Permanent residents with a two-year green card through marriage, must wait patiently for the government to process their removal of conditions application. At least there is some good news! The new Receipt Notice extends an applicant’s conditional permanent residence for 24 months (rather than only 18 months). The Receipt Notice serves as evidence of continuing conditional permanent resident status. Such evidence is useful to show employment authorization or reenter the United States.
The government made the change because of increased processing times. We have previously written about the substantial backlogs Immigration Services is working through. The Removal of Conditions process is no exception. Though we would prefer the government process these applications more quickly, the new Receipt notice is welcome news for many of our clients. Applicants save the effort and cost of going to Immigration Services when their 18 month Receipt Notice expires. Now let’s just hope the government processes the applications before the 24 month expiration!