Conditional resident...travel doc required?

[CovTN]

I sent for removal of conditional residence in october '03. A receipt was never received so I contacted the service center and received in the mail a notice that a replacement receipt couldn't be issued but my case was still pending. My problem is that I need to return to the UK urgently due to ill health in the family....however my conditional residence card expired Oct '03. How can I leave but still be able to gain re-administion upon return? INS website indicates travel document not required for certain Visa classes....my conditional status was granted based on marriage, I'm confused.

[This message was edited by CovTN on February 08, 2004 at 05:25 PM.]

[CovTN]

I sent for removal of conditional residence in october '03. A receipt was never received so I contacted the service center and received in the mail a notice that a replacement receipt couldn't be issued but my case was still pending. My problem is that I need to return to the UK urgently due to ill health in the family....however my conditional residence card expired Oct '03. How can I leave but still be able to gain re-administion upon return? INS website indicates travel document not required for certain Visa classes....my conditional status was granted based on marriage, I'm confused.

[This message was edited by CovTN on February 08, 2004 at 05:25 PM.]

[Aguila]

CovTN:

Maybe if you make a trip to your local office they can give a stamp in your passport extending your status, you should tell them that never got a NOA [receipt for the filing of I-751].

[Dom]

Aguila is correct. I would definitly go to the local office and try to get a stamp on the passport. FYI. Here is something I came accross for people with their NOA. On Dec. 2, 2003, a memo entitled "Extension of status for conditional residents with pending forms I-751" was issued by William Yates, Acting Associate Director for Operations of the USCIS. This memo provides guidance to Regional, Service Center and District Office directors concerning what documentation may be given to a conditional resident who has received the one-year extension, but whose form I-751 is still pending adjudication.

According to the memo: "... Currently, a conditional resident who files a Form I-751 receives a Form I-797, Notice of Action, extending his or her status as a conditional resident for a 1-year period. This Form I-797 also advises the conditional resident that travel and employment are authorized for that 1-year period. Thus conditional residents with expired Forms I-551, Permanent Resident Cards, may present their expired Form I-551 and their Form I-797 as evidence of their status in the US..."

The memo further states that "...any conditional resident who has filed a Form I-751 remains a conditional resident until a decision is made on his or her Form I-751 ..., Such conditional resident is eligible to receive evidence of his or her conditional resident status."

And "...If a conditional resident whose I-551 has expired and whose I-797 has expired or is about to expire requests documentation of his or her status for travel or employment purposes, the BCIS/USCIS officer...should first check the case status... If the Form I-751 is still pending, the BCIS USCIS officer should collect the expired for I-551 and issue either

- A temporary I-551 stamp with a 12-month expiration date in the conditional resident's unexpired, foreign passport (if the expiration date of the passport is one year or more); or

- If the conditional resident is not in possession of an unexpired foreign passport, a Form I-94 (arrival portion) containing a temporary I-551 stamp with a 12-month expiration date and a photograph of the conditional resident."

a pdf file of the memo can be downloaded at http://www.ilw.com/lawyers/immigdail...,1210-I751.pdf

So it appears that during the initial 1-year extension period, an expired GC together with an unexpired NOA statement suffice as proof of status for travels. In your case, you do not have the necessary NOA. Moreover, I think I read somewhere that USCIS offices at POE may not accept the NOA, in "defiance" of this memo. The question is, has anyone tried to get his passport stamped BEFORE the initial 1-year extension has expired?

[CovTN]

Thankyou to Aguila and Dom for your responses. Greatly appreciated !