The Biden administration has updated its USCIS Policy Manual, now allowing immigration officers to waive removal of conditions interviews for certain family-based immigrants with conditional green cards. This change aims to streamline the process for couples seeking to remove the conditions on their residency.
Key Points of the Update:
- Who is Affected: The new policy applies to family members of U.S. citizens and green card holders who are seeking to remove conditions on their residency by submitting Form I-751 (Petition to Remove Conditions on Residency).
- Conditional Permanent Residents (CPRs): When a couple has been married for less than two years before receiving a green card, the immigrant receives conditional permanent resident (CPR) status, which is valid for two years. After this period, CPRs must petition to remove the conditions and become lawful permanent residents (LPRs).
- Discretion to Waive Interviews: USCIS officers now have the discretion to waive the interview requirement for couples petitioning to remove conditions, reversing the policy set by the Trump administration in 2018, which severely limited such discretion.
- Consular Processing Cases: Under the new guidance, even conditional residents who were processed outside the U.S. (consular processing) may have their interviews waived, something that was previously mandatory.
Impact:
- The previous interview requirements contributed to a significant backlog in I-751 cases, with pending cases peaking at 323,803 by September 2021. The backlog has since been reduced to 252,775 by the end of 2021.
- This policy change is expected to help reduce delays and ease the burden on the USCIS backlog, potentially accelerating the processing of removal of conditions cases.
