunity. I was wondering, if I can still renew the green card? And how I can go about it? The rest of my family (siblings & parents) have no intention of renewing their green cards.

If I can't renew my greencard, I'll have to apply for a visa and drag that process on. Side note, my fiancee is an American (also an MD) and we are planning to get married soon; perhaps I can apply for a spousal PR status? Would that be quicker than trying to renew my old green card? I'm hopeful there is an option for me somewhere in all of this that would allow me to apply for work in America as a PR.

Your advice and guidance will be much appreciated.

Thank You.
 
that temsfec

Thank you for your prompt response. Do you know how long the process takes to get GC through spouse?
 
From what you indicated in your post, it appear that you NEVER had a greencard. Your parents only applied for a lottery once upon a time, ?won? (they only won an opportunity to apply for a visa), but did not actually proceed with immigrating to the U.S. Eligibility to even apply ended at the end that fiscal year decades ago.
 
BigJoe5 said:
From what you indicated in your post, it appear that you NEVER had a greencard. Your parents only applied for a lottery once upon a time, ?won? (they only won an opportunity to apply for a visa), but did not actually proceed with immigrating to the U.S. Eligibility to even apply ended at the end that fiscal year decades ago.
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Thanks for your reply. They did actually proceed with applying for the visa. We even bought a place in New Jersey and were submitting taxes for about three years. I recall going to the consulate(?) office in Montreal for the interview for the visa(?). I also remember renewing it when I turned 13 or 14 at an office where my bladder nearly exploded from waiting in a lineup of hundreds of people, in NYC. But we never lived in the US for any extended duration. After some time, parents decided to give up on it and the cards expired out.

Someone told me that green card expiry is a grey area and that you can get a day in court to justify why you should be allowed to keep it(?). Given my young age at the time, I couldn't have made informed decisions - perhaps there are grounds on which I maybe eligible for a court date? What do you think?
 
None, that option is dead, kaput. Pursue it through your fiancee when/if you get married. Should take you about four to nine months.

Cheers!

doc85 said:
Given my young age at the time, I couldn't have made informed decisions - perhaps there are grounds on which I maybe eligible for a court date? What do you think?
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doc85 said:
Someone told me that green card expiry is a grey area and that you can get a day in court to justify why you should be allowed to keep it(?). Given my young age at the time, I couldn't have made informed decisions - perhaps there are grounds on which I maybe eligible for a court date? What do you think?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you spent over a half-decade as an adult doing nothing to recover your permanent residency.

Besides, why would you bother with an approach that has at best a 1% chance of success when marriage to your finacee has odds of nearly 100%?
 
doc85 said:
If I can't renew my greencard, I'll have to apply for a visa and drag that process on. Side note, my fiancee is an American (also an MD) and we are planning to get married soon; perhaps I can apply for a spousal PR status? Would that be quicker than trying to renew my old green card?
Click to expand...

Have your fiancee file for your K1 visa. That would enable you to move to the US in about 3 to 6 months. Then after that, you can expect the green card in another 3-6 months after getting married and filing the final green card paperwork.

If you still have the old green card, bring it to the consulate and surrender it when you have the K1 visa interview.
 
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