Can I file my I-751 at the last minute?
Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States out of our office here in st Louis, Missouri. We had a really interesting question the other day. Let me see who it's from. Guram.
Guram wanted to know if you have to apply for the I-751 on that 90 day window, if you can apply it at the last minute? And Guram, yes, you can apply at the last minute. You shouldn't apply to the absolute last minute, but you don't have to apply right away.
So just for everybody who doesn't know, if you get married and if you get a green card based on that marriage and if the marriage is less than two years old at the time that the green card is issued, one of the ways that the immigration service tries to cut down on marital fraud is requiring the couple to file an petition to remove conditions on the green card.
And what happens is, so you get your green card, your initial to your green card, you just got married. Your name's Beverly.
So Beverly has her two year green card and it starts on September 1st, 2018 and it expires on August 31st, 2020. And so the question is, and then there's a 90 day window.
So before the card expires you have to apply for the I-751 at some point during those 90 days, right? And so a lot of people, and what we try to do is file at the beginning of those 90 days because it takes 18 months to process. But Guram was wondering, can I apply closer to the end? And the answer to that is yes, you can.
Now I would say you should do it probably around a month before in that last, right around the 30 day mark. You don't want to wait much longer than that because what you want, you want to get that receipt notice back because what'll happen is USAS will issue an 18 month automatic extension while they process the 751.
So you can take that if you have to travel outside the United States.
So you would take your old green card, your current passport, and that new I-751 receipt extension letter with you on your trip. Same thing if you want to get an updated driver's license.
A lot of States have your driver's license and on the day your green card ends. So getting that letter gives you another 18 months for your driver's license. So Guram, you probably don't want to wait until the very last minute to apply for the 751, you want to make sure you get that receipt back in time, but you don't have to apply on that 90 day, first day, if that makes sense. So I hope you found this video helpful.
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