Developing A Plan To Remove Conditions With I-751

Name: Jorge Santos
Nationality: Mexico
Case: I-751; Removal of Conditions for Conditional Residency Status
Processing Time: 1 year and 7 months
Approval Date: 05/05/2021

Challenges:

1. Client and his wife lived with family, so they didn’t have a joint lease agreement, utility bills, and other documents to prove they were residing together where they said they were.
2. Client is 10 years older than his wife, which can shed doubt on the bonafide nature of the relationship.

BACKGROUND

Mr. Santos met his wife when she already had two children of her own. This, however, did not stop him from getting to know her and developing a love for her and her children as if they were his own. They married and she, as a U.S. citizen, petitioned for his conditional green-card and got approved. Now a few years later, they wished to remove the conditions on his green card via a I-751 application so that he could get his 10-year green card. They came into Tsang and Associates to aid them through this process.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

We immediately set to work on the Santos’ case. We sent them a detailed checklist to aid them in providing us with the kind of documentation that we needed for this case. When we saw that they were missing a lease agreement or any proof that they resided together where they said they did (because they lived with family) we quickly created a strategy for them to begin building financial history together. They opened joint bank accounts, credit cards, and began to make joint purchases, something they had never thought they needed to do before. They also began properly filing joint tax returns and we had them request new driver’s licenses showing the address they both lived at.

Although Mr. Santos was ten years older than his wife, which can cast some doubt on the bonafide nature of the marriage, they had already had one child together and tried for a second (though it resulted in miscarriage). This detail, as sad as it was, would counteract the age difference showing their intentions to begin growing a family. We submitted the case, preparing our clients for the high possibility of an interview being given due to the rather small amount of documentation they could provide. Due to covid, this was usually an 18-month process. About 15 months in, they informed us they were buying a home together, something that elated us as it would only strengthen their interview.

OUTCOME

We got a notification a few months later to schedule an interview and shortly after that we received notice that they had been approved without the interview. In a sense, we had overprepared them, which is the best-case scenario so that they could face whatever was thrown at them, and luckily, they got approved easier than we had all expected. Finally, Mr. Santos has his 10-year green card and they can look forward to a long, prosperous future here in the United States with their lovely family in their new house.