Photo by taichi nakamura on Unsplash

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting seems to be the common theme when it comes to immigration applications these days. 

That's been a theme of the last year and a half, as USCIS has struggled with an enormous backlog of petitions - a product of the months that USCIS limited its work in the early days of the pandemic. 

Now USCIS is scrambling to catch up, and is finding ways to prioritize which petitions need their immediate attention and which can wait. 

For conditional permanent resident holders who filed to remove the conditions of their green card either as an investor or as a fiance/spouse, the wait to remove conditions is taking about 14 months. Because of this delay USCIS has announced that receipt notices for Form I-751 and receipt notices for Form I-829 will be sufficient to show status of permanent residency, for up to 24 months past the expiration on their green card. 

Does This Apply to Me?

• If you have a pending application to remove the conditions of your permanent residency, this announcement applies to you. 
• USCIS has said it will issue new receipt notices to eligible conditional permanent residents who properly filed their Form I-751 or Form I-829 before September 4 and whose cases are still pending. 

USCIS did a similar thing in January, when it announced that because of the green card printing backlog, a current receipt notice presented with an expired green card would suffice to show evidence of status.

In this case you will also need to have your receipt notice and your green card in order to show status. All lawful permanent residents are required to have a valid, unexpired Green Card or equivalent documentation with you at all times. 

If you have questions about a pending USCIS petition or need help with an adjustment of status, please reach out to us at (757) 422-8472, or send us a message on our website. You can also schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys by clicking on this link.