# Removing Conditions on a Two-Year Green Card (Form I-751)

> Altius Immigration Law PLLC is a U.S. immigration law firm in Washington, D.C., serving clients in all 50 states. Principal attorney: André Matias. Practice areas: green cards, family-based immigration, employment-based and temporary work visas (H-1B, L-1, O-1, P-1), investment visas (E-2), adjustment of status, and citizenship & naturalization.

Source: https://altius.law/removing-conditions-two-year-green-card/

Summary: A conditional green card expires and does not renew. Form I-751 is how it becomes permanent — including what happens if the marriage has ended.

##### Family-Based Immigration

If you were married **less than two years** when you became a permanent resident, your green card is **conditional** and valid for two years. It does not renew. To keep permanent residence you must file [Form I-751](https://www.uscis.gov/i-751) to have the conditions removed.

This is the step people forget, and forgetting it is serious.

## The window

The petition is filed in the **90 days immediately before** the card expires. Not earlier, and not later without explaining why.

Filing late is not automatically fatal — USCIS may accept a late petition where there is good cause — but it is a much worse position than filing on time. Missing it entirely can end your permanent residence and put you in removal proceedings.

The official conditions are set out at [USCIS — Conditional Permanent Resident](https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-we-grant-your-green-card/conditional-permanent-residence).

## The normal case: filing jointly

If you are still married, you and your spouse file **together**, and the evidence you submit covers the two years since you got the card. Documents from *before* that period are not the point — the question is whether the marriage has continued to be real.

The evidence that carries weight is the ordinary residue of a shared life: joint finances, a shared home, children, insurance, travel, correspondence over time.

## If the marriage has ended

**This is not the end of your green card**, and it is the single most important thing on this page — because the belief that it is keeps people from filing at all.

You can request a **waiver** of the joint filing requirement. USCIS recognises several grounds, including that the marriage was entered in good faith but has since ended in divorce or annulment, and that you or your child were subjected to battery or extreme cruelty.

The proof required shifts: you are showing that the marriage was **genuine when you entered it**, whatever happened afterwards. That is a different evidentiary case from a joint filing and it deserves proper handling.

## While the petition is pending

USCIS issues a receipt notice that extends your conditional permanent resident status — and your work authorization — while the case is decided. USCIS currently states that extension as **48 months**. **Keep it with your expired card** — together they are your evidence of status for work and travel.

USCIS processing times move, and they differ by office and form type. Rather than print a figure that would mislead somebody reading this next year, check the current time for your own case on the [USCIS processing times tool](https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/).

Government filing fees change, so this page does not print them — confirm current amounts on the [USCIS Fee Schedule (Form G-1055)](https://www.uscis.gov/g-1055) or the [USCIS Fee Calculator](https://www.uscis.gov/feecalculator). These are **government filing fees only**. They are **not** Altius Law's attorney fees.

## Talk to us

If your two-year card is approaching expiry — or has expired — or if your circumstances have changed since you got it, this is a deadline-driven filing and the calendar is not flexible.

[Schedule a consultation](https://calendly.com/altiuslaw/initial-consultation)

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