Our Removal of Conditions (ROC) Experience

Little did Guy know, that in our case, once Girl’s green card had been obtained, it was only temporary. The permanent resident status is conditional if it is based on marriage and you’re married less than 2 years on the day you obtained your green card. Since we were married less than 2 years, we had to apply for have the conditional status removed. If you have a conditional green card, you’ll get a Form I-797C, Notice of Action in the mail. The notice is a reminder to file Form I-751 - Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence. We were able to file once we entered the 90-day period before the conditional green card expired

For this process, similarly to the Green Card, we opted to use a service called RapidVisa. RapidVisa is owned by Boundless. Just as was the case with Boundless, we are in no way affiliated with RapidVisa; we’re just a customer. Just like with Boundless. there were bumps and frustrations along the way, but overall our experience with RapidVisa was also positive. There will be a blog post related to our experience with RapidVisa in the future, so check Our Blog for that.

The ROC is far less complicated than the Green Card. Once the I-751 is completed and filed, it is really just a waiting game. USCIS is apparently severely backlogged. Once our ROC was filed, a short-time later we received our Notice of Receipt, which (in our case) extended the validity period of the initial green card for 48 months from the date of expiration (4 more years). The Notice, presented with the expired Permanent Resident Card, was evidence of status and employment authorization. It was necessary when traveling internationally and re-entering the country. We also received notice that Girl’s biometrics done during the green card process could be reused.

Like was mentioned above, the ROC was just a lot of waiting once filed and the Notice of Receipt was received. There wasn’t any activity on our account related to this filing until our Naturalization interview. This will be explained in tandem with the Naturalization process we experienced.