Stuck in Germany for a while - should I remove conditions on GC or bail?

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dsg10715

Registered Users (C)
Hi everyone, thought someone might have some perspective here.
My wife received her GC through marriage to me in October 2009. Shortly afterwards she became pregnant and when home visiting family in Germany she had some complications that forced her to stay put in the country until delivering our daughter in June 2010.
During this time my job required me to be laid off because of financing and I found a new job that required I be based somewhere in Europe and we chose Berlin since we were already in the midst of having our baby. We do intend to return to the US one day, but I work in a weird business and it is hard to tell when that will be.
Do I 1) renew the GC for my wife even though she has literally lived in the US for one month after receiving it? or 2) is there a proper way to bail on removing the pre conditions and letting it expire properly and picking up the annoying and expensive process again when we have moved to the US?
 
She can officially surrender the GC at a US consulate with form I-407. That will make things smoother if she wants to visit or re-immigrate.

If you just let it expire without following the right procedures, they could think she's in the US illegally with an expired conditional card, and issue a deportation order which would complicate the reimmigration process (this is not theoretical, it has happened to people here) and make it impossible for to visit the US until it is cleared up.

To immigrate again she would have to restart the green card process from the I-130 stage. There would be no filing to remove conditions next time, since by that time you will have already been married for over 2 years.
 
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But if she wants to retain the green card, she would have to (1) file I-751 and associate paperwork to remove conditions and (2) apply for a Returning Resident Visa (SB-1) through the consulate because she's been away for over a year without a reentry permit. The SB-1 would require her to provide evidence of the circumstances that kept her outside the US for over a year (which would be difficult at this time since her delivery was in June 2010 and now it's far beyond that).

I hope you've already filed the necessary paperwork with the consulate to secure documentary proof of your child's US citizenship, i.e. Consular Report of Birth Abroad and/or a US passport (assuming you are a US citizen).
 
Thanks Jackolantern, this is very interesting. So it seems I can file for the removal of conditions and THEN I apply for a Returning Resident Visa in the event that I could have doctor's proof of the forbidding by her medical team that she travel on a plane till the end of term of pregnancy?

and yes, I marched my daughter her third week to the Embassy in Berlin and received a beautiful US passport a couple weeks later.


Jackolantern said:
But if she wants to retain the green card, she would have to (1) file I-751 and associate paperwork to remove conditions and (2) apply for a Returning Resident Visa (SB-1) through the consulate because she's been away for over a year without a reentry permit. The SB-1 would require her to provide evidence of the circumstances that kept her outside the US for over a year (which would be difficult at this time since her delivery was in June 2010 and now it's far beyond that).

I hope you've already filed the necessary paperwork with the consulate to secure documentary proof of your child's US citizenship, i.e. Consular Report of Birth Abroad and/or a US passport (assuming you are a US citizen).
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Jackolantern said:
She can officially surrender the GC at a US consulate with form I-407. That will make things smoother if she wants to visit or re-immigrate.

If you just let it expire without following the right procedures, they could think she's in the US illegally with an expired conditional card, and issue a deportation order which would complicate the reimmigration process (this is not theoretical, it has happened to people here) and make it impossible for to visit the US until it is cleared up.

To immigrate again she would have to restart the green card process from the I-130 stage. There would be no filing to remove conditions next time, since by that time you will have already been married for over 2 years.
Click to expand...

Should I just do that and then restart with the I-130 if we move back to the US?
 
dsg10715 said:
Thanks Jackolantern, this is very interesting. So it seems I can file for the removal of conditions and THEN I apply for a Returning Resident Visa in the event that I could have doctor's proof of the forbidding by her medical team that she travel on a plane till the end of term of pregnancy?
Click to expand...
The birth was in June 2010, and her 1 year limit outside the US was hit in Oct/Nov 2010. So it would be necessary to provide something more to explain why she stayed outside the US from Nov. 2010 until now.

Should I just do that and then restart with the I-130 if we move back to the US?
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If there are no plans in the near future to move back to the US , surrendering the GC looks like the most sensible option for this situation, instead of expending the time and money to remove conditions and get the SB-1 visa only to risk losing the GC again due to spending so much time outside the US.
 
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Thanks Jack...sounds like I should just surrender it. I'm here for at least another 18 months if not longer and I suppose when we go back we'll be able to get an I-130 done quickly since we'll be long married with kid etc. They didn't even interview us on the first one.

Jackolantern said:
The birth was in June 2010, and her 1 year limit outside the US was hit in Oct/Nov 2010. So it would be necessary to provide something more to explain why she stayed outside the US from Nov. 2010 until now.



If there are no plans in the near future to move back to the US , surrendering the GC looks like the most sensible option for this situation, instead of expending the time and money to remove conditions and get the SB-1 visa only to risk losing the GC again due to spending so much time outside the US.
Click to expand...
 
dsg,

Depending on YOUR employment, there MAY be an alternative. Read INA section 319(b). She may be eligible for expedited naturalization. She is the mother of a USC and married to a USC, 319(b) was created for folks like her.
 
Expedited citizenship through 319(b) would still require filing to remove conditions, applying for and obtaining the SB-1 visa, and trips to the US for 4 or 5 occasions as below:

1. Fingerprinting for removal of conditions (I-751)
2. Fingerprinting for naturalization
3. Interview for I-751 (if they request an interview)
4. Interview for naturalization
5. Naturalization oath

With some luck and timing, 1 and 2 might happen the same day, and possibly 4 and 5 on another single day a few months later. But that is far from guaranteed, so pursuing naturalization would require preparing for a number of trips back and forth, or staying for enough months in the US to complete it all.

And on top of that, if the OP's wife is a German citizen, US naturalization would make her have to consider the loss of German citizenship or the procedure to get permission to retain German citizenship.
 
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http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Laws and Regulations/Memoranda/cond_perm_resident_.pdf

Policy Memo dated: August 4, 2009

Conditional Permanent Residents and Naturalization under Section 319(b) of the Act Revision to Adjudicator’s Field Manual Chapter 25 (AFM Update AD09-28)

1. Purpose

This memorandum provides field guidance and updates the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM) to address circumstances under which an alien who was admitted as a lawful permanent resident on a conditional basis (“conditional permanent resident” or “CPR”) pursuant to section 216 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) may be naturalized under section 319(b) of the Act prior to the removal of the conditions.

This memorandum supplements the guidance provided by the memorandum entitled “Removal of Conditional Resident Status Prior to, or Concurrently with, Adjudication of Form N-400” issued on February 4, 2004.

This memorandum does not apply to CPRs admitted pursuant to section 216 of the Act who are naturalizing under any provision of law other than section 319(b), and does not apply to CPRs admitted pursuant to section 216A of the Act (EB-5 alien entrepreneurs). Although such CPRs may apply for naturalization, their applications may not be approved until the conditions on their residence have been removed.

*****
 
BigJoe5 said:
This memorandum provides field guidance and updates the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM) to address circumstances under which an alien who was admitted as a lawful permanent resident on a conditional basis (“conditional permanent resident” or “CPR”) pursuant to section 216 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) may be naturalized under section 319(b) of the Act prior to the removal of the conditions.
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From that document it looks like the 319(b) naturalization application must have been filed and adjudicated before the 90-day window to file for removal of conditions, in order to be exempt from filing to remove conditions.

In this case they are already within the 90-day window, and it would be impossible to obtain the SB-1 visa and naturalize before the conditional card expires in October. In addition, the consulate will insist that the I-751 is filed before granting the SB-1.
 
Once the conditions are lifted, an N-400 may be filed immediately. There is no need to file an I-407 or re-immigrate in the future if she naturalizes.
 
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