Can I Date While I-751 Removal of Conditions Green Card is Pending?
Love lost in miscommunication. USCIS wants green card holders to date, not 3-year wait. File I-751 and live your best life.
In terms of love, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is smarter than me. I wasted a year waiting for magic words from a former boyfriend, words he will never say: I should not have left. I want to try again. You are my BAE, before anyone else. I want to be wherever you are. USCIS officials, unlike me, understand that it is healthy to date after a marriage – even a marriage that provided a green card – is over.
The Fun of Dating
Massive misunderstandings end romantic relationships. To you, they were the future, if only they would have compromised. To them, you were entertainment: dinners, a travel companion, someone to sit on the couch during Netflix. It is telling that they miss you most when they travel, not when they sit alone or in a group.
Dating is fun. Dinners and dancing. Even the occasional axe throwing and whispering during movies. Dating can also be funny, like the conversation I had with a man of Turkish ancestry. He asked how I felt to be in a mixed race relationship with him. I cocked my eyebrow and wondered, “Who’s playing the role of the non-white?” My ancestors are from Spain and his are from a part of Istanbul that lies in Asia. Needless to say, that one did not work out.
File the I-751 and Live Your Best Life
If USCIS issues a green card before the second anniversary of marriage between a petitioner and a foreigner, legal permanent residency ENDS after two years. To avoid this, the petitioner (US or resident spouse) and green card holder must file Removal of Conditions, Form I-751. But a green card holder also files Removal of Conditions after a divorce or the death of the petitioner or if the petitioner was abusive (mentally or physically).
USCIS takes almost three years to decide on Form I-751, the Removal of Conditions. That’s three years of waiting after a divorce. Or three years of waiting after leaving an abusive spouse. Or three years of waiting after the death of a loved one. USCIS does NOT expect the green card holder to wait.
Do not waste a year, or three, waiting for the magic “approval” word from USCIS. File the case with the best attorney you can afford and go have fun.
Disclaimer – These entries are based on real life events. Family member names, when used, are real. Client names are changed for privacy.
