I-130 and Conditional Permanent Resident Alien -- wrong visa issued!
Lynn B. Reid
received his approval from the consulate in London. But no, the INS has
the ability to thwart you even at the last moment.
We applied under an I-130, and were married for more than two years when we
had our interview date. In fact, we waited until after the second year to
have the final interview in early October. My husband was visiting the USA
for business in early November and was planning on handing in his packet of
forms in Miami, getting everything stamped, and then sitting back and
waiting until the green card arrived at my parents' address in Florida.
Alas...
At the airport, the officials told him that THE EMBASSY HAD ISSUED THE WRONG
TYPE OF VISA! They issued a conditional permanent residency visa, rather
than the unconditional one which they should have. He complained bitterly
to the various officials, and even went to the main office in Miami. Still,
they insisted upon giving him the wrong visa, and said that the problem
could be fixed when we finally permanently entered the USA (in the spring)
by going to a local INS office and showing them this magic form -- a very
non-official looking form entitled "Notice to Conditional Permanent Resident
Alien". They told him he had to wait several weeks/months to file this form
because he wasn't yet "in the system" (so why the heck were we waiting for
months in the application process?)
Of course, this form insists that we file a petition to "have the
conditional basis of our status removed." The petition has to be filed
"within a ninety day period immediately preceeding the second anniversary of
the date you were granted conditional permanent resident status." Again, my
husband complained vigorously that this meant he had to wait two years from
November 1999 to get a final green card -- yet the INS officials said "Don't
worry, don't worry, they'll change your status just as soon as you fill out
this form." Of course, we're worried because the form says nothing of the
sort!
Please, has anybody had this nightmare occur to them? What do you think we
should do? Should we try to get it sorted out in London (where they screwed
up in the first place) or trust to some local INS office when we get to the
States?
Many thanks for any help you can provide. Remove the "NOSPAM" if you want
to email me directly.
Lynn
Rete & Jim
Since you are not planning on entering the US any time soon, you have
the time to see what their answer will be.
But what is the big deal about the "conditional" part? So he will get
a green card for 2 years instead of 10 years. That virtually is the
only difference. And he was told to apply immediately to have the
conditions removed because the marriage is over 2 years. In the
interim he will have the I-551 in his passport until his green card
comes and if it is the two year one, he will have already sent the
removed application in so that will suffice until the ten year card is
issued.
Just my opinion.
Rita
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paulgani
<lr...@NOSPAM.rds-resource.com> wrote:
> At the airport, the officials told him that THE EMBASSY HAD ISSUED THE WRONG
> TYPE OF VISA! They issued a conditional permanent residency visa, rather
> than the unconditional one which they should have. He complained bitterly
> to the various officials, and even went to the main office in Miami. Still,
> they insisted upon giving him the wrong visa, and said that the problem
> could be fixed when we finally permanently entered the USA (in the spring)
> by going to a local INS office and showing them this magic form -- a very
> non-official looking form entitled "Notice to Conditional Permanent Resident
> Alien".
Well, I'm not clear if he has entered yet using the Immigrant visa, but
if he
hasn't, this is what the INS POE Inspector's manual says:
14.6 Conditional Residents.
Admission procedures for conditional immigrants (based on spouse or
investment) are
discussed in 8 CFR 235.11. Procedures are generally the same as for
other immigrants, but
in spouse cases, if the marriage upon which the visa is issued occurred
more than 2 years
prior to the date of admission, you must admit the alien
unconditionally, regardless of the
visa symbol on the immigrant visa. Conversely, if you encounter an
immigrant visa classified
as unconditional, where the qualifying marriage occurred less than 2
years before the date
of admission, you must admit the immigrant conditionally.
Thus, if I were him, I'd bring a copy of my marriage certificate, and
I'd
insist the POE Inspector to look up section 14.6 in his Inspector's
manual.
Paul
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Lynn B. Reid
Rete & Jim wrote in message <000b8d9b...@usw-ex0101-004.remarq.com>...
>YOu can attempt to have it rectified at the US Consulate in London.
>Since you are not planning on entering the US any time soon, you have
>the time to see what their answer will be.
Yes, my husband phoned the consulate in London. They claim they were doing
the right thing! in other words, because we hadn't been married for two
years when we _applied_ in May, we were not entitled to be issued an
unconditional visa -- even though we had been married for two years in
October when the visa was issued! So other couples should beware. We had
timed the end of the process to make sure we were past the two year limit
when we got an interview for just this reason -- but it turns out the
consulate decided otherwise! They claimed that the whole problem was now
"in the hands of the INS". I'm going to try calling them back and see if an
angry American gets farther than a polite Scotsman.
>But what is the big deal about the "conditional" part? So he will get
>a green card for 2 years instead of 10 years. That virtually is the
>only difference. And he was told to apply immediately to have the
>conditions removed because the marriage is over 2 years. In the
>interim he will have the I-551 in his passport until his green card
>comes and if it is the two year one, he will have already sent the
>removed application in so that will suffice until the ten year card is
>issued.
I agree with you that, in theory, it is no problem at all to have a
conditional rather than an unconditional visa. But of course it is an
additional step of hassle that we need to go through -- and I have no faith
at all that they will allow us to apply immediately to change status. The
documents he's been given don't say that at all! They claim we have to
change status precisely within 90 days of the issuance of the visa.... Sigh.
You're right, it probably won't be a hassle -- but I thought it was
worthwhile warning other people of an additional difficulty that we had
never ever considered. Thanks for the help and the optimism.
Lynn
Lynn B. Reid
However, he's already entered using the Immigrant visa, and has gotten the
official ("wrong") visa in his passport. Once he was in the line and
handing over his documents (which we didn't realize were for the wrong visa,
since you're not allowed to open them -- catch 22), there was no way the
inspectors were going to let him get back out and enter on a tourist visa.
He tells me that the Inspector was going to change his visa on the spot, and
some smart-a** in the background of the office said "Oh, you can't do that
anymore...." Then he got the runaround with this useless-looking form. But
we'll try your suggestion when we stomp into the office the next time
around.
hjan...@my-deja.com
In a nutshell, only your local INS office can correct this mistake in
your husband's file. Nothing can be done until he's "in the system". You
can call the Service Center to find out whether he’s in the system yet.
Call every couple of weeks, and always ask for the officer name and
number. In 2 months, ask them to locate his file (to make sure the file
is not lost - it happens).
After he’s in the system, go to the local INS office and ask them to
correct his immigrant classification to IR-1. He should bring his
passport and marriage certificate with him. The local office should
request his file from the service center, review his file, and change
his immigrant category from CR-1 to IR-1 IN THE COMPUTER SYSTEM. Then he
can submit the form I-90 to obtain a new card. He will be asked to
submit new photographs, get fingerprinted again, and he'll get a correct
stamp in his passport.
Don't file I-90 until this mistake was corrected in the computer system.
If he does, the new card will carry the same mistake.
It happened to me... When my card arrived, I went to my local office.
They told me to file I-90 (replacement card), and put IR-1 stamp in my
passport. The production time for a replacement card is over a year, and
my stamp is about to expire. I went to INS to get a new stamp. They
looked me up in the computer, and said "OOPS, the service center did
not change your category, and the new card will have the same mistake on
it. This happened because we should have changed your file before we
asked you to submit I-90”. They refused to give me ANY stamp. “We are
requesting your file from the service center now... When it arrives,
we’ll change your category in the computer, and then you will get a
stamp".
Don't bother with trying to remove conditions by filing I-751. If your
husband files I-751 , the application and the filing fee will be
returned to him, and he'll be instructed to go to the local office and
file I-90 to obtain a new card.
There was a posting recently about this. Evidently, when the poster got
his stamp he was told to file I-751 to remove conditions. In two years
he filed I-751, and received the following letter: "...examination of
your records shows that you were erroneously adjusted as a conditional
permanent resident, when you should have been adjusted as an
"unconditional" permanent resident. For that reason, this office is
terminating action on the form I-751... To obtain a new alien
registration card showing the correct immigrant classification, you must
file a form I-90, without fee, at the service district office..."
Good luck, Lynn,
and do it once, do it right! ;)
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