In certain circumstances, an alien who obtains permanent resident status will have conditions placed on his or her status for a two-year period. These circumstances are (1) if the alien obtains permanent residency as a result of a marriage to a U.S. citizen or a marriage to a lawful permanent resident; or (2) if the alien obtains permanent residency as the result of an approved EB5 petition as an immigrant entrepreneur. A derivative who obtained status from their relationship to the principle conditional resident will also have conditions on his or her permanent resident status. Within 90 days of the expiration of two years from the date the alien obtains conditional permanent residency, he or she must file a petition for the removal of conditions on permanent residence.

A conditional permanent resident whose conditional status was the result of obtaining status through marriage must file an I-751 for the removal of conditions. In order for the I-751 petition to be approved, the alien must demonstrate that he or she entered into the marriage in good faith. The applicant must also submit to a removal of conditions interview. Normally, the applicant’s U.S. citizen or LPR spouse must attend the interview as well. However, the applicant may obtain a waiver from the joint-interview requirement in the event of the death of the spouse, divorce or annulment of the marriage, or if he or she or his or her child was battered by the U.S. citizen or LPR spouse (the applicant must still demonstrate that the marriage was entered into in good faith). Derivative child(ren) may be included on the same petition if their conditional residency was obtained within 90 days of the principle (otherwise a separate petition will be required).

A conditional permanent resident who obtained conditional permanent residency as the result of gaining status as an EB5 investor must file a Form I-829 for the removal of conditions from his or her status. The EB5 conditional permanent resident investor will be required to demonstrate that he or she invested in the commercial enterprise for which he or she obtained status to invest into and that he or she is meeting certain job creation or job preservation benchmarks.

A conditional permanent resident must apply to have the conditions removed on his or her status in order to remain in the United States as a permanent resident. If the application for the removal of conditions is not filed or denied, the conditional permanent resident will lose status. At The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC, we are thoroughly experienced in helping conditional permanent residents remove the conditions on permanent residency in both family-based and investment cases and in situations where a marriage may no longer be viable.