All lawful permanent residents who obtain their residency based on marriage to a U.S. Citizen and who, at the time of application, had been married for less than 2 years are granted conditional residency. Conditional residents must file a petition to remove the conditions on their residency within 90 days of the expiration of their conditional green card. (For more background on conditional residency read our previous article.) The I-751 petition must be filed jointly with the lawful permanent resident's spouse.

The USCIS recently reported that it is experiencing processing delays of up to 8 weeks for lawful permanent resident cards. The delay is reportedly the result of an upgrade to USCIS card production equipment.

As a general rule, persons who entered the United States illegally (i.e. snuck across the border or otherwise entered without inspection by an immigration official) are not entitled to apply for lawful permanent residency in the U.S. by utilizing the adjustment of status process. As a result there are many undocumented and unlawful immigrants who are in the U.S. and despite being married to a U.S. Citizen have very few good options for legalizing their status. This is because of a law known as the 3/10 year bar that provides that anyone who enters the U.S.

All lawful permanent residents who gain their residency through marriage to a U.S. are granted conditional lawful permanent residency. (*Unless you had been married for 2 years or more at the time you applied for residency.) The conditional residency expires after two years. Conditional lawful permanent residents must apply to remove the conditions on their residency during the 90 day period before their conditional residency expires. Failure to file a timely petition to remove the conditions on your residency can have dire consequences.