Conditional residency is the term the government gives for a green card recipient who received their approval following marriage to a US citizen or legal permanent resident after filing within 2 years of first getting married. This approval is called conditional because the government requires the applicant to prove certain things about the relationship following the two year anniversary of the approval and prior to being able to obtain their full 10-year green card. To receive a full green card, the immigrant must successfully complete the process known as “removal of conditions.”
Similar to the original green card process, the removal of condition process can be a bit tricky and should only be attempted with great care or with guidance from an experienced immigration attorney. This is especially true for those immigrants who have had problems in their relationship with the sponsor. What sorts of problems do I mean?
Although problems can come in many forms, usually we are talking about the inability to show the government that the couple is still married or that the relationship was not genuine from the start of the green card process. With the right guidance, it is fairly easy to convince the government of the genuine nature of the relationship, even if the relationship has since ended in divorce. Since an intact relationship is one of the primary ways to remove conditions on a green card, you may be wondering how can this be done if the couple is no longer a couple?
The green card process is a bit more than just showing you are live in the same house or that you are still in a committed relationship with your sponsor. Technically, the point of the process is to prove to the government that the immigrant entered into the relationship for reasons other than for the purpose of circumventing the immigration system (i.e., to commit fraud). So, even if the couple are no longer married, an immigrant can still convince the government that obtaining their immigration status was secondary to the actual relationship. If the immigrant can show this, they will be allowed to successfully remove their conditional status and receive full legal permanent residency even if they are no longer married.
We have had success in removing conditions in broken relationships for many clients in a variety of situations. For example, if you are an immigrant and you are thinking of getting divorced or may have already gotten divorced as the result of abuse or domestic violence committed against you, then you will not need to worry about being denied your 10-year green card and then being deported. We have had many clients prevail in their removal of conditions process with this history. Immigration’s job may be to prevent fraud and abuse of the immigration system, but it is not tasked with the burden of judging the reasons for a failed relationship.
Again, due to the level of difficulty and the importance of this part of the green card process, it is highly recommended that an applicant consult with an experienced immigration attorney rather than trying to file this alone. Please contact us to schedule an appointment by calling +1 888 589 2228 or by using the following link: https://marvinlawoffice.com/schedule-a-consultation/
